Front brake chatter - '04 non-ABS

[Kilroy]

I did a search and came up empty on this so here goes... Has anyone experienced chattering/shuddering in the front end under heavy braking? I was at an ERC yesterday and during the braking exercises the front brakes were chattering, a lot. The rider coach could see the front fender quivering when I braked in front of him. Obviously. I could minimize the chatter if I eased on the brake lever, but it would chatter if I tried to stop more quickly.

 

[FJRPierre]

That's weird cause the exact same thing happened to me last May during an ERC.

Shudder thread

The 03 had something like 44,000kms on the clock at the time with oldish Avons. Inspection revealed nothing loose and the pads seemed to be still in good shape but it was so bad that I went into a corner of the lot by myself and did repeated emergency braking drills; the shudder went away gradually after a dozen or so stops. Then I could never get it to do it again. A few months later I changed the fluid, installed SS brake lines, new CL front pads, front fork springs and fluid and it happened again (once).

Have put on another 15,000km since, on new Pilot Roads and nothing since...

Still don't know exactly what it was.

 

[afterburn]

If you have chatter under braking, you have too much compression damping in your forks. Reduce damping untill chatter stops.

 

[norcal]

You might want to remove the brake pads and remove the surface layer on them by rubbing them on a sheet of 400 grit silcon carbide paper placed on a flat surface.

Wipe the brake rotors down with acetone.

.

 

[Warchild]

You might want to remove the brake pads and remove the surface layer on them by rubbing them on a sheet of 400 grit silcon carbide paper placed on a flat surface.Wipe the brake rotors down with acetone.

Take this a step further.... get a good sanding block and take your 400-600 grit wet sandpaper, and scrub those rotors - both sides - until they are gleaming.

 

[Kilroy]

Thanks all. I think I'll first adjust the suspension, then work on the pads. With only 3000 miles on the clock, I'm guessing it may be related more to the former than the latter, but the pads may need work as a result now, anyway.