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2005 R1200RT Front Brake Vibration

RoudyBob

New member
First off...my thanks to all the contributors on the forum here. Don't know where I'd be without the wisdom of this crowd. Now onto the business at hand...

I have a 2005 R1200RT (I'm third owner) which I bought last year when the bike had ~12,000mi. The bike now has ~20,000mi. I've noticed since getting the bike that when applying the front brakes, there's a noticeable vibration in the handlebars. The brakes also seem "grabby" at low speeds. The pads are well within normal parameters (plenty of life left) and everything else with the brakes seems to pass muster - i.e., passes bleed test, have done two brake fluid flushes, inspected calipers, etc.

My only guess is that I'm running into an issue with a warped disc as described here - http://www.ebbo.org/front_brake_fix.php. There apparently were issues with the earlier 1200RTs (2005-2007) where the disc was mounted directly to the wheel with the 5 mounting screws and if the wheel and/or disc were out of tolerance in the slightest that it would eventually lead to uneven wear and vibration problems. BMW has since changed the way the discs mount to the wheel and now use a "floating" mount system based on rubberized and spring washers named the "retrofit, rivet package" (BMW part# 34 11 7 713 156) which you can purchase for a mere $325US per disc.

I've measured my discs using a digital micrometer and found that they are within spec (>4.0mm) but that they are, indeed, unevenly worn. The right size varies from 4.46mm-4.49mm while the left side from 4.44mm-4.49mm. The left disc, especially, and a pretty significant "high spot". At my friendly BMW dealer's recommendation I swapped the discs (left to right, right to left) and that does seem to help somewhat with the vibration and eliminates most of the "grabby-ness" at low speeds.

Looking for anyone with experience with this issue. I supposed I have three options: (1) live with it as-is, (2) purchase OE discs and replace mine or (3) purchase after-market discs and replace mine. I've seen after-market options from EBC and others but don't know whether they're of good quality or not. Is there anything I've failed to think of or other options I've not considered?

Thanks in advance.
 
I'd go with the EBC disks as everything they make seems to be very high quality. Their disks are cheaper than the OEM ones also.
 
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