Oily Brake Pads

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lazyeye6

lazyeye6

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Not long ago I gave my front end a facelift which included NOS fork tubes, bushes,
oil seals, Ferodo Platinum brake pads and Landsdowne dampers. Well, the oil seals
apparently have not done what the name implies and enough fork oil migrated down
to impregnate the brake pads. As might be expected, the front brake hardly works
at all now. It appears that the seals leakage has now slowed/stopped. Can the brake pads be salvaged by cleaning or are they toast? $37 for a new pair. I won't ride the
bike with such bad brakes.
 
You can wash them in MEK but I bet it is soaked in and will resurface endlessly.
Money matters but the cost of new pads isnt really that great compared to the
hospital bill or the lawsuit when you squash some ped and face the legal bill.
 
I would make sure all leaks are stopped and do a real good clean up before mounting new brake pads , probably your only option ....
 
Scrap the pads.

Make sure you fixed the leak.

Thoroughly clean down the forks, wheel, tire and hub to remove all oil.

Best results would be a gentle abrasive blast of the disk surface but you can scuff it up with a very fine abrasive cloth to remove all residues (oils, oxides etc..).

Install new pads and carefully bed them in.

While at it, change out the brake fluid if you have not done so in a while.
 
Solvents tends to drive oil deeper into porous pads, to sweat out agan during use. HOT detergent then wet sand paper, wipe off and repeat sanding till dull dry new surface and Bob's your privileged uncle you won't need to ask for a favor. Could propane torch after the detergent to vaporize out before vaporizing out on the fly. Can solvent off steel rotor of course.
 
Dances with Shrapnel said:
Scrap the pads.

Make sure you fixed the leak.

Thoroughly clean down the forks, wheel, tire and hub to remove all oil.

Best results would be a gentle abrasive blast of the disk surface but you can scuff it up with a very fine abrasive cloth to remove all residues (oils, oxides etc..).

Install new pads and carefully bed them in.

While at it, change out the brake fluid if you have not done so in a while.
Click to expand...

+1
 
I had the exact problem with my front brake pads getting oiled, boiled them in Dawn, brake cleaned the discs many times

finally bought new pads, problem solved but I did clean to clean the disc quite regularly to keep contaminants off the pads
 
I appreciate the comments by all. Am ordering new pads today.
But to follow up on the issue of "cause", why would NOS fork tubes and new A/N fork seals
have leaked so much? Is this a common occurance? I carefully examined the fork tubes which were quite pristine and
were lubed up prior to sliding the seals in place. I have read of fork seals which do not leak and the attendant
caution that they are prone to stiction.
 
When you have the stanchions and sliders on your bench stripped of all else, see how loose they are.
Mic the stanchions at several places and see how much they differ. You can get them replated and
then resized but check pricing new ones may be a better option.
And with a Norton you can get new bushings for the sliders unlike some others like late Tri-BSA.
 
NOS is a rather misused, or misunderstood term.

Too often we assume it must mean:
“NOS genuine factory parts to perfect quality”.

But it can just as easily mean:
“NOS crap pattern parts that were SO BAD when they were new, no-one wanted them. But NOW I can sell them as NOS”!
 
Last edited:
Fast Eddie said:
NOS is a rather miss used, or miss understood term.

Too often we assume it must mean:
“NOS genuine factory parts to perfect quality”.

But it can just as easily mean:
“NOS crap parttern parts that were SO BAD when they were new, no-one wanted them.But NOW I can sell them as NOS”!
Click to expand...

(K)nackered old stock or NOS
 
Fork tubes were new in sealed original Norton Villiers boxes citing the correct part No. True, they could have been parts
which were subject to bad quality control. Yes, I used new paper gaskets.
 
New pads are your safest option. That said, I've cleaned many a set of automotive or motorcycle pads & shoes. The first step to doing a proper job, is to break the glaze off the surface. 220 grit sand paper works well to do this. After removing the glaze, I soak the pads/shoes with aerosol brake parts cleaner [trichlorethylene].

http://www.crcindustries.com/products/brakleen-174-brake-parts-cleaner-19-wt-oz-05089.html

Allow the friction surface to dry, then repeat as/if needed. When the friction surfaces are no longer discolored, you are done. With the glaze removed, the other solvents reported should also work.
 
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