Caliper rubbing rotor...using mix'n'match Ducati parts. UPDATE w/ ride.

[b.]

Maybe that fork is tweaked a bit.  

FML.

Or maybe you over-torqued your axle? wouldn't that pull the fork in a bit?

Axle was only torqued to 20 lb-ft. so that I could bounce the front end and make sure everything was seated properly...still hoping that for some reason it still isn't seated right.

could you possibly have put the wheel spacer on the wrong side? making the wheel much closer to one for than the other? i don't know, just throwing out thoughts...

Negative.


I should be able to work on the bike tonight .  I'll update with my findings...

[b.]

Update:  I was able to wrench on the bike last night, so I pulled the calipers and wheel off again and did some more inspecting.  The forks are good, same measurements on both sides.  The distance between the caliper bolt holes and the rotors are the same at all four points.  I mounted everything again and was still making contact at the same point.  I checked the other side (that doesn't scrape) and noticed that there's basically 1-2mm of clearance between the rotor and caliper and I really think it would be no problem if I had OEM Brembo rotors as they are a lot thinner than my Galfers. 

I went ahead with the filing of the one caliper that was scraping and took off just enough material for it to clear.  It visually looks the same, except for the now exposed metal from where I filed.  Everything seems to be A-OK now, but I wasn't able to ride it last night. 

I think the only thing worrying me at this point is how much the pads are contacting the rotor...I can only get about a 3/4 spin of the front wheel when giving it a good "kick" with my foot.  All four pads dropped in easily this time so I don't think there are any more clearance issues.  The pads and rotors only have about 2K miles on them since they were put on and I had similar results at first installation.  This might all go away after taking it around the block a few times...

Thanks again to all for the insights/info.

[DarkStaR]

Still seems like a lot of drag on the pads after the re-install considering that pads have been broken in already.

My worry is that is that the excessive drag will create too much heat and FUBAR the new rotors, or worse yet heat up enough to lock it up when parts expand from the heat.  Seen it happen before unfortunately.

[dlearl476]

Still seems like a lot of drag on the pads after the re-install considering that pads have been broken in already.

I could buy that IF the pads were installed in exactly the same location as they were taken off.  FWIW, my wheels seem to be "sticky" every time I put them back together, but they're usually fine after a ride.  (IMO, it has more to do with pressure of the fluid in the calipers equalizing than anything to do with the pads.)

b. If I were you, I'd button it up and find a place you can re-bed the pads.

http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm

And check after a few stops to see how hot the brakes are.  The calipers, not the rotor. The rotor will be hot as hell, and should be.  If, after 7 or 8 stops, and a short ride, the calipers are hot, you've got a problem.

[DarkStaR]

I could buy that IF the pads were installed in exactly the same location as they were taken off.

They were put back in the same location/orientation.

FWIW, my wheels seem to be "sticky" every time I put them back together, but they're usually fine after a ride.  (IMO, it has more to do with pressure of the fluid in the calipers equalizing than anything to do with the pads.)

That makes sense.

[NAKID]

I don't know. 1-2mm of clearance between caliper and rotor doesn't seem anywhere near enough. Ideally, the rotor should be right in the middle of the open space in the caliper...

[b.]

I don't know. 1-2mm of clearance between caliper and rotor doesn't seem anywhere near enough. Ideally, the rotor should be right in the middle of the open space in the caliper...

On the side that was no issue at all, the rotor is right in the middle of the open space--it's just that there's only that 1-2mm of clearance on each side.  I agree, it's awfully close and I would like to see more...

And check after a few stops to see how hot the brakes are.  The calipers, not the rotor. The rotor will be hot as hell, and should be.  If, after 7 or 8 stops, and a short ride, the calipers are hot, you've got a problem.

This is the plan.  I want to take it around for a little bit and check things out.  Things always seem to adjust after a ride so hopefully I don't experience any of these overheating issues with the brakes.

[dlearl476]

On the side that was no issue at all, the rotor is right in the middle of the open space--it's just that there's only that 1-2mm of clearance on each side.  I agree, it's awfully close and I would like to see more...

Did you buy the forks used?  If so, I'd hazard a guess that one of the flanges on the fork is tweaked a tiny bit. (Really hard to total a bike with zero damage to the front end, if your forks indeed came from at total.)

IMO, 1-2 mm isn't a game-stopper and probably has to do more with the relative thickeness of the Wave vs. OEM rotor than anything.

One last hunch:  Are you sure the discs are seated properly?  I ask because when I put my OEM rotors on my new Alpina wheels, one of the rotors had a little excess paint in the ID and on one side of the rotor and I had to sand it off to get the rotor to mate properly with the wheel.  You might want to give that a look.  Then again, I believe you said the tab is closer on the top vs bottom or vice versa, so maybe that doesn't apply.

[corey]

one last thought... how many times does your wheel spin WITHOUT the calipers mounted?
your axle isn't bent is it?

[DarkStaR]

one last thought... how many times does your wheel spin WITHOUT the calipers mounted?
your axle isn't bent is it?

<Just so there's no confusion why I'm answering also, the bike is being worked on in my garage>

It's spinning normally w/ out the pads in the calipers...approximatley +10 rotations or so.

[b.]

Alright, so I took the bike out for a short ride that included several hard stops.  The suspension performed just fine, much better than my stock ones and nothing felt out of the ordinary.  The brakes felt fine as well, no vibration in the lever and no difference in stopping power prior to the fork swap.  I checked the calipers as dlearl476 described after some hard stops and they were cool to the touch. 

After getting the bike back in the garage and up on stands again, I spun the front wheel to see if anything had "loosened" up, but it was still difficult to spin the front wheel--almost one full rotation with a good kick.  Looking at the calipers and pads again resulted in this find:



This is a head on shot from the front of the bike at the caliper that I was having issues with scraping the rotor.  It's a little difficult to see at first, but there's obviously some sort of kink in the fork bottom.  You can see that the brake pad does not sit parallel to the rotor and that the upper piston protrudes ever so slightly more than the lower.  The other side of the bike is fine.

This is obviously bad for pad wear, but I assume this can only lead to worse things.  Can anyone shed light on what might happen if I rode it like this?  I figure I have to choose from the options below:

1.  Ride it as is and see what happens...
2.  Shim the top caliper bolt to bring the caliper/pads parallel with the rotor
3.  Grind the lower fork leg bolt hole to bring the caliper/pads parallel with the rotor (I'd much rather shim)
4.  Put the stock forks back on and figure out what to do with my new paper weights...

[dlearl476]

If it were me I'd shim it and wait for a smoking deal on a good fork lower.  A bent fork is virtually worthless and I'd think in many cases the lower would be okay.  AFAIK, you never answered my question about the "used" fork, I'm still assuming it's off a wrecked bike, right?  That would explain the situation.

[BK_856er]

I assume that the forks seem straight in the sense that they have good action and travel, and the axle slides in/out easily.  Apparently it's just the caliper mounting flange that is canted to one side due to prior mystery crash damage, and the consequence is exaggerated by the relatively thick aftermarket rotors.  Caliper interference was removed with light grinding of the caliper and there is no overheating or binding on initial test ride, although the "spin the wheel" test result indicates more than ideal friction (less than one revolution).

I would very carefully inspect the fork bottom for unseen damage or cracks, measure the distance between the R/L caliper mounting flanges to try and characterize the extent of the tweak at the upper and lower bolt holes, and then carefully ride it as is for a few rides with the intention of keeping it as is.  As the pads conform to the new contact angle your spin test might improve.  Just my $0.02.

BK

[b.]

AFAIK, you never answered my question about the "used" fork, I'm still assuming it's off a wrecked bike, right?  That would explain the situation.

Yes, they're used, and came from an S4R that was being parted out.  I didn't get any additional information other than that they were sold as "good shape with no damage."

I assume that the forks seem straight in the sense that they have good action and travel, and the axle slides in/out easily.  Apparently it's just the caliper mounting flange that is canted to one side due to prior mystery crash damage, and the consequence is exaggerated by the relatively thick aftermarket rotors.  Caliper interference was removed with light grinding of the caliper and there is no overheating or binding on initial test ride, although the "spin the wheel" test result indicates more than ideal friction (less than one revolution).

I would very carefully inspect the fork bottom for unseen damage or cracks, measure the distance between the R/L caliper mounting flanges to try and characterize the extent of the tweak at the upper and lower bolt holes, and then carefully ride it as is for a few rides with the intention of keeping it as is.  As the pads conform to the new contact angle your spin test might improve.  Just my $0.02.

BK

The forks seem to "work" just fine although it really was a short test ride.  I've inspected the fork bottom a lot (aside from trying to remove it from the fork slider) and there's no visible damage. 

Measurements were taken from R/L caliper bolt holes to the rotor and each point was exactly the same distance.  I'm not sure what else to measure...

I really would like to keep it as is and ride it around easily until I'm confident things work.  I guess I'm just afraid that I'm putting myself in danger if this could lead to some sort of failure in parts.  I intend to ride to Laguna Seca for motoGP and will have the opportunity to take some easy rides before hand, but the fear of something bad happening on the trip is keeping me up at night...

Anyone else have any thoughts on the consequences of shimming or riding it as is?

[ducatiz]

what about replacing the slider?