A quickie on ceramic brake pads for GS1100G

[Guest]

Good or Bad?

A prospective auction purchase opportunity beckons

Cheers

[Nessism]

Ceramic brake pads? What's wrong with stockers or EBC organic? Tried and true.

[tkent02]

Maybe they work better?
We need all the help we can get in that area.

[Paul_IOFJS]

Go with ceramic. They dissipate heat better, last longer and create far less brake dust than organic and semi-metalic pads.

[chef1366]

Go with ceramic. They dissipate heat better, last longer and create far less brake dust than organic and semi-metalic pads.

Are they hard on the rotors?

[tkent02]

Go with ceramic. They dissipate heat better, last longer and create far less brake dust than organic and semi-metalic pads.

And do they give more braking power with less finger pressure?

[Steve]

And do they work when cold?

[bwringer]

Looks like you're the appointed brake pad tester, then.

Let us know how it works out.

If we don't hear back in a month or so, we'll send condolences...

[Steve]

OK, I just did a little search and found this on tirerack.com:

Why Ceramic Brake Pads?

We want our vehicle's brake system to offer smooth, quiet braking capabilities under a wide range of temperature and road conditions. We don't want brake-generated noise and dust annoying us during our daily driving.
To accommodate this, brake friction materials have evolved significantly over the years. They've gone from asbestos to organic to semi-metallic formulations. Each of these materials has proven to have advantages and disadvantages regarding environmental friendliness, wear, noise and stopping capability.
Asbestos pads caused health issues and organic compounds can't always meet a wide range of braking requirements. Unfortunately the steel strands used in semi-metallic pads to provide strength and conduct heat away from rotors also generate noise and are abrasive enough to increase rotor wear.
Since they were first used on a few original equipment applications in 1985, friction materials that contain ceramic formulations have become recognized for their desirable blend of traits. These pads use ceramic compounds and copper fibers in place of the semi-metallic pad's steel fibers. This allows the ceramic pads to handle high brake temperatures with less heat fade, provide faster recovery after the stop, and generate less dust and wear on both the pads and rotors. And from a comfort standpoint, ceramic compounds provide much quieter braking because the ceramic compound helps dampen noise by generating a frequency beyond the human hearing range.
Another characteristic that makes ceramic materials attractive is the absence of noticeable dust. All brake pads produce dust as they wear. The ingredients in ceramic compounds produce a light colored dust that is much less noticeable and less likely to stick to the wheels. Consequently, wheels and tires maintain a cleaner appearance longer.
Ceramic pads meet or exceed all original equipment standards for durability, stopping distance and noise. According to durability tests, ceramic compounds extend brake life compared to most other semi-metallic and organic materials and outlast other premium pad materials by a significant margin - with no sacrifice in noise control, pad life or braking performance.
This is quite an improvement over organic and semi-metallic brake materials that typically sacrifice pad life to reduce noise, or vice versa.

so ... it looks like they should do alright, so please let us know how they work.

.

[Griffin]

I need some new brake pads for my 750E. I might try some ceramics and see how they work out.

[Griffin]

Looking at the Dennis Kirk website, it appears that EBC also offers Kevlar brake pads that fit most GS models.

Anybody ever tried those?

[dardoonk]

If we don't hear back from you, we're all gonna think twice before fitting ceramic brakes

[Tarbash 27]

I work at an auto parts store. And I say about 80% of the brake pads I sell are ceramic pads. I sell dozens of pads a day. Most of the new cars require these pads or there supplied as OEM from the factory. Most of the newer part numbers are only made in a ceramic pad. I say the other 15% I sell are semi-metallic and then the 5% organic pads. Those are geared towards the older cars.

[Larry D]

Found this ceramic pad stuff.

Scroll down for applications. There's three pages and alot of GS's...almost too many. Can this one product fit all these bikes ?

http://www.cyclepages.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=4019522

[Nessism]

Found this ceramic pad stuff.

Scroll down for applications. There's three pages and alot of GS's...almost too many. Can this one product fit all these bikes ?

http://www.cyclepages.com/ProductDet...ductID=4019522

There are only a few different styles used on GS bikes since the braking systems were pretty much standardized.