Front brakes locked on

PBBoxer · Post by **PBBoxer** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 1:30 pm

I ws surpirised too. It's obviously a potentially lethal problem. I bought a BMW hoping to get top build quality and reliability, but in reality, the paint work, the brake caliper problems, corrosion etc are all worse than some Jap bikes.
Still keepin me S tho hehe

winny · Post by **winny** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 2:16 pm

Once a month!...are they taking the p***

I don't know how many miles your bike's covered, but you clearly have a problem. Mine's a 1998 and I changed the front pads at 24k although there was about 2mm still left on them and I never have experienced any braking problems. In fact that was the only time I've ever had them apart.

I would try not to let too much water get on to the brakes because once the calipers start to rust you're fighting an uphill battle.

Can only assume it's either the pads moving incorrectly in the calipers or the pistons sticking (in which case you can do temporary fixes but you never really solve it without buying new)

John

adamski49 · Post by **adamski49** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:29 pm

As I understand it it's the BMW labelled calipers that are affected. The Brembos on the 2000 and earlier are ok.

Personally if I had the newer calipers I'd either want it sorted out by BMW or get rid of the the bike. A slow speed get off might be acceptable to some (not me) but a 120mph definitely isn't... or does the lock up only occur at slower speeds where it can ditch you under the oncoming/following traffic

What with this and the intermittent servo brake failure trading for a newer BM doesn't seem so appealing at the moment.

Adam

Lightrunner · Post by **Lightrunner** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 4:23 pm

Yeah I bought a BMW hoping for better build quality and long term reliability. At the moment I don't feel too disillusioned... it's not the silver haloed two wheeled machine that I’d had in my minds eye but I love it. While their choice of paint and the problems with the brakes have caused me a slight reality check I still grin like a fool every morning when I start her up and pull off.

The bike’s an ’03 model with 7.5k miles on the clock and it does have the BMW stamped callipers. From talking to the guy on Saturday it’s all to do with the pads sticking at either end of the calliper when you get even the slightest amount of muck in there. An early post in this thread recommended sanding / filing the pads down slightly as they have a tendency to stick. I did that but I’ve just remembered that they were changed at the 6k service. I can only imagine that the previous owner must have had the same problem as there’s no other reason for eating a set of pads in 6k is there?

I guess the ideal solution is to change the callipers to more reliable ones

RiceBurner · Post by **RiceBurner** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 4:48 pm

it's a bit odd - I've done 57,000 miles on a (now 9 year old) ZXR400 and it has Tokico's and they've never behaved like that.

one thing I think is a problem is that for some reason BMW brakes don't "back-off" very well - I personally put that down to overly complicated braking system and will be changing my Rockster to a racing style "Just 2 lines" system. (ie instead of having 4 braided hoses with 8 junctions between m/c and calliper - you have 2 lines and 3 junctions in total).

My bike did something similar the other day after having sat in the dealers for a week or so (probably outside) and the discs were rusty as buggery and the entire front end was corroded to shit - it wasn't like that when the guy came to pick it up in the van.

Archie · Post by **Archie** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 4:49 pm

Once a month - I think they're having a laugh. When I stripped mine I found the biggest problem was 'fur' building up behind the dust seals, and squeezing the pistons. This was your usual ally fur, which was surprising since they're anodised.

It maybe that applying some grease (not sure which sort though) behind the dust seals would keep the moisture out and stop the fur from re-occurring.

winny · Post by **winny** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 1:35 pm

Adam,

I didn't realise the brakes had changed. Could this be part of the reason for the miraculous drop in price by £300-£400 in 2000. I know I was pretty miffed at the time but reading this thread, I'am now glad I bought an expensive one.

PS: Could anyone tell me how you do that quote thingy, cos this PC's in imminent danger of going through the window.

John

RiceBurner · Post by **RiceBurner** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 1:49 pm

winny wrote:Adam,

I didn't realise the brakes had changed. Could this be part of the reason for the miraculous drop in price by £300-£400 in 2000. I know I was pretty miffed at the time but reading this thread, I'am now glad I bought an expensive one.

PS: Could anyone tell me how you do that quote thingy, cos this PC's in imminent danger of going through the window.

John

winny - look at the top right of each post - there's a "quote" button lurking....

Does anyone know of a bike that has PROPER weather seals over the brake pistons??

nab 301 · Post by **nab 301** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 6:54 pm

Does anyone know of a bike that has PROPER weather seals over the brake pistons??

Could i mention the "M" word again

Yes there are dust covers fitted to the calliper of my MZ 3*1

Rgds Nigel B [/quote]

RiceBurner · Post by **RiceBurner** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 5:14 pm

nab 301 wrote:
Does anyone know of a bike that has PROPER weather seals over the brake pistons??
Could i mention the "M" word again
Yes there are dust covers fitted to the calliper of my MZ 3*1
Rgds Nigel B

[/quote]

you know - somehow..... I'm not actually surprised....

julian · Post by **julian** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 5:25 pm

Did someone mention MZs? Gromit will be along in a minute.

Only two bolts on my 30 year old MZ Supa5 are rusted - and it lives outside.

BOWLER · Post by **BOWLER** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 2:59 pm

My old k75rt had rubber covers over the pads and pins so why did they stop fitting them. Had no problems on that bike or my 1100RS.
jEFF

ChasesDragons · Post by **ChasesDragons** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:01 pm

Might as well exhume this thread than start a new one in the same vein.

Is it possible to install the earlier non BMW-branded callipers on the newer bikes? Mine is a 2003 non-ABS and the brakes are dragging on the disks - there is a bit of rust on them due to not being ridden in a while though.

Are there other calipers that might fit without resorting to adapters?

Thnx

BockingBandit · Post by **BockingBandit** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:16 pm

Don't wish to destroy any hopes,.. but my 1999 Brembo's stick as well, possibly not as bad as the later BMW branded calipers,... but they do bind over winter.
Geoff

ChasesDragons · Post by **ChasesDragons** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:07 am

NUTS!

Might have to look at unlinking brakes then, see if that might help. Standby for another thread

.....of course, a normal human being would take the bike down to a dealer and get it diagnosed, but where is the fun in that.

Udhi