Brake chatter

[grnarrowe]

Has anyone experienced front brake chatter on a gen 3?

Late last summer I noticed that the front brakes would chatter under hard braking.

When I took it in to the dealer they could not find anything wrong and Yamaha had not heard of any others having this issue.

Now it seems like when I brake then ease up on the pressure on the front I can feel it.

After we got back from vacation last summer I took it back in as the chatter was still there. It showed up on US-550 as I was going downhill into a turn, not inspiring at all. The dealer changed the pads per Yamaha. The wear on the pads was 1/1000 of an inch in 19,000 miles.

It feels like one of the pads is not set. It feels like one of them wants to jump out of the caliper. It's on the front left and the discs look fine.

Any ideas?

 

[Ignacio]

Not talked about many, Many, MANY times....but just many times...so not quite NEPRT. I see 4 or 5 threads when entering +brake +chatter alone. Throw in shudder and you get more. I'd start there and don't try and make it specific to Gen 3....similarly applicable issues regardless of Gen...many are about disc brakes in general.

 

[Cyclepath]

Sorry to add into this after your thoughtful comment there Ignacio, but a random thought popped into my head when I read this; wondered if his steering head bearing could be loose [as an alternate root cause of that scary noise] ?

 

[mech 1 twa]

Can you feel it through the brake lever? Pulsing. Bike shakes? Most likely a warped brake rotor gets worse when hot.?

Bought a set of Galfer rotors many-many years ago here on a group buy.. Warped in 2 years. J--k. Rotors have excessive run out.

 

[grnarrowe]

It happens after easing up on the pressure on the brake lever. I can feel it in the lever.

Yamaha has said they will replace the rotors and I'll have the steering head checked as well.

 

[RossKean]

How the hell could they measure brake pad wear of 1/1000 of an inch??? There's 10X that much variation in the textured surface of a sintered pad. And at that rate, they would outlast that bike (and the next one)! Someone needs to step away from the caliper (or micrometer) or learn how to use it and correctly interpret the results.

I have certainly felt some sort of "buzzing" but never chatter. I attribute this to the holes in the rotor passing over the leading edge of the pads. Chatter while braking hard would be a concern to me.

 

[Bustanut joker]

How the hell could they measure brake pad wear of 1/1000 of an inch??? There's 10X that much variation in the textured surface of a sintered pad. And at that rate, they would outlast that bike (and the next one)! Someone needs to step away from the caliper (or micrometer) or learn how to use it and correctly interpret the results.
I have certainly felt some sort of "buzzing" but never chatter. I attribute this to the holes in the rotor passing over the leading edge of the pads. Chatter while braking hard would be a concern to me.

I've felt buzzing and heard chatter once.

Turns out it was two flies fluttering about me front rotor chatting about the dead grasshopper decaying in it. Just sayin'

 

[grnarrowe]

I didn't have two flies buzzing about but I did get the rotors replaced and it seems fine now.

Went for a long-ish ride today and no chatter from the front brakes.

 

[user 90243]

I had the "shudder" from the front while braking to a red light stop. Rotors are not warped (22k miles). Disassembled the front calipers - brake pads (sintered EBC) looked normal. My mechanic wondered if the shudder might have been the Anti-Lock mechanism kicking in. We look hard for dust or gravel on the road, and I do not remember this condition when I had the shudder. Just going to chalk it up to experience, and continue to ride and brake with confidence. I have never experienced front wheel lock on this great bike.