[08hyper]

I have a different problem with my front brakes, my front brake on my "S" has great stopping power, with no funny noises, my problem is rotor warpage, my original Brembo rotors got warped, (badly) so my dealer got them warranted, but instead of putting the new Brembos back on, I sprang for the Galpher wave rotors with the Galpher brake pads, and guess what, I warped them too!

I took the bike the bike back to the dealer for a check and they said that one of my Galpher rotors is warped 11 thou & the other one is out 14 thou, so my dealer said they will be warranted, which is fine, but the problem for me is WHY?? why did I keep warping the front rotors? the back rotor I have NO issues with, and I have turned that one "BLUE"!

The front wheel is installed correctly (dealer checked) and the calipers are not sticking, and there is no excess drag on the rotors, so does anyone have any ideas? Aloha Alex

PS: for some of my friends out there, YES I do track days & YES I do need to go on a diet,
so consider these facts covered!

 

[BillyD]

Do you ride with a couple of fingers always on the brake lever? If so, you may be constantly dragging the brakes all the time.

Else the pistons may not be retracting all the way when at operating temperature.

You haven't over filled the reservoir have you?

 

[CDONA]

Spent how much money for big horsepower, and drag your brakes? Or did I miss something?

 

[hyprduc]

How much do you weigh and how long do you wait to brake in turn 1 ???????

 

[MongoWERA]

I'm voting for you accidentally applying the brakes as well. No way they should warp or discolor from even extremely hard braking.

 

[dave2riff]

The rear disc rarely ever warps anyway due to it's smaller size and diameter-to-
thickness ratio. The fact that it turned blue may indicate a tendency to
drag the brakes for extended periods, as I saw one disc do on a Suzuki that
had a caliper problem. Those Galfer wave rotors are nice pieces-- I'm surprised
you could warp them! I guess now you'll be out there (over-)analyzing your
braking habits at the track... be careful, we don't want to hear you went
sailing off the end of the track trying not to drag the brakes!

 

[PedroHM]

I would pull the calipers off one at a time and check that when you putt the lever the pistons react the same. I would imagine a sticking cyl could cause warpage with the heat generated. you could probably test it on the bike. if you pull the brake on do the disks move?

fully floating disks would prob solve the prob. but mega $$. maybe the front wheel is out of whack and the hubs are wonky.

 

[nemesisHM]

Are you giving the brake enough time to cool down after hard braking? Whats important is after hard braking where you know you have heated up the rotors, is to continue riding for a while so that everything can cool down. Rotos tend to warp, when the breaks have been heated up, calipers to.. And then parked, the entire rotor cools, exept for the portion of the rotor covered up by the caliper.

 

[johnchypermotard]

Are you giving the brake enough time to cool down after hard braking? Whats important is after hard braking where you know you have heated up the rotors, is to continue riding for a while so that everything can cool down. Rotos tend to warp, when the breaks have been heated up, calipers to.. And then parked, the entire rotor cools, exept for the portion of the rotor covered up by the caliper.

yeah alex ... stop pissing on your rotors when you come in from a session

 

[Monstaman]

Alex my rotors have warped too and I am waiting for a new set of rotors and pads to be replaced under warranty.


I hardly ever use my brakes but they started to warp and have progressively got worst to the point of the track day I did I was getting scared to use them with the pulsing.

So I used more rear braking which was ok but obviously could stop as fast.

I too have checked mine, I don't ride with them dragging, I have used brakeclean per the dealers instruction but to no avail they are now being replaced.

 

[08hyper]

Thanks guys for your impute, after the Laguna track day the Galphers are going back to them for a examination, hopefully they can come up with an answer.
Just a couple of points, I do not keep my fingers on the lever, & only use the brake when I need too, I do trail brake in tight corners to compress the forks so I can corner tighter, but that should not warp the rotors, maybe the calipers have a sticking piston, or the hub is "wonky" but if it is, the problem is not real obvious. The dealer also checked the front end and everything seems to be OK. This is the only bike that I have ever owned that I keep warping the rotors on. So I'll post up after Galpher looks at them to hear what they say, Thanks Alex

 

[BillyD]

If you are absolutely sure you're not dragging them, haven't over-filled the reservoir and the run out on the hub mounting flange is within spec, then I would check to make sure the compensation ports in the master cylinder are not blocked, perhaps by a piece of dirt.

I assume both rotors are warping, which suggests it in not being caused by the caliper piston-to-bore clearance being too tight. If it were too tight, then they could become sticky as operating temperatures increase (this has happened to me on another bike). I suspect having two out-of-spec calipers on one bike would be exceedingly rare, which suggests a common component elsewhere in the system is the root cause of both rotors warping.

BTW, I'm a very heavy front braker and have routinely warped rotors and carriers on other bikes, but I have had no such issue on the HM-S (but I have also changed the master cylinder to a 19x18 Brembo).

 

[08hyper]

Looks like Galpher is going to replace my rotors under warrantee, they did not offer up any reason why the rotors warped, but they did say I should ride in stop N go traffic for about 100mi, and since I get the bike back this Wed or Fri, and I have a track-day on Sat, it looks like I will be "breaking them in" on the track! so everyone that is on the track with me at the same time, be warned, that I plan to "park" it in the corners, just like Galpher suggested! Aloha Alex

 

[that ktm guy]

I know your tied into the Galfers with the warranty, but have a look at the braketech website. lots of good stuff there! and it's much easier than a diet.

 

[mental999]

I know your tied into the Galfers with the warranty, but have a look at the braketech website. lots of good stuff there! and it's much easier than a diet.

+1 ....Jeff at Braketech really knows his stuff.

 

[socalrob]

Any chance there is interference with the lever from the handguard? Even a microscopic interference is enough to cause brake drag. Its a common problem on BMW GSs with their hand guards.

 

[freezer16801]

the only rotors I ever warped were on my 03 R6 track bike after I developed a slight leak at the banjo on the caliper. I drilled the banjo bolt at a slight angle to safety wire that caused the problem. It never caused any issues until about the 7th lap of a club race. The leaking caused me to low-side too.

Any evidence of leaking anywhere? If not, I would bet on dragging calipers. I can't even get my brakes to fade during a track day on my standard model. I can't see how the monos would ever have a problem if they weren't dragging for some reason.