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vibrating front wheel while braking

denisthegod

denisthegod

Big Wheel
Hi guys,

I'm Denis and i've been using my 09 Connie for a year now.
Recently I noticed that my front wheel shakes violently when I brake hard, and I brake hard sometimes just for the braking practice.
It started gradually but has increased to a an issue of serious concern. Im thinking of changing the front tire, and balancing the front wheel. If that fails i might consider replacing the front wheel and steering bearings.
Any ideas that can help me would be very welcome.
 
Mine did that, my wheel bearings were destroyed. It still does it to some degree so I believe my rotors are warped. Probably one caused the other, not sure which came first since it did it when I bought it.
 
Is it a shake from side to side or front to back, like the brakes are pulsing. Wheel bearings can produce a sound and ruff feeling
as the wheel rotates. Wheel imbalance is usually found to increase with speed weather braking or not. It might be you have a
high spot on your rotors, possibly a glaze spot on the rotors or a warp rotor. The first thing to do is look closely at both rotors
on both sides of each for any surface defects, change in color, change in shine. With a fine sand paper of emery paper scrub the
disk surface both sides to remove any brake pad material.From what you are describing I'll bet this will fix your problem.
Richard
 
Its a shake from side to side,
The rotors did change color a bit looking kind of bluish as if it was heat treated.
 
Doesn't the warranty cover the rotor's on the 08's and 09's? I thought that this was problematic with these two years..
 
I warped my 2000 rotors easily with heavy braking.  Apparently all stock rotors can warp easily under hard braking.
I however have not been able to warp my EBC 320 rotors  with HH pads under the most brutal braking.
 
As Daytona Mike points out, "heavy braking can warp the stock rotors" If that is the case they will need replacement. I have
heard of people bending there rotors and fixing or correcting the warp area. I've never tried that so am still some what
suspect. Just in case and if you have to replace the rotors anyway scrub the rotors with sand or emery paper to remove
all the brake pad material and see if it helps any. What have you got to lose.
 
Would it be true to say Connie brake rotors don't get turned? When they go bad...for any reason...you throw 'em away and buy (expensive) new ones?
 
denisthegod said:
Its a shake from side to side,
The rotors did change color a bit looking kind of bluish as if it was heat treated.
Click to expand...



As thin as motorcycle rotors are heat from excessively hard braking can cause warping. However what most folks don't realize is  if a rotor is not cleaned with brake cleaner or  similar solvents after being contaminated by any oils (fork oil, motor oil) or even brake fluid the residual contaminated areas when subjected to hard braking at elevated heat will warp at, well warp speed.

Thus the "blue" heat treated look.

Clean rotors not only brake better, they also last longer.
 
Clean rotors not only brake better, they also last longer.
Click to expand...

I found the brake pads are leaving brake material on the disk. When things get too rough for me, I sand the disk with some flexable pads with medium grit I found at the hard ward store. I not sanding to polish but rather to clean. After a treatment of a few minutes on each side, the front brake is as smooth as glass again and will bury the front end if ya ain't careful.

I also found a couple of hard braking sessions sometimes will clean the rotors off.

Keep in mind one one of those guys who try to anticipate  braking needs and can get 100K out of my 4 wheel drives brakes with out working real hard on it.
 
denisthegod said:
Hi guys,

I'm Denis and i've been using my 09 Connie for a year now.
Recently I noticed that my front wheel shakes violently when I brake hard, and I brake hard sometimes just for the braking practice.
It started gradually but has increased to a an issue of serious concern. Im thinking of changing the front tire, and balancing the front wheel. If that fails i might consider replacing the front wheel and steering bearings.
Any ideas that can help me would be very welcome.
Click to expand...

after hard braking, for extended periods, when you come to a full stop, do not continue to hold the brake lever on.  that is when the pad material "migrates" to the rotor, which causes the pulsing brake feel.  if you stop a a big hill, go to nuetral, put the side stand down, to stay off the brakes.  what people think is warped rotors, in many cases, is this deposit of pad material to the rotor. that causes the pulsing.  this happens when the brakes get real hot and you keep the brakes applied at the stop.  not saying the connie rotors don't warp, but warping and pad deposit is the result of too much heat staying with the rotor.  either because they are undersized or not designed properly(wave rotors dissipate heat better: zx10r).  i read a lot about this pad deposit problem, on specialty  after market brake suppliers.  they also said it was very difficult to "clean" the rotors, once contaminated.  "turning was the only cure, but that cannot always be done with most of todays' rotors. they said that some rotors and pads are much more likely to do this.  that is why the after market is always a good place to go to, if you really want to fix a problem. guys are using galfer or ebc rotors, with their companion pads, to "fix" the c-14..
 
Thanks Guys, i'm gonna try resurfacing the rotors, then further testing.
If the situation dosen't improve to my satisfaction then i'll go for the ebc rotors and pads.
 
My stock front tire is becoming less round ( as expected ) and gives somewhat the feel of an out of round rotor. I would measure the side tolerance before replacing parts, as they may not be the source of the vibration.
 
After 26,000 miles on my 08 C14, my rotors were warped. Kaw replaced them at no charge with the new improved 2012 rotors. Then after 6,000 more miles, the new improved 2012 rotors were warped far worse than the originals. Kaw says since it's out of warranty now, and since they're not having any problem with the 2012 rotors, they won't do anything about it. I've installed EBC rotors and the problem is cured. Is anyone else having trouble with the 2012 rotors? I'm a 64 year old guy. I don't ride hard and rarely ride double. I just can't figure why Kaw doesn't want to own up to their problems.
 
You may want to see how cupped that front tire is. I notice that the wiggles magically go away with new rubber and clean surface of rotors
 
This is usually an indication of a problem with the rotors, and the C14 which the C14 has a bad reputation with. Take it to the dealer and ask them to replace the rotors under warranty.
 
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