I find that the brakes squeal all the time, except when I really get into them stopping. Are there other pads that wont squeal as much? Why don't other bikes brakes squeal like these?

squeal ?? ....could be the type of pads youve got on + age, hardening and contamination ....there are anti squeal products around .

once i took to mine with a file to get the hard crust off them ...(different bike and a few years ago) worked ok .

What brake pads have you got on the bike are they genuine BMW pads?
Regards,
K-BIKE

I too have this noisy problem. My pads were handed to me by my local bike shop (non-BMW but very experienced with them). They are called Ferodo
Platinum ( I suspect a reference to the cost there). I'm stopping ok but making lots of squeals in traffic, sort of like a truck.
I was led to believe this was an inherent K thing?
Regards RT

ferodo ......hmmm i never had much success with them rt ...yes they stopped ...but nothing special ......sorry should clarify, this has been on cars and stuff .. my thoughts are they are too hard a compound ...bendix had similar issues a few of years ago trying to get away from asbestos products ...but they have it sorted now ...not sure what to recommend for the "k" mate ......

I am going to take them apart and look at them, they may be glaze dover but the previous owner was very meticulous about maintenance. I do know that EBC sells what they call a double sintered pad. Anyone try these?

Personally I use the standard pads from BMW, stop OK all the way up to the point where ABS detects a lockup and releases the brake and they don't squeal.
Regards,
K-BIKE

My understanding of sintered pads is that they are designed to work with a specific disc material. If the disc are not suited to sintered pads the disc will wear extreamly quickly.
Regardless of that they will stop very well with both types of disc.

The Icer brand from Motobins are a soft compound, stop well wet or dry, don't squeal or score the brake discs and fit the budget too. Cheap as! I've heard from BMW bike mechanics that if you pull the lever too easily then the brakes will squeal mercilessly and it doesn't get better once it glazes over. Pull the pads out, clean the rust and deposits off the back of the pads, then pass some fine sandpaper over the surface of the pad to cut through whatever might be contributing to the squeal. It was recommended to me to clean the pads off with a good brake cleaner solvent too. No more squeal.

I'm using Icer pads in the front calipers.
Work well with no squealing.
Try a good caliper clean up and anti squeal on the back of the pads.
Would be wary of compounds that could wear out the discs. Have you seen the price of replacements?

I can get the EBC sintered pads for about 33.00 U.S. per set.

Hi there, Im using EBC pads (front and rear) and rear rotor since december, rotor installation was troublefree, performance has been flawless since then aprox 2050Km.
Best regards
JAP

My K100RT had new Metal Gear discs and pads fitted to it when I bought it earlier this year. The brakes work well and are powerful but it has that squeal when you apply them softly. I tried applying CRC Disc Brake Quiet to the back of the pads but have found it doesn't work. I have heard you can buy some sort of self adhesive backing film which sticks the back of the pad. Has anyone tried this?

Some say you lose feel in the lever but is seems to work. Have you checked the wheel bearings I have seen them cause a squeal.

STEVE1959 wrote:I have heard you can buy some sort of self adhesive backing film which sticks the back of the pad. Has anyone tried this?

Have used a thin (0,6 mm) reinforced rubber film made for this purpose,
in several years with good result.

The front wheel has new bearings fitted as the previous owner had the wheels blasted to bring back the appearance as they had tarnished over the years so I am pretty sure they are good. I will see if I can find a store that sells the backing material and give that a try. The pads seem to work fine apart from the habit of squealing but different pads might be the answer. I bought a brand new R100 in 1983 and it had the same thing but I can't remember what I tried to fix the problem.

I am currently using EBC's FA407HH sintered pads (copper backing plates) in the front and Motobins-supplied, cheap-as-chips Icer pads in the rear of my K100RS with four piston Brembos up the front. There is no squeal. BMW's OEM pads can be branded as Brembo, Textar, Tokico & etc, and are always more dosh ($) than quality aftermarket pad sets, though they're less prone to squealing.

Check there is no rust and scale on the caliper pistons where they contact the pad's backing plates, and also bevel the edges of the pads and the backing surface after roughing them up a bit with a metal kitchen 'scrubby' (I don't recommend sandpaper for what should be obvious reasons - unless you hose them off bloody good with brake parts cleaner), as well as the disc surfaces, front and back. Sometimes just consistently giving the brakes a mansqueeze at the lever instead of a girlie boy tickle alleviates the squealing problem.

Yes GITH you are right a mansqueeze does stop them squealing for one or two applications, but sometimes you can't do that say if you are rolling along in traffic. I tend to think the dust coming off these particular pads might have something to do with the problem. I might order some of the Icer pads from Motobins, I see someone else on this thread recommend them as well. The local car mechanic that I take my bikes to for rego checks says he smears the back of squeaky pads with silastic and that cures the problem. Could be worth a try?

Anything that makes the pads "vibrate" less will help with the squealing issue. That's what Silastic, or rubber goo, or metal shims do. The pads are often just vibrating so much that they squeal. it isn't always "glazing" of the pads to disc surfaces. This is why it's important to get rid of any scale or rust on the piston to pad backing plate surface.

Ten years ago whilst I was working with an old BMW parts guru, (who the mechanics used to come to when they had an "issue", especially with K bikes as he had nineteen hundred gazillion miles on his daily ride '85 K100RS), he told me that the only way to really keep the porky pig at bay was to regularly squeeze the brake lever harder, as required and with safety in mind. He reckoned generally "lazy" braking effort over time was the start of the squeals. That bit of advice (and the rest of the helpful suggestions I've heard) have helped me overcome the piggly wiggly brake issue over time with my K.

The "fixed" two piston Brembo isn't a particularly good nor modern brake design, though they've been used since the '70s on Guzzi, Ducati, etc., and from the '80s on BMWs. There is no good way for the pads or the discs to "float" and centre properly. This weakness is an inherent part of the design, and flawed. You may know that BMW used floating buttons on the 16V models with four piston calipers later on. These, in general, work better.

When I used Icer-brand pads on the front of my bike with two piston Brembos I got no squeal but they're best left for the back brakes, IMHO.

All good information GITH, you can't beat experience and sounds like the old parts guru knew his stuff, will try your suggestion of using the brakes a bit harder and I will give the pads the silastic treatment as well. At the end of the day as you have pointed out it must be the design of the caliper that is the problem.