The Great brake Disc Conspiracy....the saga continues

[Nok12rs]

Quote Kwikas.  A lot of it comes down to manufacturing of cheap parts. This is seen cross industries. I work in the IT industry and all our development is off shore. The quality is amazingly crap. However, the resources are so cheap that its still cheaper when the costs of fixing all the f-ups are factored in.

Again, this is a core component (no pun intended) of the issue- up stream.  I visited the Ducati factory (assembly plant) a few years ago.  I was amazed to see a huge pile of castings in the corner of the factory.  A manager confided that it is cheaper for their supplier to have a percentage rejected here than to pay for their own quality control and improve their manufacturing processes.

Don't know how long that foundry will supply Duke bits or indeed the rogues who supplied that batch of K discs.

[Boomer]

Commonplace in almost all industries these days.
Warranty/replacement costs can often be cheaper than making it right in the first place.
It's a weird situation where the 1st year models now seem to have a higher build quality than subsequent years.
I guess for the 1st year they want to build a "reputation" and think that after that they can let it slide.

It now seems to be the norm, which may seem weird to us oldies who hail from an era when engineering meant making something as good as you possibly could. These days everything is automated and the people who operate the machines sometimes don't care if it's turning out shite. The assemblers are also quite low paid and equally don't give a shite.
If the management don't pickup the problems then you end up with another DeLorean/Leyland and it's downhill into the sewer from there.

These days the Japanese are no different to anywhere else in terms of quality & reliability.
The Koreans have taken over on that front and may soon be outpaced by the Chinese, once their "produce masses of cheap shite" economy grows up.

The GTR may be a "premium" Kawasaki but it's still a mid-priced bike.
These days "premium" bikes cost £20k+, like the Wing and certain Ducks.
The GTR is a mass produced, mass market item so you are going to get problems, and occasionally, even a lemon or 2.

Regardless it is still way better than my uncles brand new 1978 Austin Allegro. The brakes turned on the reversing light, the windscreen washers operated the indicators (and vice-versa) and the steering wheel hadn't been bolted down more than half a turn. The dealer didn't want to refund his money until he threatened to prosecute them for allowing an unsafe vehicle onto the roads. He bought a "cheap jap crap" Datsun instead and it lasted 15 years and nearly 200,000 miles.

[BigAlan]

Ummmm in a previous life i was in the Quality dept at British Leyland then Rover and that Allegro had nothing to do with me, Austin Princess, Maxi and Marina yes but not the Allegro.

Alan

[Nok12rs]

Hi Big Alan,

I knew a Big Al' who left BL to work for Computer Vision.................?

[BigAlan]

Nope not me, went to Canon UK.

Alan

[Mogster]

oooh yes ... Lloyd Coopers *pause to spit on the floor* just rang me and in a very suprised voice informed me that all the bits fer the GTR, re the warranty claim, which they were dead sure wasn't going to go through, have arrived.. 

Seems that there were no qibbles or questions from Kawasaki, they just fessed up with the goods.... funny that eh?... methinks that they know that there 'might' be a problem but are unsure as to how wide it is and how many bikes it covers, and at the mo are unwilling to issue a recall.

[BigAlan]

Great news, make sure they put new disk pads on as well.

Alan

[Winston Smith]

I doubt they will replace the pads - K will only replace the bits that have failed on warranty.  New pads usually cost, or the old ones soon bed in

[Kwikasfuki]

When they replaced my discs it was with new pads as well

[Winston Smith]

Not done it with either of my new sets.

[Mogster]

If Kwak haven't supplied new pads. I'll most likley pay fer some anyway

[howard]

Kawasaki replaced my pads when the disc were changed under warranty.If you have warped/distorted discs common sense tells you the pads would have worn to the faulty discs. I am still of the opinion there should be a recall,if sub standard parts are being fitted from new it would seem the parts are not fit for purpose,so if you have your discs changed insist on new pads,a phone call to Kawaski stating FIT FOR PURPOSE! will get a result.

[Winston Smith]

Whilst I agree with the sentiment, the problem it would appear is the bobbins getting clogged not allowing the rotors to float then warping with heat cycles.  When they can float the issue doesn't occur. I now clean mine off regularly to prevent build up and they have been OK for 7-8k.   The pads shouldn't be bad as the warped disc shouldn't caused any damage to them - they still face onto the rotors flat

[Kwikasfuki]

Not done it with either of my new sets.

They must know what your job is 

[howard]

I agree ref the regular cleaning of the front brakes,I think some of the problem is the Kawasaki is such a heavy/ powerful bike and takes a lot of stopping.
All my previous bikes have been a lot lighter.
Having been in the motor trade all my life it is considered bad practice not to replace the pads when the discs are beeing changed  for a vibration concern.
I would exspect to make a contrubution to the cost of the pads if the bike hade done 10k plus.