right and left front disk pads, should they look the same?

[rfulcher]

Due to a time crunch I had the local shop put new front disk pads on my 2001 B600. I noticed that the cost of the pads on the invoice was different for each side. When I looked at the pads they even looked somewhat different. You do have to look close as the front pads are kind of hidden. The metal backing on the right caliper pad was was kind of redish metal and the left was just dark metal. The left disk visible pad has a wear indication notch and the right doesn't.

I called to check on this and the mechanic said he noticed the difference but checked the part numbers and the left and right pads are different numbers.

WTF! Is this normal or did they put different brand on each side?

Ross

[Dragbike]

No, it looks like they have 2 part numbers for the front.......Interesting
Link to Suzuki Part numbers
59102-33810 PAD SET,RH
59302-33810 PAD SET,LH
http://www.ronayers.com/fiche/300_0311/front_caliper/front_caliper.cfm?man=su&groupid=4610&parent=4600
Brent

[Sven]

Ross, you didn't say whether you had the OEM pads put on (which Brent assumed was the case) or aftermarket pads.

I am no expert in brake pads, but I have replaced my back pads with aftermarket and bought pads for the front ot have ready when I'm ready to do them.  (That's like saying "I'm not a doctor but I play one on TV").

First, nothing I have seen indicated any pad would not have a wear indicator.  Maybe that's normal for some brand, but seems odd since the visual inspection of the pads starts with looking at the wear mark.

Second, they make pads out of different kinds of materials, but it's the pad itself which would have different coloration depending on the type of brand.

You can do a search at this site and learn a lot about brake pads...it helped me decide which type and brand to buy.

But the best thing would be to cruise past the dealer and ask. It may be that they didn't have a matched set in stock and gave you two brands...or two compositions.  I would think that last option would be only a minor problem, since the stopping power of different composition pads might cause one rotor to grab before the other, but heck, the rear tire only has one rotor, so grabbing from one side of the wheel and not the other isn't automatically bad.

OK, someone else with more experience than me weigh in on this line of thought.

[rfulcher]

One pad looks like it has a metal tab as a wear indicator and the other pad looks like it has a notch as a wear indicator. This is the bike my wife is learning on and I use it as an around town bike so it is not subject to high performance demands. My guess, as posted above, is that even if different brands or compositions its no big deal on this bike for how it is used. This winter I may change the pads myself so I know it is right.

Am I too casual about this ?

Ross

[Sven]

I can't add any more to my original thoughts.  I haven't seen any brake pads with a metal tab as the wear indicator, but even without a wear notch, you can visually inspect the pads as needed.

As I said before, I can't logically see any real problem with them being different compositions or different brands.

Still for ease of mind, I would run past the shop and just ask what they put on.  There's a slight chance they actually put the wrong pad on...grabbed the wrong thing out of the box.  Most likely, they just didn't have two of the same type on hand.

[gearset01]

According to my motorcycle test the front brakes are 75 % of your stopping power for a bike. Take it from there.
PIN

[Sven]

According to my motorcycle test the front brakes are 75 % of your stopping power for a bike. Take it from there.
PIN

Well, yeah, that's the kind of stuff they tell you in all the books, but not sure how that impacts the question at hand.

Ross, it's been a week, what have you DISCovered?

[gearset01]

Being not sure is what I was refering to, since the front brakes are the majority of the stopping power, if I had any doubts about what was there I would make sure.
Possibly go to the Ron Ayers site and look at the illustrations and part numbers, or another service center and see what they say.
PIN

[rfulcher]

The part numbers are different for the left and right pads. The pictures look slightly different on the parts diagram. I was hoping someone could shed some light from actually seeing the 2001 b600 disk pads pre install.


Ross