Squealing Brakes

[LAB3]

What are the stock pads OEM made of?

My guess is there's some asbestos involved in making them, same thing happened with car brake pads. Had some carbon fiber composite type pads on an 83 Goldwing which where supposedly the closest thing to the originals, they mushroomed out at the edges like an old brass drift. Never had a complaint on how they actually did their job but I can add that I didn't have that bike long enough to say how long they lasted.

[bikerphil]

Well, the SS shim material I'm using is .012", perhaps the flashing material you're using is a bit thinner and can't absorb the vibration?

[LenB]

You might be onto something there bikerphil. What I used was Home Depot roof flashing that comes in a 6" wide roll, brown on one side - white on the other and listed as being .0115" thick. Also like your configuration of home-made shim. I got fancy and almost wrapped the pad, except where it it would obstruct movement. Kind of thinking now that it needs to be a little less attached to work properly. Do you think it would make any difference if I put one behind the non-puck-side pad, too? And of course grease the (bad word) out of everything.

[bikerphil]

You could try a shim on the inboard side, it couldn't hurt. I wouldn't go too crazy with the grease, you sure don't want it to migrate to the pad material, just a thin layer behind and on top of the shim and also on the slots on each end of the pad. I think new fresh organic pads would definitely reduce the tendency of squeeling.

[DiverRay]

rather than grease, get some of the brake anti-squeal "liquid". It's red, in a tube, and just put a little between the pads and the shims. It should act as a vibration damper and keep the noise down.

[bikerphil]

Sorry I meant to say hi temp brake specific grease.

[LenB]

Striipped everything apart again and applied a little grease on the pad sides of the shims - only applied on the puck sides before. Also found that my home-made replacement inboard pad locator screw tips weren't small enough and, when fully snugged down, actually secured the pads instead of allowing them to float - a possible further cause for noise and eventually uneven wear. The long/short of it is that once all bolted back together, a quick blast down the back lane, stopping hard several times, produced even, quiet braking. Good for now - we'll see how long this will last. Maybe Santa will hook me up with a nice set of organic pads. If only I'd been a good boy.....

[bikerphil]

Well I hope it works out. Most of the squeaking I would experience would be with light braking at slower speeds.

[LAB3]

My pads generally stop squealing after a fresh coat of grease is applied, they'll stay that way for a few hundred miles and gradually stary making noise again. How fast that happens has a lot to do with how much dirt gets picked up and gums up in the excess grease, using it sparingly actually helps.

Adding a groove running the length of the pad with a hacksaw does help a LOT in quieting things down. After looking and reading further I really need to have fresh shims and real live organic pads (or as close as I can get to asbestos) to be satisfied that I've done everything that I could to resolve the issue.

[DiverRay]

Permatex or CRC disk brake quiet. Read instructions and use it to keep the pads from squealing. You apply it when fitting new pads and forget about it. It's been around for years, and it works.
OK, end of rant....

[jetmechmarty]

What are the stock pads OEM made of?

Sumitomo is the brand.

[bikerphil]

Some of these pads like organic EBC make a lot of dust, which highly contributes to squealing. Blowing everything out with compressed air and/or brake cleaner sometimes is a quick fix.

[jetmechmarty]

What are the stock pads OEM made of?

I replaced my squealing OE Sumitomo brake pads with new Sumitomo brake pads. So far, 500 miles of quiet.

[DEEBS11]

XS11 shim kits.

https://yambits.co.uk/xs1100-brake-pad-shim-kit-p-54196.html

[jetmechmarty]

XS650 calipers are identical to XS1100 standard. The XS650 has more support. Keep that in mind when shopping brake parts.