Warped Front rotor?

[k24_cm7]

Hey guys,

So I have a 2010 ninja 250r I bought used and it has just about 3500km (approx 2200miles) and I noticed that when riding at lower speeds there is a loud screeching notice that happens consistantly every few seconds.

The two things I thought of was either the brakes are worn down and done, or the rotor is warped. But from searching there was issues with something about a axle being too tight? I believe its my rotor though, Im not sure what kind of driving the previous owner did but you can see the glazing on the spots where the rotor is rubbing against the pad.

Is it common for rotors to go this soon on bikes? Im more of a car guy and im new to bikes but it seems like the only way to fix this issue is to go with a brand new rotor? Is it me or it seems like the rotor is prematurely done, (also depends greatly on braking habits too).

also a bit off topic, but when I bought my bike the owner lost the owners manual (not the service manual) , is there any where I can find one? Or is it needed really? I do have the service manual though...

Thanks!

[Skippii]

Screeching is generally caused by worn out pads.
Are the pads look worn out? That would be the first thing to check.

Warped rotors cause a pulsing sensation on the brake lever as the warped section passes over the brake pads.

Brake pads wear out much more quickly than rotors, normally.

Using worn out brake pads will very quickly warp a rotor.

[k24_cm7]

Originally Posted by Skippii

Screeching is generally caused by worn out pads.
Are the pads look worn out? That would be the first thing to check.

Warped rotors cause a pulsing sensation on the brake lever as the warped section passes over the brake pads.

Brake pads wear out much more quickly than rotors, normally.

Using worn out brake pads will very quickly warp a rotor.

Thats what I originally though, until I took the caliper off a noticed that there was still friction material on the pad. Again I am not familiar with motorcycles so I am unsure if my pads are still new or almost worn but there is definately still life left in them. I've never seen the thickness of a brand new pad so I cannot compare but I would believe my pads still have quite a bit of life left. My front and rear pads are pretty consistant, the front may be worn a bit more than the rear but not by too much. Here are some pics I took.


REAR PAD,


FRONT PAD,


I remember reading that they are done when there is 1mm of pad left, which I am fairly certain my pads are fine.

And I recently purchased this bike on an off season, so I didnt get to ride it much but when I did I never really focused on the pulsation and looking at the forecast, it looks like I wont be back on the bike anytime soon since its raining and snowing a lot over here.

I did make a quick video to show the sound of the rubbing, but I will still have to upload that and what not so Ill post it up soon when it can!

[cuong-nutz]

I think I'll put my money on that it's the spedometer seal/o ring on the front wheel hub. It's a fairly common issue and spraying some lube over it will rid you of the sound for a while. Another cause is that the dealership may overtorque the front axle nut. What you can do is remove th front wheel and put some bearing grease on the seal/hub and reinstall.

[k24_cm7]

Originally Posted by cuong-nutz

I think I'll put my money on that it's the spedometer seal/o ring on the front wheel hub. It's a fairly common issue and spraying some lube over it will rid you of the sound for a while. Another cause is that the dealership may overtorque the front axle nut. What you can do is remove th front wheel and put some bearing grease on the seal/hub and reinstall.

That was my first thought too, I;ve read about this issue multiple times,
Can someone point out where the spedometer o ring is? I tried spraying wd 40 on the two sides where I believe the bearing is , one side is open while the other side has a cover, ill assume this was the seal? Either way the wd40 did not help. I am still waiting on my spools to come in to put m bike up on the rear and front stands to re torque the front axle nut but until then I Can only wait for them to come in.

Video should be up soon, its taking forever to upload onto youtube but it will probably be up by tonight!

[alex.s]

wear ear plugs

if you cant feel the pulsing when you apply your brakes, your rotors are probably fine

[k24_cm7]

Put the bike on its stands, and from what I can tell when spinning the wheel...

the front rotor is warped... Time to get this replaced

[alex.s]

what makes you think the rotor is warped... let me post a video of what my front rotor warped looked like..

Link to original page on YouTube.

notice the clicking? thats caused when the thicker part of the rotor pushes the pads in, then when it gets to the thinner part of the rotor, the pads fall away from the caliper and click when they hit the rotor

what are the symptoms, outside of a sound? if you get on the brakes and you cant feel it pulse you probably dont have warped rotors. its probably your speedo drive or a bearing

[k24_cm7]

Originally Posted by alex.s

what makes you think the rotor is warped... let me post a video of what my front rotor warped looked like..

Link to original page on YouTube.

notice the clicking? thats caused when the thicker part of the rotor pushes the pads in, then when it gets to the thinner part of the rotor, the pads fall away from the caliper and click when they hit the rotor

what are the symptoms, outside of a sound? if you get on the brakes and you cant feel it pulse you probably dont have warped rotors. its probably your speedo drive or a bearing

Ill try to get a video up by tonight. A part of me thinks its the rotor but a part of me thinks it just way too soon for it to be warped. Again its just way too cold to ride it to test for pulsation but I may take it for a spin since it will be just above freezing in a few days

Judging from your video it may be the bearing or speedo drive. Ill have to do some research about that to get that fixed.

[Felipe the Ant]

Screeching or peeping? Screeching could be the speedo cable itself, my bike does that sometimes. It also causes a slight vibration.

Peep peep peep is also common, spray some lubricant under the black cover on the left side of the wheel. http://www.ninjette.org/wiki/My_Bike...ont_Tire/wheel

You would definitely know if you have warped rotors if you've ever experienced warped rotors before, it wouldn't be a question. Also if it means anything I have 5k miles on my bike and my brakes are still in great shape, I'm not exactly easy on them either.

[alex.s]

warped rotors feel like... if you were to repeatedly grab the brake and let it go about 5 times a second.

[k24_cm7]

video will be up soon, just uploading to youtube...

Some reason I decided to shoot with my t2i, its two and a half minutes at just under a gb >.<

Still think its my rotor thats warped, you will see why I think that in my video when it gets posted. Once again for like the third time I sprayed wd-40 over the speedo sensor and also in the bearings on the other side. Next thing will be to re torque the axle nuts...

[k24_cm7]

Here is the video! after two hours of uploading.

The video might not be super clear since I had the auto focus off, its quite annoying using it while filming. But it gets the point across.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZXsuzaL4bk

[Felipe the Ant]

You're right it is the rotor, but I'd call that bent more than warped. It looks like someone dropped the wheel on the rotor, has it been off recently? Or I suppose it could have been hit by something.

[KELPHYN]

Take your tire off, loosen all your rotor bolts and retorque them using a star pattern sequence. Start with half the recomended torque, then 3/4's, then full spec. Hopefully that will do it. Torque spec is 20 ft-lbs. Clean your pads and rotor will brake cleaner, reassemble and bleed.
If you don't feel the lever pulsing will you are braking or the it's not overly grabby then releasing as it goes over the high spot I would just see if it goes away with a little driving. What most likely happened is that the original owner stopped for awhile right after some aggressive riding/braking that over heated the brakes. What can happen is the heat from the pads transfers directly to that one spot on the disk while parked. Sometimes causing a slight high spot or warp, this will sometimes go away with use if not to bad. Good luck

[alex.s]

looks like the rotor was burnt. it happens when you use your brakes and get them super hot like going down hill, then stopping and holding your brakes on ... the hot pads scorch the rotor and screw with it and if you hold your brakes hard you can warp the rotor.

but... uh... well... you should probably replace it... but... well... if it doesn't pulse when you use them normally... its probably not that horrible to delay a while.

... but that's coming from someone who rides a widowmaker... probably bad to take my advice.

[k24_cm7]

Originally Posted by KELPHYN

Take your tire off, loosen all your rotor bolts and retorque them using a star pattern sequence. Start with half the recomended torque, then 3/4's, then full spec. Hopefully that will do it. Torque spec is 20 ft-lbs. Clean your pads and rotor will brake cleaner, reassemble and bleed.
If you don't feel the lever pulsing will you are braking or the it's not overly grabby then releasing as it goes over the high spot I would just see if it goes away with a little driving. What most likely happened is that the original owner stopped for awhile right after some aggressive riding/braking that over heated the brakes. What can happen is the heat from the pads transfers directly to that one spot on the disk while parked. Sometimes causing a slight high spot or warp, this will sometimes go away with use if not to bad. Good luck

Thanks for the info, I'll try your tip next week and hopefully it will be a little bit better.

Originally Posted by alex.s

looks like the rotor was burnt. it happens when you use your brakes and get them super hot like going down hill, then stopping and holding your brakes on ... the hot pads scorch the rotor and screw with it and if you hold your brakes hard you can warp the rotor.

but... uh... well... you should probably replace it... but... well... if it doesn't pulse when you use them normally... its probably not that horrible to delay a while.

... but that's coming from someone who rides a widowmaker... probably bad to take my advice.

LOL Thanks for the help, for now I'll just leave it. If it bugs me next season then maybe I'll replace it. I just want to get rid of the screeching sound while riding none the less.

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by k24_cm7

I just want to get rid of the screeching sound while riding none the less.

like i said. earplugs.

[k24_cm7]

Originally Posted by alex.s

like i said. earplugs.

lol , dont worry Ill have more newbie questions in the future you can potentially troll/answer

hopefully you dont take the troll comment offensively , nothing like a little internet trolling to get you through the winter months!

Once again to everyone who gave me input, Thanks!!

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by k24_cm7

lol , dont worry Ill have more newbie questions in the future you can potentially troll/answer

hopefully you dont take the troll comment offensively , nothing like a little internet trolling to get you through the winter months!

Once again to everyone who gave me input, Thanks!!

no trolling. im serious. if you arent wearing earplugs yoou shoould be. if you are wearing earplugs and yoou can still hear grinding, over the engine and wind noise, theres probably something up.

you will go deaf very quickly without some decent ear protection

[k24_cm7]

Originally Posted by alex.s

no trolling. im serious. if you arent wearing earplugs yoou shoould be. if you are wearing earplugs and yoou can still hear grinding, over the engine and wind noise, theres probably something up.

you will go deaf very quickly without some decent ear protection

Very good point, I actually didn't realize that a lot of people actually wear ear plugs while riding. I guess I never really looked into it because I planned on having the bike as an around-town kind of deal.

I would assume ear plugs would be a better idea for highway riding than around town riding. I plan on doing mainly around town riding, but who knows what will happen. I'll definitely look into a set of quality ear plugs.

Thanks again for the heads up!!

[alex.s]

anything above 35mph and i cant stand the wind noise

[k24_cm7]

i think my bike was assembled by king kong.

Took the front wheel off, first bolt was on super tight and I had to use a breaker bar just to break it loose, got one off.. The next one was slipping, and then I tried a 3rd bolt and that was slipping too. Didnt bother continuing since I didnt want to strip all of the bolts. Maybe just try again another time or just leave it and if its too bad ill just drill them out but ill try to avoid that for now.

[alex.s]

i assume you mean you tried taking the rotor off after the wheel was off. its locktite. and i would be scared if your rotor wasnt on there tight. IIRC torque spec is somewhere around 60ft/lbs. if it is stripping you are probably using the wrong size hex head. they shouldnt strip. check the first bolt that came out, what color locktite is it? should be blue but if its red take a blowtorch to it. also remember to tighten and loosen rotor bolts in opposite ends. ie, one side, then the other, then the other side again, etc. doing it in a circle one after another makes it impossible to get even

[k24_cm7]

Originally Posted by alex.s

i assume you mean you tried taking the rotor off after the wheel was off. its locktite. and i would be scared if your rotor wasnt on there tight. IIRC torque spec is somewhere around 60ft/lbs. if it is stripping you are probably using the wrong size hex head. they shouldnt strip. check the first bolt that came out, what color locktite is it? should be blue but if its red take a blowtorch to it. also remember to tighten and loosen rotor bolts in opposite ends. ie, one side, then the other, then the other side again, etc. doing it in a circle one after another makes it impossible to get even

yeap, my bad forgot to mention the most important part haha.
But yeah I dont remember if there was the locktite on it but I would assume so now that you mention it. And is it 60ftlb for the rotor bolts? I swear I think I seen 20ftlb for it ? Ill check my service manual again soon. And the bolt was pretty snug, I would understand why its slippling if it was smaller but it fit snug. Ill try it again soon though with a torch.

Hopefully I can get it off next time without too much trouble. Plan on painting my wheels with some white plastidip to see how it looks, if it doesnt look so well, then I can just peel the paint right off
Cheap, effective and reversible mod compared to getting the wheels powder coated !

[KELPHYN]

Yes the bolts have locktite on from the factory, a little heat should help free them. Remember to use non-permanent locktite when reinstalling them. The torque setting is 20 ft-lbs. Page 2-8 in your service manual. Don't forget to use a star pattern when retorquing.

[Skippii]

[Nemesis]

Another sign of a warped rotor is if it continuously get's stuck at one area of the rotor when you spin the wheel. To confirm, grab a sharpie and mark it anywhere on the rotor and remember relatively how far the mark is from the brake caliper (I marked mine 2 inches from the caliper). Spin the wheel and if it stops anywhere close to where you remember it to be than it's warped. Another way to confirm is to get in front of the front wheel, get a flash light and just aim it at the the tip of the rotor and if the rotor is warped that bad you can see that it's not perfectly linear when you spin the wheel. Well, at least that's how I was able to confirm it.

These front rotors ain't cheap man. Brand new goes for $280...used is...well pretty damn hard to find.

[alex.s]

im scared of used rotors