Locusts in my front brakes

[Beardo]

I've got a buzzing sound coming from my front brakes, sounds like a herd of locusts...or is it pack of locusts? A gaggle of locusts?

Anyway, I initially thought it was the notorious buzz bolt, but it's definitely related to the front brakes. It's speed related, buzzing starts about 25mph and gets louder and faster as I speed up. If I lightly apply the brakes, enough for the brakes to activate, but not enough to grab and slow down, it gets louder.

The pads appear to have a lot of life left. Maybe a wonky pad buzzing in conjunction with the drilled rotors? I found one other thread with a similar issue, someone recommended he hammer on his front brakes a few times. I tried that, didn't help.

Anyone else had this? The brake pads have about 20,000 miles on them. Do I just bite the bullet and replace the pads even though they appear to have lots of life left?

[Tfrank59]

No, no hammering.  20,000 miles on a set of pads ain't bad – probably should replace them.  Be sure to go with OEM pads, because the aftermarket ones can sound like cicadas more than OEMs will.

[Beardo]

Is it normal for them to buzz like that when they're worn out?

[hubcapsc]

Perhaps stuff needs cleaned... the pin the pads ride on (no lube, just clean)... the pins the calipers ride
on (clean and lube)...

If you're up to bleeding a drained system, there's next to nothing to the calipers, just a body,
two pistons and the seals, you could pop out the pistons with compressed air, clean them up too
and change the seals. If the pistons are insanely hard to get out, then they really needed it.

Coordinated people (not me  ) have skipped taking the calipers apart by taking them
off with the lines still attached, and putting a board (or something the right thickness) in where the
rotor goes, and mashing the brake lever to push the pistons out to where they are clean. Then you
can clean up the pistons and mash them back in. Of course if you push the pistons out too far, you'll have
a mess on your hands...

-Mike

[Tfrank59]

Is it normal for them to buzz like that when they're worn out?

In my experience it had more to do with the quality/material of the pads.  OEMs don't make much noise as aftermarket sintered metal on my bike. I don't know about Kevlar pads, but again best bet is going with Honda (Nissin) brand.

[Ricky-D]

Organic pads will be the easiest on the rotor discs and they also are the quietest running.

***

[sdv003]

Try replacing the clips at the top and bottom of the pad that hold the pad in place.  If you can only replace one, replace the bottom one near the pin that holds the pads in the caliper.  You might be able to take it off the caliper and bend it a bit, but they're cheap.  Made my gaggle of locusts go away.

[Beardo]

Try replacing the clips at the top and bottom of the pad that hold the pad in place.  If you can only replace one, replace the bottom one near the pin that holds the pads in the caliper.  You might be able to take it off the caliper and bend it a bit, but they're cheap.  Made my gaggle of locusts go away.

Great, will try that. Thanks for all the other replies everyone.

[Momz]

A swarm of locusts perhaps?

[Paladin528]

I suspect you are using EBC Pads....
I have the same issue on my Valk I/S.  I also had this issue on my Shadow ACE T with EBC Pads.  OEM pads do not exhibit this behaviour.

If you look at the pad the OEM is cut into 3 "Pucks" on the pad.  The EBC is cut in half, 2"pucks".
I suspect the heat generated by braking is causing pressure to build up in the Cross Drilling of the rotor and it "Pops" as the hole passes the pad and the pressure is not relieved like the OEM pad. through the space between the "Pucks".

Oddly though I have only ever had the issue with the front brakes and never the rear.

[Beardo]

I've got some OEM ones on order. There's 22,000 miles on these pads, so even though they appear to have lots of pad left, I'll replace them. I don't think it's going to damage the rotors or anything the way it is, but it's annoying.  As per the advice on here, I've ordered the metal clips too.

I can also feel and hear a slight grinding sound from the front wheel that is a separate sound than this buzzing. The previous owner replaced the wheel bearings at 22,000kms, I've got 68,000kms on it now, will replace them too.  So, as far as speed related sounds from the front, there really can't be anything else it might be, with the exception of maybe the speedo cable.

[Tfrank59]

"Slight grinding sound" –any grinding sound-- not good. Better get to the bottom of that.

[Beardo]

"Slight grinding sound" –any grinding sound-- not good. Better get to the bottom of that.

Yeah, it just started. Just started to hear and feel it in the handle bars this past week. It's very quiet, my wife can't hear it when she's on the back, but I can hear and feel it in the bars.  Bearings are cheap, better safe than sorry.  I'm very picky about any rattles, squeaks, clunks, etc, especially on 2 wheels.

[Firefighter]

Have you removed the pads ? Could be metal to metal or something stuck in the pad?

[Beardo]

Have you removed the pads ? Could be metal to metal or something stuck in the pad?

No, not yet. If they were new, I would have, but with 22,000 miles on them, if I'm going to take them off, I'll just replace them. 

[WintrSol]

This hasn't been mentioned, and I assume the answer is 'no', but have you recently loosened the front axle? I found out the hard way that there is a possible clearance issue between the left rotor and caliper housing, and you have to adjust the left fork to have the correct gap between them, or the rotor will contact the caliper, making a speed-related clicking or chirping.

[Beardo]

This hasn't been mentioned, and I assume the answer is 'no', but have you recently loosened the front axle? I found out the hard way that there is a possible clearance issue between the left rotor and caliper housing, and you have to adjust the left fork to have the correct gap between them, or the rotor will contact the caliper, making a speed-related clicking or chirping.

Thanks for mentioning that but no, the front wheel hasn't been off lately. Not since the tires were changed about 7000 miles ago. (According to the previous owners detailed service records he gave me) I've only had the bike for a couple months.

[Beardo]

So I replaced my front brake pads and front and rear wheel bearings today. Was getting a grinding sound out of both front and rear as well as the buzzing.

Turned into a bigger job than it should have been thanks to whoever did some work on he front fork previously. Noticed something fishy when the axle bolt was very hard to turn out and it looked like someone had to really hammer on the axle to get it in. Once the bolt was out, the axle was almost impossible to pull out. Once the wheel was out, noticed the right fork was a fair bit longer than the left, which was why the axle was so hard to get out and why it looks like they buggered up the threads on the bolt/axle. Out came the tap and die set to save the threads. Luckily they weren't too bad and the axle wasn't toast.

So now...why was one fork longer??? Removed the right fork cap...it looks like whoever had the fork apart last buggered up the ends of the thread, so when they screwed the cap on, it only grabbed about 1/8" of threads. So that was why that fork was longer. Managed to get the threads recut on the threaded rod and cap, tightened up and the fork was now the same length. Got the bearings and pads and little clips replaced, no more buzzing. So I'm not positive what was making the sound but it's gone.

Rear bearings went ok...except for the screw I found in my tire while doing it. Plugged it too.

So a simple job turned into a bit of a fustercluck because whoever had that fork apart last didn't take the few minutes to see why the axle wasn't going in right, just got out a big f'n hammer and pounded it in.

[hubcapsc]

We have used bikes... now yours is better than it used to be 

-Mike

[Beardo]

The thing that surprises me the most(well, not really) is that the previous owner gave me detailed service records right from day 1....and all work was done at a Honda dealer...and that's the kind of work they did. 

[Tfrank59]

So was the locust swarm noise or grinding sound the wheel bearings, brake pads, both or not sure?

[Beardo]

So was the locust swarm noise or grinding sound the wheel bearings, brake pads, both or not sure?

I know that Troubleshooting 101 tells you to only change 1 thing at a time when trying to identify a problem, but I had the new pads and bearings, didn't want to take a test drive after doing each one.

So I don't know exactly what the buzzing was from. Perhaps because everything was slightly off kilter, that contributed to the bearings and the pads wearing prematurely/unevenly. Pretty sure the buzzing was from the pads though. They were EBC pads as well, which apparently are louder than Honda ones, which I put on now.

[Tfrank59]

No, it makes perfect sense to do everything while you're in there good job   And sorry to learn that the PO screwed up stuff on you.  Anyways happy ending right?

[The emperor has no clothes]

The thing that surprises me the most(well, not really) is that the previous owner gave me detailed service records right from day 1....and all work was done at a Honda dealer...and that's the kind of work they did. 

Yeah I know what you mean. The dealers around here are not to be trusted. IMO

[Beardo]

No, it makes perfect sense to do everything while you're in there good job   And sorry to learn that the PO screwed up stuff on you.  Anyways happy ending right?

You bet. Thanks for all your replies in this thread. 

And I don't fault the PO, he did what he thought was best...taking it to the dealer.  Unfortunately that isn't the case all the time.   I'm sure some dealers have capable mechanics, but some don't.

[CoachDoc]

In my experience it had more to do with the quality/material of the pads.  OEMs don't make much noise as aftermarket sintered metal on my bike. I don't know about Kevlar pads, but again best bet is going with Honda (Nissin) brand.

I totally agree. I had EBC metallic pads on my front calipers and had lots of annoying buzzing. Went back to OEM and brakes are MUCH quieter.

[Tfrank59]

When I went to OEM rear pads, and it might be that my rear rotor's getting worn, but now it makes that horrible screeching noise just before I come to a stop – sounds a lot like some of the cages out there

[hubcapsc]

When I went to OEM rear pads, and it might be that my rear rotor's getting worn, but now it makes that horrible screeching noise just before I come to a stop – sounds a lot like some of the cages out there

When my rear rotor was worn, there was a big lip on it, is there a big lip on yours?
Perhaps the lip is eating away at the edge of your new pads and screeching...

I haunted eBay and got a 20K rotor with no lip for... I forget now... 20 or 30 dollars 

-Mike

[Tfrank59]

No, there's no big lip on it, and I miked it and there's still plenty of thickness over the minimum, but there is some wear -- it's a 98 and pretty sure that's the original rotor.

[Tfrank59]

When I went to OEM rear pads, and it might be that my rear rotor's getting worn, but now it makes that horrible screeching noise just before I come to a stop – sounds a lot like some of the cages out there

When my rear rotor was worn, there was a big lip on it, is there a big lip on yours?
Perhaps the lip is eating away at the edge of your new pads and screeching...

I haunted eBay and got a 20K rotor with no lip for... I forget now... 20 or 30 dollars 


-Mike

Thanks for checking this – it's been pointed out in recent posts that one must take care and get the same year rotor for the rear – like an 01 rear rotor won't work on a 98.

[hubcapsc]

Your rotor is probably not part of your problem then...

From memory, rear rotors/wheels up to 99 (except for the 99 Interstate) are all the same.

99 Interstate and everything else is the new kind.

I have a 99 rotor on my 97 as I remember. The parts fiche has all the answers.

Maybe you need to lube the pins the rotor rides on. Don't lube the pin
the pads ride on, but it is good for it to be clean... Here's a picture I
took one time when I forgot to clean it while doing caliper maintenance...
You can see the clean place on the pin in the  before picture from where the old
worn out pads were riding...



-Mike