It looks to me like the pad delaminated and the friction material just fell off. This happened to me on one of my BMWs last year. As far as the uneven pad wear, there could be a few reasons for that, including dirty sticky pistons that need to be cleaned, dirty or grooved pad retaining pins, dirty dry caliper sliding pins, and possible a failure to recenter the caliper at the last service. Just reset on it all, remove the caliper, push the pistons out very carefully and clean them with a cloth shoestring, clean and inspect the pad retaining clips and replace any that are not round and un-notched, and clean out the sliding pin pockets and the pins themselves, and lubricate them with the appropriate high-temp brake grease. Finish with a fluid flush and bleed. Do both calipers. When it’s all back together, unweight the front end, give the front wheel a hard spin and clamp on the brake lever. Do that a few times to center things.

 

Looks to me like the pistons were pretty stuck.
If your "mechanic" is watching YouTube videos, just do it yourself.

 

ouch. I’m working 12+ hours a day and I would rather pay somebody that has a clue than try and do this when I’m dog tired. My mechanic stayed late and got me fresh fluid for a trip I was hoping to do on vacation. I had problems with an ABS light when I used the foot brake. He researched it and he fixed it. Now, if y’all can tell me something that he messed up, I’m listening. But I still like and respect and trust the guy. (1st time he worked on this bike). And he was able to get me in and everybody else’s three or more weeks wait…

 

If the friction material came unstuck you would have noticed it when you braked as the lever would have gone back to the bar and you would have had to pump it.
It could be that the piston is sticking and the friction material has just worn away, but unlikely in 500 miles, perhaps the mechanic is not as good as you thought .
Remove the calipers and give them a good clean with specific brake cleaner and a tooth brush, then put them back on and put the pads back in. Then one at a time remove a pad and gently push the pistons back in and fit new pads. If that piston is difficult to push back the seals are probably sticking and will need replacing.
When I clean my FJR I always lift the front with a scissor jack under one of the exhaust pipes, just before they curve up in front of the engine. I can then spin the wheel, it should turn with little resistance.

 

One would have to remove that pad to see if it delaminated or not... I can't tell well enough from the pic, but looks like a sliver of pad material still on there..... How many miles on these brake pads??

Your caliper pistons look coated in something, road dirt, whatever. As mentioned, with the calipers off, pads still in, pump the brakes until the pads touch each other, except for that "worn" one.... you're pumping the pistons out until you expose fresh piston. I would first spritz on some Simple Green for general cleaning, then a toothbrush and brake fluid to clean the pistons, shoelace to shine them up. Rinse everything down with isopropanol to get everything clean.

Check that all spring clips are in place, clean and reinstall if necessary. Clean up the pad pins so they are smooth, optional use a little coating of high temp brake grease...... new pads all around, then save the old ones in case you need one in this case again.... Give it another few hundred miles and check it over again to see if indeed you have a stuck caliper piston.

Not uncommon to not inspect for just a fluid flush, however a GOOD mechanic would have dug further.

Check and clean your calipers every tire change, flush and bleed annually, and you'll not have these kinds of problems!

 

Do a complete flush using the proper procedure and clean your calipers. Since you use a Youtube mechanic you can be one too.

 

My take on this is it is that it is somewhat normal although in your case a bit extreme. It is well documented that the pads tend to wear differently on the FJR1300. Many of us swap around the pads on tire changes.

I'm fairly certain it was just that your mechanic screwed up and didn't notice that one pad was so extremely worn.

 

First of all, thank you everybody for the replies and help and information.

Second of all, I apologize for double posting the pictures. I don’t know how that happened 😞

Can anybody tell me… Is the brake pad that wore out the one that is interlinked with the back wheel? If so, is that a coincidence or is that a clue?

I wasn’t able to find brake pads this afternoon/evening, and Amazon was (on characteristically!) About impossible to find what I was looking for 🙄. So it may be next weekend before I get pads and the time to fix this. Right now, I have the caliper suspended; brake pads and everything are still attached. I’m not taking anything apart until I got all the parts to put it back together.

 

The linked brake is on the RIGHT caliper, lower set of pads.

 

Where are you located? Maybe someone here would help you out who is familiar with the FJR.

 

I have pads coming this week and 2 guys in a group I ride with ready to come over if I need it. I’ve been on phone and sending pictures and they think I just had a sticking piston….

pads have 13k miles and all but 1 have normal wear…sucks it wasn’t noticed until wore down to grinding noise, but at this point it’s just put it back together, put some miles on it, and monitor….

 

.......... but at this point it’s just put it back together, put some miles on it, and monitor….

I do hope you just didn't bother typing that you are going to give the calipers a thorough cleaning including extending the pistons, cleaning them with a tooth brush or shoelace dipped in brake fluid and cleaning and lubing the pins. Where are you located?

 

Things look a bit dirty down there. I would remove all pads, clean all pistons (they should be shiny) and ensure they can move when pushed with a finger. Ensure the "clips" are positioned properly and grease the sliding pins to ensure the pads are free to move/retract.

 

Interesting. I never grease the pins. To my thinking grease will attract dirt and = bad. I do clean them thoroughly.

 

I definitely apply no grease to caliper pins unless they are sealed with dust boots (like most cars)

 

I might put a very small amount of grease on the o-ring of the pin, but that's it. I don't grease the shaft so as to not attract more debris.

 

I'm a pin loober...

 

I don't grease the shaft so as to not attract more debris.

I'm a pin loober...

Dagnabbit! This is a family forum! You two deviants need to keep your perversions to yourself!!! 😨

 

Up to you whether you lube the pin or not, I used to didn't but now I do fer fun to see if it makes a difference stopping the hard crusty buildup.

 

IMHO lubing the pins and springs definitely stops the hard crusty buildup, making cleanup much simpler. And ditto to the "swap pads around at each tire change" comment. Helps the pads last 2-3 times longer.

 

The pads must be able to move freely along the pin - otherwise you will end up with uneven wear. I simply wipe off the pins and reapply a thin coat of grease whenever I have them off every few years.

 

I just run some steel wool over them if they get cruddy. Most bikes I buy, I wind up rebuilding the calipers - so I have good shiny coated pins on most of the bikes anyways. (The kits always have new pins)

 

Yammy OEM pins are currently $47 from Partzilla..... FYI

 

They come with $35 rebuild kits

 

They come with $35 rebuild kits

Which kit is that?

Looking at that my guess would be the piston opposite of the worn one is probably stuck, so the piston with the worn pad is likely trying to do all the moving for both sides and wearing fast. Regardless the answer as mentioned is clean up all the pistons and make sure they are all moving freely and sealing well because something is DEFINITELY wonky if you are seeing that kind of wear on a new pad after 500 miles.

As was mentioned the lower set of pads on the right caliper (what would be the passenger side in USA cars) is the one on the rear brake circuit. With your pictures being so close it is hard to tell exactly which one you are on, but it is the caliper with two brake lines and two bleeders going to it, if you took a picture from further back we could verify 100% which one you are dealing with.

 

Which kit is that?

18-3089 I guess it is only $27 a caliper now - price has come down

 

In the time it took you to take your bike to your mechanic you could have done the brake/clutch fluid change and learned a few things about your bike. FJR's are not complex machines and fluid changes are straight forward if you follow the bleed sequence. This forum has a lot of information on brake bleeding.
My dad used to say "Never enough time to do it right but always enough time to do it over". Most of us here do our own wrenching because we have more trust in our own ability than someone who's never seen an FJR before.

 

Gee, having ridden & worked as long as I have on my own bikes ( not trusting someone I don't know to work on my bike) I've never lubed a caliper pin.

It would seen to attract , & cause brake dust from the pads to stick to the pins, worsening the situation.. I have cleaned those pins, using brake cleaning spray, whenever I change pads, & even sprayed the pistons off ( & surrounding areas) every time I change a tire..since I've got it apart. I've noticed that all pads don't wear evenly,, but not to the extent shown in this thread.
Hadn't thought about rotating brake pads..might have to give that a try, next time I remove a wheel.

 

While on the subject of brakes and NOT to hijack this thread but a question which may help a few members in this thread.
How far can the pistons be pushed out before they leave the bore. I always get nervous when I see them out further than half an inch. How far can they safely be pushed out for cleaning.
thanks

 

That is the million dollar question! All I can say is that I know there is a 'too far' answer! 😕