Starting to get a squeal on the front brakes of my '84 k100.  Does anyone have a particular place that can get the pads at a decent cost? - in Australia would be amazing. Also noticed the best deal I can find on a rear disk is out of the states and quite dear - any recommendations here? as it will likely need replacing next season.

I get my pads from an outfit in California called D2Moto.  I don't know if they ship to OZ, but it's worth asking.
https://www.d2moto.com/products/1983-1988-bmw-k100rs-8-valve-kevlar-carbon-front-rear-brake-pads
Their Volar brand pads wear well, stop strong, and don't tear up the discs.  They are a bit dusty and have a tendency to squeal when new, but considering the price, I'll spend a little extra time cleaning my wheels and put a little anti-squeal on the back when I install them.

try here for a rear disk , some work to be done   but good price

https://kmodelbeamerbits.com.au/bmwk-seriesshop.html#!/K75-K100-K1100-K1200-New-Aftermarket-Rear-Brake-Disc-Rotor-P4/p/68896194/category=23450039

perhaps some anti squeal on the pads could help ...sprays on

Every so often I look at the D2Moto  site to see if they are shipping to OZ. I just tried, still no shipping outside of the US.
Regards Martin.

Metal gear in Brendale QLD do cheap discs. I tried two front sets and the first set chewed out rapidly. Rang them and was told I should be using their pads, tried again still no difference. Tried EBC discs previously and they chewed out. I rang EBC and was told they were aware of the problem and are now using hardened discs. I managed to spot a set of EBC fully floating ABS discs from either Motorworks or Moto Bins on special over a year ago and bought them after checking they were hardened.  I do not have a ABS bike but they will fit. I got them for $400.00 Au shipped to OZ ordered on Monday received on Friday. I was told by EBC to use their organic pads as they are less abrasive. However as I stated in the previous post I'm hoping that D2Moto might lift their ban on shipping to OZ.
Pads are definitely the key to long disc life, but must be balanced with desired braking power.
Regards Martin.

It's a shame D2Moto doesn't ship down under.  I am very pleased with my volar pads that are on all three of my bikes. 
I don't know if Volar is a private label, but it might be worth trying to find if they have a distributor in Oz.  If I get a chance tomorrow, I'll see if the Volar packaging has any kind of an address.  I don't recall seeing one, but I'll check anyway.

My experience with Volar has been mainly a poor one. I bought from D2Moto on eBay. I stocked up knowing I'd have a coupla bikes needing pads. There are varying opinions erring on the con side of the argument available about the brand on the intertronwebs - I take that with a few grains of salt - and base my opinion on personal experience.

On the three bikes I used them on only the 2000 K1200RS accepted them like any other brand, sintered in front, non-sintered out back. They fit and stopped reasonably well for the less than two thousand miles I owned it, and then I sold the bike....no history from there

The Big Block got Volar non-sintered pads in all three callipers. After just two thousand miles all three sets were unusually thin and I replaced them with EBC non-sintered. The 'feel' was ok, nothing dramatically different from other brands. This year's hard riding using shows very little wear on the EBC, so the callipers can be ruled out as a culprit for the rapid wear.

The R100 Mystic got a set in each front calliper - that is, if they'd have fit. They did not just drop in. Each time I rode the bike the discs were extremely hot to the touch. I had to file the pin holes into alignment to get them to fit properly (four piston Brembos like a K1100RS). I never did get them to line up so I pitched them in the bin and used EBC non-sintered which slid right in.

They are cheap, I'll agree with that.

Post I put up a while ago. Still going strong.

https://www.k100-forum.com/t7460-bargain-brake-pads

TWB did you ever try the Volar Carbon Kevlar ones as run by Point Seven Five.
Regards Martin.

I have been using bargain pads for years on bikes and automobiles.  One thing I have learned is that they are often a couple thousandths oversize and a tight fit in the calipers.  This is because they are often made with stampings from old, worn tooling.


To me, five minutes of filing and a shot of high heat paint are a good  trade off to get pads for $5 per caliper.

I've installed dozens of sets of cheap pads on my vehicles over the years and so far have never had a pad failure.   I don't race, but I do ride at the edge of what I can legally get away with, and so far have found no shortcomings in brake performance.

As far as longevity, I use carbon kevlar to minimize wear on the rotors.  Being softer than sintered/ceramic pads, I only get about 3 years or 25-30,000 miles out of a set of $15.00 pads.

Being retired and riding a total of over 20,000 miles a year on three bikes I am always on the lookout for cheaper ways to keep a high maintenance standard on my bikes.

MartinW wrote:TWB did you ever try the Volar Carbon Kevlar ones as run by Point Seven Five.
Regards Martin.

Yes, that's exactly what I used on front of the Mystic, all round in the Big Block, and in the rear of the K1200RS; the easy-on-the-disc compound.

As I currently enjoy distributor-level access to EBC, Braking, Galfer and the new Renthal line of brake pads I don't mind going for a pad that fits immediately, brakes and wears well with no adjustment necessary. To each their own - according to their needs and expectations. To be fair the Volar brakes felt good at the lever when applied with vigour. Their bite was strong whether in rainy conditions or in dry weather, and no unusual wear occurred on the disc faces. They also did not squeal.

TWB so in your opinion what would be the best EBC pad to use in relation for long disc life. At the moment not sure what discs or pads I am running at the moment . I think they might be a set of EBC non hardened ( no marking except for min thickness marking) with SBS pads.

I still have quite a bit of life in them as the wear rate has settled and evened out after the last pad change. I have a set of floating ABS disc in the wings. However after experiencing high wear and tramlining on the two sets of Metal Gear and the one set of EBC, I wont put them on until I find a set of pads that won't destroy them.

Seeing as I can't get Volar and you probably have better access to EBC information. You might be able to back up what information I received from EBC. He said that they are now using hardened steel on their discs, to solve the wear issue, can you confirm this? He also said to use EBC Organic pads as they won't chew up the discs, can recommend these. Any information would be gratefully received.
Regards Martin

I know it's each to their own, but I won't use EBC organic (or organic of almost any type). There's nothing wrong with the pads per se but I'm in a very wet climate and there's a distinct and very unpleasant lag when you hit the brakes while the pads clean the water off the discs. I don't get that as badly with EBC sintered pads (HH rating). The other difference between my setup and the majority on here is that I'm running cast iron discs because it's a better braking material than the OEM or AM stainless types. There's a downside though - you have to see it to believe the amount of shite they throw on the wheel rims. I don't know about the wear rate (currently 60,000+ miles with no real discernible wear) and I'm not too bothered because I have a spare set in the cupboard. Between them, the disc sets will probably outlive the bike.

Up the front on my bikes - with a bit of sport in them - I use sintered pad material of any of the brands I choose, I'm not too worried about disc wear because I seem to get very good life from discs, and from pads of some quality. On bikes I'm primarily going to run about town or an easy cruise, I use non-sintered. I also use non-sintered out the back partly because I'm not a hard rear braker.

It rains buckets here in the Pacific North Wet and I've had no issues with EBC lacking good bite or having that slightly vague thing known as feel. All of my bikes (other than the red RS in OZ which has 292mm) have front brake discs of at least 305 to 320mm with four piston callipers, and most have ABS, as well. As for a new level of hardness coating on EBC brake discs, the part numbers haven't changed so it might be unverified goss, a bit of well-oiled snake oil, a good guess, or someone is telling a porky.

TWB as I said I emailed EBC about their high disc wear and here is a copy of the email I received back.

From: Mike Cooper   |   Date: 09/09/2016 7:04 PM  |  Email

To: will-ann6@bigpond.com
View message details



Hi Martin, in the past we have made this disc from Cromwell stainless -3cr12 which didn’t get hardened. This means that if you use a sintered pad wear rates could be very high especially when the bike is fully loaded. The answer to the wear problem is to use a softer organic pad but then you lose the heat handling and wet weather characteristics of a sintered pad.
Now though we use a hardened 420 stainless for the rotors which is fine with sintered pads and has much better wear characteristics although touring with a heavy load is always going to be hard on brakes.
So if disc life is important then try the organic or our semi sintered “V” pad. If performance is the priority then stick with the HH pads. either way disc life should be better now.
 
Kind regards
Mike Cooper
Data & Technical Adviser
01604 583344
 
I also checked back as I was not sure of what pads and rotors I was running, as  I had a couple of different sets around. I found at the moment I am running Metal Gear discs with SBS ceramic. I had previously run pads supplied by Metal Gear.
Regards Martin.

Back in '04 I fitted a set of 285mm EBC floating discs to my R100 with ATE callipers. They didn't last longer (fitted EBC's 'organic' soft compound carbon/kevlar pads) than 20,000+/- miles and the material always seemed to attract corrosion. It could be that they've made this suggested change since then, but that's potentially years ago. The discs I sell from them now are of pretty high quality, though their prices aren't always the best value as compared to Galfer, Braking, & etc.

When I worked in parts at Motorline in Daisy Hill (Qld), Metal Gear aproached us about selling their pieces as an option for our customers. I recall that the pad materials on offer were rougher (coarse, lots of metal content) than the competition at the time, but they seemed to make a good disc, and would fab up something custom if you gave them specs. It's been five-plus years so I don't know how they're faired in that time with quality and supply. I suspected some of their pads came from China.

TWB I can't remember what brand of pads I used with the first set of Metal Gear discs were. But very high wear rate, but definitely not as bad as their discs with their recommended and supplied pads. Their prices however are slowly creeping up. When I get closer to needing new pads with my current discs I might do a concentrated effort and see if I can either find an alternate supplier. Or it night be worthwhile trying to persuade D2Moto into shipping.
Regards Martin.

Next time I'm back home in OZ (mid-2018) I'll take along some EBC FA18 pads for the Down Under forum members who need them. That number fits a whole heap of early K Bike callipers, and 1980-on Airheads, except ATE lookalikes on an R65. It's the front and a lot of the back two piston Brembos - square pad.

FA18 non-sintered, FA18V semi-sintered, and FA18HH sintered. The odd duck K bike uses an FA171 out back. It looks the same but its dimensions are slightly different. If it's four piston Brembos on a K11 you're riding then use FA407, FA407V or FA407HH.

I thought I'd add what is probably useless trivia re brake pads from my experience. This was prompted by posts about filing the backing plates.

My K75 had ABS from the factory. During my renovation I chose to remove the ABS. When I came to change the front pads I fitted EBC FA18 pads as to my eyes the calipers were identical to the rear caliper on my K1100  (FA18 pads).
Once the K75 was in service I noticed that whenever I hauled the front brakes on hard from a decent speed I would get a slight shudder. It would pull up fine and I didn't notice it at moderate applications of the brakes. A fellow K75 rider told me the same story. Regular googling and reading on this forum led me to the knowledge that the front pads on post September 1988 K75 bikes had a backing plate measuring 57mm (FA171 in EBC speak) and pre September 1988 had 55.5mm pads (FA18). The rear caliper, apparently whether ABS or not, takes 55.5mm pads. I'm not sure if this applies to ABS and non-ABS bikes.

I put a set of FA171 pads in the front and like magic the shudder disappeared. The other K75 owner had the same result with a change of pads size. This info may or may not apply to K100 but it is possible that reports of tight or loose pads from various owners might be down to this small variation.

Cheers

Gaz wrote: Regular googling and reading on this forum led me to the knowledge that the front pads on post September 1988 K75 bikes had a backing plate measuring 57mm (FA171 in EBC speak) and pre September 1988 had 55.5mm pads (FA18).

This is when BMW went from organic to sintered pads on the front brakes.
The sintered pads generates more heat, which wasn't acceptable for the
gaskets in the first version calippers.
This is to avoid to use sintered pads in the early version.

As always Inge, thanks for filling in the blanks in my knowledge base. After discovering the difference I wondered what the logic was behind the change.  

Inge, your command of arcane minutea is incredible.