[Sal R1]

What was the condition of the rotors such as surface rust, pitting, grooves etc... prior to installing the Alpha pads? Did you experience any other issues / any squealing or other noise at any stage with the Alpha pads? Did you get the brake pads wet like you ride in the rain. Did you bleed your brakes & maybe some brake fluid or any other contaminants on the rotors or the pads. Did you use any wheel cleaner / car wash etc...etc... recently?

 

[DrIoannis]

Might have been excessive brake fluid as mentioned in previous posts.

 

[paxman]

What was the condition of the rotors such as surface rust, pitting, grooves etc... prior to installing the Alpha pads? Did you experience any other issues / any squealing or other noise at any stage with the Alpha pads? Did you get the brake pads wet like you ride in the rain. Did you bleed your brakes & maybe some brake fluid or any other contaminants on the rotors or the pads. Did you use any wheel cleaner / car wash etc...etc... recently?

Awesome Checklist :
Rotors had only 400 miles on them (brand new bike)
Then I changed to Alpha pads.
Noticed squealing sounds
Now after just about 200 miles with alpha pads I have deep grooves and wore off more than 50% of the rotors usable thickness from 5mm down to 4.7mm
No brake fluid or contaminants were anywhere.
Didn't ride in the rain and didn't wash the bike.

 

[z00]

The way the pistons look, it's clear it was a brake fluid/bleed, or defectives calipers.

If you notice the brake rotor does not sit center in calipers, which means one side of brake pads / pistons will be under way more pressure than the other side.
I would start fully inspecting calipers, then replace rotors/brake pads. And of course proper amount of brake fluid.

 

[Sal R1]

The way the pistons look, it's clear it was a brake fluid/bleed, or defectives calipers.

If you notice the brake rotor does not sit center in calipers, which means one side of brake pads / pistons will be under way more pressure than the other side.
I would start fully inspecting calipers, then replace rotors/brake pads. And of course proper amount of brake fluid.

The chances of both calipers simultaneously defective & leaking at the same time from the pistons onto both rotors/ pads is next to impossible. Additionally, for argument reasons if they did & did enough to soak the brake pads to level that they start pitting & falling apart as in the pucs he would noticeably loose his braking ability. In fact he'd have no brakes!

Again for arguments let's say that a few drops of brake fluid simultaneously did hit all 4 of the pads! He could ride the bike & brake from 100mph to 0 10X back to back & he still woulnt burn off the brake fluid! He'd have way diminished braking & his pads will show signs of brake fluid contamination. In short motorcycle rotors and pads do not get hot enough to vaporize the brake fluid / engine oil / aggressive wheel cleaners etc...etc... fluids.

 

[Motorbiker]

Are you sure you installed Alpha pads correctly? You don't have excessive brake fluid in reservoir keep pads stuck to rotors?

Race pads on the street is not a good mix. If pads were installed correctly, I'm guessing with cold temps, you had to pull brake lever harder, which caused scarring on rotors.
Race pads do not require bedding (at least Z04, RJL XX, SBS DS1/2). 1-2 laps on track and they are good to go. And I go through many pads in a race/track season.

View attachment 221602

Might have been excessive brake fluid as mentioned in previous posts.

First Paragraph from Z00, and full quote from Drloannis.
I have seen this occur on multiple types of bikes. When you change pads even new to new you have to make sure that there is the proper amount of fluid in the reservoir. If you have too much, you can hydraulically lock the system and have pressure on your pads even without actuating the lever.
My .02.

 

[paxman]

First Paragraph from Z00, and full quote from Drloannis.
I have seen this occur on multiple types of bikes. When you change pads even new to new you have to make sure that there is the proper amount of fluid in the reservoir. If you have too much, you can hydraulically lock the system and have pressure on your pads even without actuating the lever.
My .02.

To the brake fluid theory - No brake fluid did leak. My bleeding was done with hoses and calipers were always dry on inspection.
The idea that if it was not properly filled / bleed and it caused some pressure makes sense to me. To have this kind of damage in such a short time it must have been dragging . Else it would not build up this kind of heat. Question is just why did it drag hmmmmmm

 

[Topaz]

^^ But, did the front brakes lock at any time? Because if the brakes lock because of too much fluid, then you can't ride the bike at all.

 

[Sal R1]

I'd wash the rotors & calipers with dish soap, wipe them dry. Make sure everything is in order, pop in a fresh set of pads & go for a spin. Probably take you 10× + 40mph - 0 braking to bed the new pads in due to the rotors uneven surface. If everything goes well after bedding in. Go for a spin & inspect totors / pads/ calipers. This will go a long way to diagnose the problem & pinpointing the culprit.

 

[z00]

To the brake fluid theory - No brake fluid did leak. My bleeding was done with hoses and calipers were always dry on inspection.

Here is what I think you missed, brake fluid is sensitive to temp & moisture, it changes volume as heat changes. With bike stationary fluid volume is different from after applying brakes. There is a reason for a max/min marker on reservoir.

After brake pads are installed, you want brake fluid to be slightly below the max line. No need to see brake fluid leaks to have excess fluid, just barely over the max line is enough to keep pistons stuck tight on pads with right amount of temp (both ambient & brake system temp). It also depends on total volume of brake fluid in system (MC, calipers, reservoir size & hose, brake lines, etc...).

Not what you wanna hear, but I have seen few people at the track make the same mistake bleeding & changing brake pads. Be thankful it was not worse. I would resurface the rotors, clean calipers, rebleed everything keeping an eye on fluid levels.

 

[corkgsxr]

Id definitely be inclined towards that theory.

Very easy to miss a overfull bottle after pushing pads back

 

[DrIoannis]

I would also like to add, check the front brake master cylinder for even a small brake fluid leak at the seals. If you spot this then you 100% made the "excessive brake fluid" mistake.

 

[#Redhotrc51]

Damn Paxman... I saw this and my stomach sank we really are building similar bikes LOL....
When I saw this it's very similar to something that I experienced keep in mind that this is the stock brake pads the brakes haven't been touched they have about 2600 miles on them on them. I put on my race tires and rims to take it around the block no more than 10 miles to bed in the new rotors and this is what I see.. I chalked it up to an issue with the pads and the new Alpha rotors. I placed an order for the alpha pads knowing that's what I was gonna run for the track.
Couple things that I noticed was the factory pads have a round edge on them the alpha pads in your post 17 look square. Also I noticed that the retaining Springs have E arrows that both need to be pointing up and they're kind of different. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with your situation just something that I observed.
I'll definitely DM you and let you know what I find I'm gonna be out there on May 9th. Below are my pics..

 

[#Redhotrc51]

Couple more photos. The grooves on the alpha rotors are from the factory pads not sure if I said that in my original post.. Also the last 2 pics are the factory rotors factory pads

 

[paxman]

Couple more photos. The grooves on the alpha rotors are from the factory pads not sure if I said that in my original post.. Also the last 2 pics are the factory rotors factory pads

Oh wow yes similar setup . So you had the bad wear with OEM Pads on the new Rotors. Wonder if there is something to the theory of too much brake fluid. did you change the fluid at all for the difference in wear?

Also noticed that the stock pads are rounder on the corners which should make them move smoother on the retainer clips imho.

Maybe these calipers are sensitive to the liquid pressure and might have caused bad wear. did anything change after you swapped pads ?

 

[paxman]

Couple more photos. The grooves on the alpha rotors are from the factory pads not sure if I said that in my original post.. Also the last 2 pics are the factory rotors factory pads

The best theory is so far the brake fluid. If you didn't touch the fluid and put in the alpha rotors (which are 5.5mm vs stock 5mm) maybe due to the thickness and no reduction in fluid they started dragging.

 

[#Redhotrc51]

Yeah everything was stock with the exception of the new alpha rotors.. I did pick up a second set for the street I'll throw those on over the weekend with the new pads.. I'm going to pay very close attention to the reservoir fluid level and make adjustments if necessary.
Before I put on the new brembo M/C. I want to see if there's any significant change in brake feel with the new rotors and pads first..

 

[S1KRRRR]

Defective pads! ? that looks like way to much metallic material to me!

 

[paxman]

Defective pads! ? that looks like way to much metallic material to me!

Could be. Also it's weird that some parts of the pads broke off. I never have seen that before.

 

[paxman]

Update : another Forum user ran the Alpha Pads on the streets and chewed up one of his 2 rotors. So seems to be that you can't run these on the streets. I switched back to OEM Pads and Alpha rotors and everything works fine again. Actually better than fine I feel like the Alpha rotors slightly improved the brake feel.