Brake pads?

What kind of brake pads does everyone like? Stock, ferodo, or EBC? I bought EBC today, but they look cheap to me and the metal seems to be gouged by the other pad inside the package like that metal is softer than it should be . I bought ferodo the last few times and and I don't remember them looking so cheaply made. Let me know thanks.


Mike

 

Where did you buy them from? Every EBC brake pad set I bought came on a single cardboard vacuum wrapped package, there is no way the pads would touch unless the plastic came apart from the cardboard. The quality of the pads seems fine to me.

 

OOTV and Long helped me install new brake pads last Sunday (Thanks again guys) I've used EBC several times -two on the VFR- and I haven't had any issues with them. I'm thinking you got a cheap EBC knock off?

 

I bought them from my shop here in Santa Rosa. They are in vacuum sealed packages ,but they are touching each other inside the package. They are EBC double-h sintered brake pads. Part # FA261HH Do the EBC"S last as long as stock pads? Do they cause the rotors to wear more? I heard that in another post. My bike has 38,000 on it now and I can't afford to buy new rotors.

 

These are the pads.

 

They look legit. As far as sintered pads causing more damage to your rotors, it would probably have been true many generations ago, but my understanding is that modern bikes have different rotors from those in the past and do not suffer from premature wear from sintered pads. BTW, I run the same pads on both my VFRs but can admit I have not checked the thickness of the rotors as of yet. Might find that I might be wrong! YMMV

 

I think EBC HH pads are fantastic, so much better bite than stock. As for disc wear I can't really comment, my bike has done 90K km and the discs are well above the minimum thickness.

 

They are exactly what's on my bike now and what I had before. They last as long if not longer than stock pads.
The front pads on the right disk on my bike had a lot of meat left in them, the rear ones were completely worn out due to me using my rear brake way more than using the front. A habit I got since riding dirt bikes and trail braking.
The above comment is just to illustrate how different our braking habits are and how they affect the longevity of pads. YMMV.

 

Cool, thanks guys. I just had bad feeling after the salesman tried to sell me a set of pads that was taped closed and both pads had marks from pliers on them. Plus, i didn't want pads that were going to wear out faster than stock pads. I may have start a long commute in the near future. OOTV let me know if you throw a micrometer on your rotors.

 

I have a question to interject: how do you guys know which EBC pads to buy? All the online retailers I look at, including amazon, claim this or that pad fits the VFR800, but the model number for the one on amazon is FA388HH, which doesn't match either of the ones in the photos you guys posted. Anyone know what's up with this?

 

The 5 Gen uses the same pads front/rear (FA261HH) and so did the 6 Gen up to 2005. The 2006 and onward 6 Gen uses different pads front/rear. 2006+ models use FA388HH (front) and FA261HH (rear).
Some online retailers like Revzilla and Jake Wilson allow you to enter in your Year/Make/Model and will only show the parts and accessories that will fit the Y/M/M that you entered. BTW, EBC has a downloadable Excel document that shows the different pads for each Y/M/M they make pads for.

Cheers

 

I use EBC, although this time round, they are taking a little longer to sit in the rotors snuggly. Feels a little too soft for my kinda riding at this point. Might be time for me to start saving for a new set of rotors all round!

 

Hey bladrnr what shop did you get them from? Mammoth? I'm out in SR too and looking to get some pads. Don't know if I really want to order them online

 

Think I read only 1 or 2 comments about this and still need some more opinions. The rear pads are gone on my ride but front are okay for now. I was wanting to install the EBC on rear for now and eventually change the front to EBC when they wear out if I am pleased with performance of EBC on rear. With the linked braking system, can I replace the rear and not the front? Thought I had read that couple people did, and although they noticed difference, was not that big of concern. thanks.

 

IMO there is nothing wrong with just changing the rear pads and not the fronts, especially if they are not worn. Although I would be wondering why the rear brake pads are wearing faster than the front. Unless you hardly use the front brake lever and mostly use the rear pedal but double check the left front pad as that caliper would be activating with the rear pedal.

I think the main reason to do both front/rear at the same time is that if you are bleeding the brakes, might as well make it worth while by doing them all at once. Bleeding the linked braking system is a bit of a process.

 

I am probably harder on back brake than most. Maybe I need to learn a more balanced braking technique. As someone else mentioned, could be bad habits I developed from years of dirtbike riding. I also kind of figured that was purpose of linked brake is so you really do not have to use front as much since it does automatically.

Thanks for advice. I will check front left pads to see if wear is different. I plan on changing fronts fairly soon just want to get rear fixed and get it on the road. The back must be replaced immediately. Front can last a little longer.

 

LOL! Long and I helped fellow VFRW member Mofo with changing his brakes and he also had a more worn rear pad, his reason was the the same as yours! I also helped member VFR714 and the rear pads on his were also worn a bit more. Yes, the linked brakes are meant to help even out braking but I do stand corrected, on the 5 Gen it is both fronts that get triggered, I was thinking of the 6 Gen, which is only the front left. On the 5 Gen it's the center pistons on both fronts that gets triggered by the rear. In the 6 Gen it's only the center piston on the left caliper. Sorry for the misinformation. The last three brake jobs I helped with were 6 Gens.

Either way, the front is where the majority of your stopping power comes from. On all of my bikes I use the front predominately, especially on my Duc! The bike is light to begin with and when braking the rear likes to raise up so the rear "locks up" rather easy. So in an effort to be consistent and for maximum braking I typically only use the front lever, since it will trigger the rear brake to some degree. About the only time I use the rear pedal more or exclusively, is when I'm lane splitting. Here I use the rear to "balance" my speed and keep the suspension as even as possible.