A TL1000R with 70,000 kilometers already on it came in with weak braking, so we consulted on the issue.We disassembled the caliper. The bolts are pretty rusty. It’s a harsh environment with heating, cooling, and moisture.The condition is mild. It might be average for the mileage or even on the better side. The dust seal grooves are packed solid with debris. When this gets worse, it pushes the dust seal out, leading to brake drag, poor pad retraction, dust seal protrusion, and all sorts of other issues.
That’s the tough part of non-anodized calipers.We’ll polish the pad spring too.As for pad grease, if you feel the effect, that’s a plus. If you don’t notice much difference, that’s a minus. Oil around brakes can be pretty scary, right?We cleaned, polished, and finished it up.Be sure not to forget dehydration either.
We’ve covered disassembly through cleaning and polishing.The pad contact looks a bit questionable.We lightly faced it in.We replaced the caliper bolts with Yamaha originals.The pad surface was already oily… no wonder it wasn’t stopping.We removed the front master, rear master, and rear caliper to start the work.This is the rear master body. The condition looks good.It’s already polished and shiny, but… I forgot to shoot the full view. This hole here is super important. Always check the passage.Old versus new. It’s hard to tell in the photo, but the cup umbrella sags on the old one. The new one is firm and has good tension. Measuring the piston diameter and inspecting gives peace of mind.Jumping ahead, here are the front master cup and piston. Left is used, right is new. You can see in the photo that the used one is a bit saggy.The seals had been replaced once already, so they were relatively clean.We polished it like this to get it smooth and clean.To the touch, it feels more slippery than grabby. There’s plenty of material left, so we degreased and faced it to check if it’s usable.It looked promising for a moment, but…When it came back from the test ride, the pads smelled bad. Oil was seeping out from inside. (Needs replacement)The rear brake also looks oil-burned with a slick surface. This won’t grab…We skinned both sides and polished the disc.The axle shaft runout looks fine.While we’re at it.That’s how it turned out.The sprocket is looking rough too… it might be time for a bunch of things to start failing. That wraps up this job.
