Need help with squeeky brakes

Can anyone here offer any suggestions? My front and rear brakes always squeek on my 77 Kz1000. I tried replacing the pads with non-metallic vesrahs. I used a dual action sander on the rotors to break the glaze and put the anti squeek stuff that looks like rtv on the pad backing plates and they still squeek:angry:. Should I try another type of pad? I'm running out of ideas.

Some pads will squeel. There's nothing in the World that I've ever tried that worked other than trying a different set of pads. I was buying stock Kawasaki pads and they never squeel, but got so dang expensive I put in a set of Vesras and they worked OK but wore out in 1/3 the miles of the stock Kawasaki part. I thought it was still a better deal since the Kawasaki part is way more than 3 times the price of a vesra so I opted for another set of vesra, and they squeeled so bad the bike was not ridable. I then tryed a couple other brands and they squeeled so bad it was to embarrasing to even ride, so back to Kawasaki parts only regardless of price. Watch ebay for brakes. They pop up often.

Yeah I hear ya Ron. The original pads were quiet but is has been hit or miss since. I thought the problem was with metallic pads so I bought these cheap non-metallic vesrahs and the noise is embarassing. Can you still get brakes from Kawasaki or are you talking about NOS? All the things I did in the above post helped but after only one 60 mile ride I can start to hear them so it will probably only get worse. Thanks for the advice.

I think Kawasaki still sells brakes, but they are way upward of $100 for each set of pads.

If the pad you are using is "one-piece" use a hacksaw and place a cut in it to divide it in to "two sections". Cut only down to wear indicator. Or try braking later and harder. That is the only way I could get the front brakes on my 650 to stop squealing.

This seems to be universal as my 650 does the same, I wonder are you using solid or drilled rotors, does it make a difference?

RomSpaceKnight wrote:

If the pad you are using is "one-piece" use a hacksaw and place a cut in it to divide it in to "two sections". Cut only down to wear indicator. Or try braking later and harder. That is the only way I could get the front brakes on my 650 to stop squealing.

Interesting suggestion, in which direction should I make the cut?

thanks,

DesertWizardB1 wrote:

RomSpaceKnight wrote:

If the pad you are using is "one-piece" use a hacksaw and place a cut in it to divide it in to "two sections". Cut only down to wear indicator. Or try braking later and harder. That is the only way I could get the front brakes on my 650 to stop squealing.

Interesting suggestion, in which direction should I make the cut?

thanks,

You cut straight across the pad so the cut runs directly across the brake rotor. Just for info, I tried this, tried the red auto stop squeel crap, sanded the rotors and pads. If any of this works, great, but I would highly bet against it.

I use to work a a well known brake shop chain and had this problem alot.What the problem is is the sharp edges that form on the pads.If you bevel the edges of the material the squeeking is eliminated 90% of the time.

rammy wrote:

I use to work a a well known brake shop chain and had this problem alot.What the problem is is the sharp edges that form on the pads.If you bevel the edges of the material the squeeking is eliminated 90% of the time.

Most pads are beveled already when you buy them for Kawasaki brakes anyway. Just for info, I also tried this with no success. As far as I know I tried every method there is and nothing helped one molicule. I really thought it rediculous manufacturers could sell brakes they either didn't test for conformity to the given task, or flat didn't care that the product was unusable. This went for Forodo, EBC and Vesra. All 3 will not work, unless you are very lucky, which I am not I guess.

Has anyone ever tried anti-squeal shims?
They always worked for me on cars like magic! I made my own out of shim stock. I've never had to try them on bikes though.

My EBC pads have never sqealed enough to be a problem on my gpz550. Every now an then I get a tiny squeak if it's really humid out.

we used to cut multiple grooves across rear brake pads,but it was done to lessen the affect of rear brake so wheel would not lock up so easily when you are playing real hard.the brake pads they make now dont work like the good ol stock kawasaki pads in my opinion if you can get stock pads reasonably priced go with them.