My bike has recently undergone a full refurb. I put new forks on, serviced brakes, got new rotors and pads. But I can’t get them to stop squealing. The LBS done the brakes and ever since that the pads have been squealing, could be because of this wear? Is the rotor not making good contact with the wheel? At a loss here, hate going out and sounding like I’m squeezing a horn everytime I brake.
by etdoh00
5 Comments
Did you bed in the pads correctly? Your rotor looks a little glossy (and dirty, possibly oily). Give everything a good scrub, rough up the pads and the rotor with some 220 grit sandpaper and do a proper bed-in procedure.
They look pretty contaminated to me. If you look at the fins, they actually look a bit oily, but the pad material itself also looks quite nasty. Did your LBS do a bleed on the brakes? If so, they may have done it with the pads in and got brake fluid on the pad material – DOT or Mineral, it will screw them! You may also have a leaky calliper, which is not unknown with Shimano brakes, and again will contaminate the pads.
Either way, 99% of the time pad squeal is caused by contaminated pads. They *can* be decontaminated (using heat), but you need to be a bit careful when doing this. Sandpaper and spraying stuff never works, at least long term (i.e. past one ride) and only heat (or replacement) will fix your issue. Best try to find your root cause first, or they’ll end up back contaminated again in no time.
As for the bevel on the corner – that’s by design and present on most pads. It’s to make it easier to get the wheel back in 🙂
What wear? It’s new.
Dawn dish soap and rub the pads together under hot water. Isopro on the rotor and wipe down. Re-assemble pads and follow a [bed in procedure](https://youtu.be/BWQxGzHQZVU?si=6fkW6Ljp8CvBkBFB)
Edit: while the pads are out spray some isopropyl and make sure those calipers are clean and not dripping mineral oil onto the pads. If those pads absorbed a bunch of mineral oil they’re ruined and you should replace em. Some people have selvage by hitting them with propane or putting on a burner but safety isn’t worth the cost savings of trying to save em imo. And that’s only if they did get super contaminated from oil. If they didn’t you’re just burning em for no reason and ruining the integrity of the pad material bond to the backing plate.
That break looks unused but very dirty.
Sure they were in the right way around? 🙂
Those pads are practically new.