Motorcycle Repair: How to Measure Motorcycle Brake Pad Wear on a 2009 Kawasaki KLR 650

Posted on by James Roberts

Motorcycle Repair: How to Measure Motorcycle Brake Pad Wear on a 2009 Kawasaki KLR 650
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**Always follow the instructions in your repair manual when doing repair or maintenance work on a motorcycle. Manuals can be found at the dealer and online.**

Brake pad thickness on a 2009 Kawasaki KLR 650 should never be less than .040 inch for both the front and rear brakes, and the pad wear should be even making the brake pad surface parallel to the brake pad metal backing plate. Each brake pad has a groove through the center of the brake pad called the brake pad wear indicator. The distance from the bottom of the brake pad wear indicator and the brake pad backing plate is .040 inch, so when the brake pad thickness is less than .040 inch, the wear indicator will disappear indicating its time to replace the pads.

Calipers can be used to measure the thickness of the brake pads.

Specifications:
– Brake pad pins should be torqued to 12.5 ft. lbs
– Rear caliper mounting bolts should be torqued to 18 ft. lbs
– Brake pad minimum thickness: .040 inch

Thank you for watching!

12 thoughts on “Motorcycle Repair: How to Measure Motorcycle Brake Pad Wear on a 2009 Kawasaki KLR 650”

  2. nice vid. i have a question. does your rotor cover your entire brake pads? mine doesnt and has worn a gnarly groove in the pads looks like im getting asbout half contact on the pads.

  3. That’s the cutest ratchet I’ve ever seen. Lol. Good vid man, very detailed and at a perfect pace.

  4. so my brakes are well within spec, but they squeal sometimes. do i need to sand them a bit or do some hard stops? i only ride street and heard they can get glazed over causing the noise

  6. you forgot to tell people to ‘pump’ the brakes to settle the pads before venturing out on the road, the only reason for saying is that I had new pads f/r fitted on my bandit by a main dealer, only to go sailing merrily out of the forecourt and onto the road with no brakes!!!!!!!! but lived to tell the tale 🙂

  8. I’ve been told that the pads should also be checked for even wear. That if they don’t wear evenly, the piston(s) are binding from brake pad dust, dirt, road grime, etc. Therefore you should take the brake assembly completely apart and clean all parts, then soak in Simple Green for ten minutes, then dry and reassemble. Does this reflect your understanding, please? Thanks! Great video!!

  10. Thousandths of an inch?? This is a metric bike, and milimeters are *so* much easier to use than retarded, outdated British imperial measurements.

  11. I’m new to all this. What tool do I need to remove the caliper pins?

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