Contaminated brake pads - are they done??

[Thunderhead]

So my fork seals went out (fork currently on operating table) and leaked enough oil to somewhat contaminate the pads / rotor. I know I can clean the sh** out of the rotor with brake cleaner and steel wool/3M pad as well as the pads - maybe do some sanding as well.

I'm worried that the contamination got 'baked in' by repeated braking. Is this a thing? Should I even bother with cleaning and bed in process again? The pads only have a couple thousand miles on them. They're EBC HH sintered.

Please and thanks

 

[Barrett]

EBC HH pads are very durable and forgiving. Have run into this identical situation before and what I did was:

Remove pads from caliper and spray copious amounts of Brake-Cleen on both sides of each pad
Immediately blow dry each pad with compressed air
Repeat process a 2nd time
Lightly sand material side of each pad to remove small amount of pad material and scuff up
Respray one more time with Brake-Cleen and dry again
Install and try them. You'll immediately know if successful or not

 

[Thunderhead]

That's pretty much exactly what I've done in the past. Never was sure if it helped or not (the older brake pads at least).

When you say I'll immediately know - what about accounting for the bed in process as they're basically 'new' at that point?

 

[Cooter]

Do what Barrett says. Yes, re-bed them anytime you scrub the pad material off the rotor, it needs to be put back in evenly or you could get pulsing, and that is common mis-diagnosed as a warped rotor ($$).

 

[34nineteen]

blah blah blah

You are a contaminated brake pad.

 

[Thunderhead]

Well, they seems fine now. We got fresh fork seals/wipers/oil (finally), rehabbed brake pads & rotor, new turn signals, and a new horn. Took it out for about half hour today and it's running great. I laid it on an abandoned mattress to 'bed' the pads in. Duh. Brakes seem fine with no obvious ill effects of some contamination. Yay.