Squeaky front brakes 80 GS550L

[Guest]

My front brakes are terribly noisy. Changed the pads and applied some disc brake quiet to the back of the pads but no help. I would have to believe that the rotor needs to be turned or scuffed up, not really looking forward to that job.

Any other tricks to get those things to quiet down?

[Badooka]

Try a little cleaning on the rotors, they can get caked up with grime- a scrubby pad or some steel wool with break cleaner or carb cleaner should help-

[Nitronate]

Badooka you the man!!! I didn't think that was going to work but I took the caliper back off, cleaned up the rotor like you suggested and put some more disc brake quiet on the back of the pads. No more squeaky brakes!!!

Thanks!!

[cowboyup3371]

I'm glad that you were able to get rid of the noise but something you didn't say would still bother me if they were my brakes. What maintenance has been done with them other than changing pads? When was the last time you flushed the fluid completely out and replaced with new stuff? Do you still have the old rubber brake lines or did you replace them with newer stainless steel?

I would take another look and make sure your brake system is up to snuff but that's just my personal opinion.

[Nitronate]

You raise a good point, and the answer is, I don't know. I just bought this bike and have only had it for about 1,000 miles. It still has rubber brake lines so I have to believe they are original. Not good, I know.

What's your full recommendation on what I should replace? I've heard of some people making their own lines. Should I do that or buy some pre-made? Thanks for the insight.

[cowboyup3371]

It's up to you really. I tried the make your own and for the rear brake it worked great. However, I had problems getting the ones on my fronts to work properly so I gave them up and bought pre-mades from Z1.

Either way, I would also thoroughly disassemble your calipers and replace the seals in there.