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2017 Ultra Limited - at around 1250 miles, the rear brake started squealing. At first I thought it was just wearing in since it had so few miles, until it started getting progressively worse. No problems stopping, no problems with the pedal and everything felt fine during braking.
I took it to the dealer and they ended up replacing the whole brake kit - rotor, caliper, pads, pins. They couldn't find the cause but said the rotor & pads were glazed.
I took a 1200 mile trip this past weekend and everything was working great up until around mile 1100 - now it's squealing again. This trip was mostly open roads so very light on the braking.
Has anyone else had this problem with the newer touring bikes?
My first set of Harley pads on the rear squealed. My second set squeals. I'm going with the EBC HH pads when this set is done. The fronts have never squealed, with either the stock pads or the EBCs I have on now.
Try cleaning your rotor to see if any change. My fronts would squeal at times when newer then i would clean off and get lots of brake dust off and would go quiet again
My 2015 RGS did this after several thousand miles - it was cleaned and looked at a few times but would still do it generally when hot. I did change from the stock wheels to 18" rear and 19" Aggressor wheels from new including matching rotors.
At 12,000 odd miles it still does it on the same rear pads just not as often...
They couldn't find the cause but said the rotor & pads were glazed.
Glazed rotor/pads are the culprit for sure....whats causing the glazing??? Maybe there is a problem with the caliper not fully releasing pressure on the pads (this may only show up after everything is good and hot)? it could be the master or the slave getting stuck or possibly something in the rubber hose. Not sure if its possible bad wheel bearings might be allowing the tire to shift putting pressure on the pads?? I don't think it could be a bad rotor. Sandpaper works really great for removing glazing on brake parts.
Another possibility...pls take no offense here....could be your riding style. make sure you're not resting your foot on the brake pedal, feather the brakes whenever possible and try only using the front brakes for a while. that would help eliminate riding style.
You might try using only your rear brake real hard a few times. That worked to quiet mine for a little while but the squeal usually comes back. I know I don't rest my foot on the brake.
I always suspected it came from riding on gravel roads and dust getting between the pads and disc somehow. I have 3 miles of gravel to ride on to get home and all my bike squeal shortly after I get them. Even my car and pickups brakes squeal most of the time. It's annoying as hell.
I hope some the suggestions I'm reading here work and we learn the real culprit.
Like sirrat said, please let us know what you learn.
There's some goop that you can apply to the BACKS of the pads. I think it's called brake pad lube or something like that. It's like a super-sticky grease.
Always works on my vehicles when they have squealing brakes.
I really have had no issues with squealing brakes, glazed or warped rotors and I ride aggressively at times. The only occasions I've had a minor issue with sqealing is after riding in the rain, but after a couple of really hard brakings, the squealing is gone. This is what I do:
Put a thin film of this on the back of the rear pads.
Clean the rotors with this. Don't let it get on the pads.
Thanks everyone. My new pipes are supposed to be delivered today so I'll clean up the rotor while I've got the bags off and see if that does the trick.
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Squealing Rear Brake
