I just replaced the front brake pads on my 08 street glide. It has ABS brakes. I have only 30 or 40 miles on the new pads at this point. Is it normal to have a certain amount of drag or noise from them till they wear a little.

 

Yes

 

Just curious, how many miles do you have on your 08 and did you clean the calipers with any type of brake cleaner when you did the install.

 

A certain amount. Yes. But how much is acceptable? Hard to really quantify a "certain" amount over the internet but I'll try.

If you jack up the wheel and spin it by hand how far will it rotate? If it goes a full turn or more I'd say you're ok. Less than a full turn might be getting into the questionable range. I wouldn't be concerned with the audible drag - that is perfectly normal.

Did you clean the pistons before pushing them back into the caliper? If not, it's possible for the pistons to be hanging up a little and thereby inducing drag. Not always, but it is possible.

Bottom line, rotate the wheel by hand as noted above and use the result as your guide.

 

Harley brakes are single side, sliding pin calipers. Meaning the pistons that squeeze the brake pads on the rotor are only present on one side. What happens is, the piston side pad is pushed against the rotor and slides on the sliding pins so the other pad (where there isn't a piston to push on it) engages the rotor as well. The pressure exerted on the rotor by the piston side brake pads is greater than the non piston side. That's why one brake pad is always worn more than the other.

The pistons use a square rubber seal that deforms when the piston is forced out by lever pressure and hydraulics. When the pressure is released (when you let off the lever) the seal returns to its original shape and the piston retracts. The run out of the rotor (variance from true, which every rotor has) centers the pads on the sliding pins. With these types of brakes there will always be a small amount of pad drag, it's inherent.

There are calipers with pistons on both sides and they tend to be more effective. Welcome to old technology. Get used to it

 

Yes, like the Brembo calipers. One side pumps out first to make contact and once it reaches resistance, the other side pumps out and makes contact on the other side.

Can't remember if 08 has Brembo brakes or not.

 

My 08 RK has 4 piston Brembo's with ABS

 

Not sure what year HD you're talking about, but both of mine (2002 and 2011) are a fixed caliper, 4-piston configuration. No "sliding pin" calipers here.

 

Maybe I should have read the first post a little better! These guys are right, for your particular model what I said IS NOT correct. BUT, if your bike had pin slide calipers; that would be the reason the pads are dragging a little.

 

I have 31000 miles, first set of pads, (there was still some room to go a few more miles if I had wanted). I removed the old pads, cleaned the pistons and the surrounding areas with a toothbrush and brake cleaner the best I could ( some areas of the piston were a little difficult to see and clean), put the old pads back in so I could push the pistons back into the caliber, then changed pads per service manual.