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Disc Brakes- How To Clean And Bed Them In


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If your discs are not up to standard please try this.

Tools:

Cable ties

Clean cloths

Brake cleaner

Small bottle brush

Washing-up liquid

Large water bottle

4 and 5mm allen keys

Torx head key (for Hayes discs)

Medium or fine wet and dry paper

Top Tips:

Lube it up

When lubing your chain, make sure you don’t accidentally spray lube past the chain and onto your disc rotor. In fact, any amount of lube, even a greasy fingerprint on the disc will effect the braking performance.

Hot Stuff

If removing the discs to clean them, inspect the head of the bolts and remove if necessary. If you’re having difficulty undoing your rotor bolts, pour some boiling water over them. This should soften the threadlock and make the bolts easier to remove. A good way to avoid losing any bolts is to buy a magnetic tray from a tool shop.(All tool shops should sell or order for you :D).

1 Remove your wheels and scrub both disc rotors with warm, soapy water. Use a scourer to get rid of any dirt or oil. Rinse the rotors with plenty of clean water and dry them on a clean towel or cloth.

2 Remove the brake pads from the calipers and place them to one side. Now use a bottle brush and plenty of warm, soapy water to clean out the insides of the calipers, making sure you get into all the nooks and crannies. Then rinse the calipers with clean water and allow them to dry.

3 Use some disc brake cleaner to remove any dirt from the brake pads and then wipe them with a clean cloth until they’re spotless. At this point, make sure you check that there’s enough usable pad material remaining. If your pads are worn unevenly and there isn’t enough material left over, you should replace them and make sure your disc mount alignment is even.

4 If your pads are unevenly worn, you should have your disc mounts faced off to prevent the problem happening again. Most bike shops will be able to face the brake mounts off for you using a special tool. However, if you’re feeling flush and want to sort out the disc mounts yourself, Hope sell a facing tool for £70. For more info on the tool contact hope (Y)

5 Now place some wet and dry paper on a flat surface and lay the brake pads face down on the paper; rub the pads in a gentle, circular motion to level off any imperfections/slightly uneven wear and to remove the older top layer of pad.

6 Place the brake pads back into the calipers. If you’re fitting new replacement pads, you’ll also have to gently push the pistons back into the caliper body using an open-ended 13mm spanner.

7 Be careful when putting the pads back. This is particularly important on Hayes disc brakes, as the lugs, which hold the pads into the calipers, are quite fragile and can break off if forced.

8 Check that the disc bolts are tight. If necessary, remove and apply a spot of threadlock to prevent them coming undone.

9 Go to the top of a long descent and ride down it. As you’re riding down, gently apply one brake (either will do) so that it drags but doesn’t stop you completely. Do this until the brake is hot and then immediately pour clean water from your bottle over the rotors (or you could get a friend to squirt the water while riding alongside). Now repeat the process for the remaining brake.

10 Repeat the process of heating and watering the brakes three or four times. You should feel the brakes becoming more grabby and effective. The reason for such a transformation is that this process gradually transfers a very small amount of brake pad material onto the surface of the disc rotors, so pad material is rubbing against pad material and an increase in friction is generated.

thanks alot hope this help guys and gals

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HAHA Beat you :P I was being subtle to see if he'd confess to just copying it and pasting it.

Pretty obvious the way his writing is so good during the post, then at the end of the post it drops off a cliff and dies with the way he says:

thanks alot hope this help guys and gals

By which i think he meant,

Thanks a lot to MBUK for the information, i hope this helps everyone on the forum.
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what are you on about

I think he means that you didnt read the thread, we pointed out that it'd been copied and pasted, something that won't get you validated any quicker, especially if it looks like you try to pass it off as your own and don't include the pictures/spell like that all the time, which in this case he doesn't.

Hence, you bein a fool ( :P ) and that you don't read the thread.

Edited by Krisboats
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Washing up fluid should actually be Isopropyl alcool... considering the "author" took the time to mention hayes for the torx, you might want to note that Hayes advises the use of rubbing alcool and not the one of disk cleaners, I personnaly think it makes sence because isopropyl alcool contains alcool and water, both evaporate, where as other cleaners might leave a bit of a residue, also rubbing alcool is more widely available :P .

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Washing up fluid should actually be Isopropyl alcool... considering the "author" took the time to mention hayes for the torx, you might want to note that Hayes advises the use of rubbing alcool and not the one of disk cleaners, I personnaly think it makes sence because isopropyl alcool contains alcool and water, both evaporate, where as other cleaners might leave a bit of a residue, also rubbing alcool is more widely available :P .

More readily available than washing up liquid?

Like washing up liquid can't be bought at:

Somerfield

Co-Op

Asda

Aldi

Spar

Tesco's

Sainsbury's

Morrisons

Petrol stations

Convenience stores

Wilkinsons

And yes they did mean washing up liquid, Its a degreaser so takes off all the crap, and seeing as its designed to remove grease i don't reckon you'll find any greasey substances in it, hence, not leaving a residue on pads. People all over have used it and its been fine, they DID mean washing up liquid.

EDIT: oooh, just seen what you meant, dunno about that, i boil my brake pads in a saucepan them whack them in a pre-heated oven to dry so i can't imagine disc brake cleaner being much worse.

Edited by Krisboats
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