My wife's hardtails brakes are squeaking like crazy. Both front and rear.
I replaced the brake pads, I braked them in by riding 30kmh+ and put full force on the brakes.
Tried to clean it with brake cleaner.
What other options do I have left?
by legsto
17 Comments
Leave it and ride it hard. It’s good to give hikers warning.
I had this and took brake pads out to soak in soapy water, still didn’t work so I let em soak in a small cup of gasoline, Took em out to lay on the driveway and burned it off.
Let me emphasize. A SMALL AMOUNT. Like just enough in a small bowl to submerge them, discard the bowl and extra and then burn off what’s on the pads. Solved it.
You dropped something. ⬆️
Looks like she is gonna need another bike.
Time for new pads
1. Make sure the caliper isn’t leaking fluid.
2. Clean the pads with iso alcohol
3. Sand the pads using drywall sandpaper. Put the sandpaper on a flat surface, move the pads in the braking direction making sure you keep pressure evenly on them. Do multiple passes but only in one direction. You don’t need much pressure for this.
4. Clean with alcohol
5. Use a lighter to burn off the junk
6. Clean off the calipers with alcohol before reinstalling the pads
7. Clean the rotors with alcohol
.
If the brakes still make noise, you could try these steps:
8. Sand the rotors using 100-200 grit sandpaper
9. Clean again with alcohol, no need to use a lighter for the rotors
They are contaminated, if they keep getting contaminated you need to check if the pistons are leaking brake fluid.
Lubricate them with chain lube, removes 100% of the sound.
Built in hiker warning
I’m betting money this is an SRAM rotor, and probably a 6 bolt. I was in the “this is just the way it is” camp on SRAM and Avid brakes for years. They just don’t seem to have enough material to resist the vibrations that cause this squeal. Anecdotally, I’ve made big changes and moved to centre lock Shimano Toto’s and brakes and have been rewarded with silence.
Do what you do with car brakes: Lube all contact points where movement occurs (not the pad material, but we’ll get to that), check the rotors for warps, deglaze the rotors.
Squeaks are usually caused by rapid motion of materials against each other (as in: brake pad and caliper, caliper and slider, etc). Lubing the contact points stops the squeaks.
If you do all the above and are still getting squeaks, try chamfering the leading edge of the pad material. Think about dragging your fingernails across a blackboard at various angles. Remember how it sounded when the angle of your nail to the board was almost or at 90 degrees? <shudder>
If none of the above works, try a little WD40 on the pad surface. Let it sit a little, then take it for a ride on a flat surface, and use the brakes sparingly, but use them. The WD40 will burn off and the brakes will be usable, but may just silence the squeaks. Just make sure you get them back to full stopping power before hitting the trails.
Throw it away
Sand paper and rubbing alcohol
Avid codes?
spray some Wd40 on that sumbitch.
ps: i did this and it was a lessons learned of stupid things not to do.
WD40 usually works.
Try to use acetone/nail polish remover to clean the pads and the rotors using a disposable rag. I use a disk brake cleaning spray that is a mix of acetone and isopropyl alcohol and it works like a charm to remove any contaminants from rotors and pads.