Why Are My Honda Goldwing Brakes Making Rubbing Sound?

If you did a fork rebuild on your Honda Goldwing and the brakes now sound like they’re rubbing together, you might need to re-check how well you tightened the axle.

Partzilla’s Honda motorcycle expert John Talley hosts live Q&A sessions on our YouTube channel every Friday at 3pm Eastern. In this session, John was asked what could be causing the brakes on a 2008 Honda Goldwing GL1800 to sound like they’re rubbing together after a fork rebuild.

Honda Goldwing Brakes Rubbing Sound Q&A

I have an 08 Honda Goldwing GL1800, and I just rebuilt the forks after watching your video. Now the brakes make a rubbing sound while riding. What do I do?

John Talley: Are you saying they catch every so often or make a noise as it’s rotating forward? Make sure, especially at the end when you’re going through the tightening procedure on the axle, to go back and follow exactly how I do it [in the video]. Because if you don’t, when you’re tightening it down, it can bow the forks one way or another. So you want those completely perpendicular to the axle itself. Now, could that be causing the brake issue? Maybe, because if it wasn’t doing it before, it shouldn’t be doing it after. So just make sure the axle is tightened correctly. 

Watch the video below to see how to change the fork seals on a Honda Goldwing GL1800.

Watch the video below to see how to change the front brake pads on a Honda Goldwing GL1800.

Watch the video below to see how to change the rear brake pads on a Honda Goldwing GL1800.

Want to see more live repair questions answered? See more motorcycle and ATV repair questions answered here.