Uneven Brake Pad Wear

[HansonRacingCo]

On my '97 ZX7R, I recently removed my front and rear rims in order to replace the tyres, I noticed that the front pads are worn unevenly.

On both the right and left caliper, the inside pad (closest to the rim) is worn greater than the outside pad.

I'm concerned that the calipers may need rebuilding, but find it odd that this would occur on both calipers on the inside pads.

Can someone tell me if this is considered normal or somekind of Kawi or ZX7R trait?

TIA,

Brett

[Nick]

Sounds like your brakes need a good clean,first thing is to get a can of Brake Cleaner.
Disconnect calipers from bike and use a bungee or similar to avoid them hanging off the lines.
Give all inside a good spray .You need to get those pistons all nice and clean.
Pump the brakes,but careful not to pump too far otherwise you will be doing a complete overhaul if you pop the pistons out.Try sticking something inbetween so you don't tempt fate.After you've pumped them out a bit,give them another good spray and push the pistons back in.You might need to crack the nipple on the calipers just slightly, to make it easier,and repeat the process till happy.
Install new pads,chuck some new fluid in and see how they go from there remembering not to go too mad for a while till the new pads bed in.
I guess the uneven wear comes from one side working better than the other side and the reason they both do it on the same side is perhaps that's the side which cops more of the dust and grime.All bikes suffer the same,and it's defintley not a Kawasaki trait,Yamahas in the 80's were renkowned for seizing calipers,so you should have no worries,after all you've got one of the best front ends in the business on the ZX7
Take your time and always love your brakes

[Jonno]

Make sure your brake cleaner is Rubber friendly.

[mattyv74]

I hear this stuff is rubber friendly