Brake Lesson
Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 12:10 am
OK.. so my rear brakes have made god awful noises at low speed, especially when just pushing it. I never noticed the noise while riding, but it bugged the crap out of me because it made it sound like it was a POS.
So I got some brake anti-squeak... basically just gummy stuff to stick the pads to the calipers so they don't just rattle around.
I took the rear calipers off, put the goop on and put them back together. I've done this with cars several times.. no big deal.
But now my rear brakes were not working like before. Very soft squishy handle and definitely not stopping like the Blur is known for.
Felt like somehow there was air in the lines. How that could happen when I never opened up the lines was a mystery.. but oh well.. so I got a bottle of brake fluid and bled the lines fully. Still the same.
OK.. so now I do what any normal person would do... I took it all apart again.. I finally found the problem.
When you take the pads out, you will see a spring pad up in the caliper. This just keeps the pads tight against the slider pins so they don't rattle around. The spring was not in there quite right and allowed the piston side pad to get between the spring and the caliper. So when the brakes were applied, it was not sliding on the pin but trying to go sideways.
Moved the spring a bit so it didn't have enough gap for the pad to get stuck in and now everything is good.
Just something to watch for if you take stuff apart.
So I got some brake anti-squeak... basically just gummy stuff to stick the pads to the calipers so they don't just rattle around.
I took the rear calipers off, put the goop on and put them back together. I've done this with cars several times.. no big deal.
But now my rear brakes were not working like before. Very soft squishy handle and definitely not stopping like the Blur is known for.
Felt like somehow there was air in the lines. How that could happen when I never opened up the lines was a mystery.. but oh well.. so I got a bottle of brake fluid and bled the lines fully. Still the same.
OK.. so now I do what any normal person would do... I took it all apart again.. I finally found the problem.
When you take the pads out, you will see a spring pad up in the caliper. This just keeps the pads tight against the slider pins so they don't rattle around. The spring was not in there quite right and allowed the piston side pad to get between the spring and the caliper. So when the brakes were applied, it was not sliding on the pin but trying to go sideways.
Moved the spring a bit so it didn't have enough gap for the pad to get stuck in and now everything is good.
Just something to watch for if you take stuff apart.