My friend and I fitted my new Shimano Deore (M596) discs tonight. They come supplied with a very long hose and, in the process of trimming it to length, we managed to spill mineral oil on the front caliper and contaminate the pads. We’ve tried cleaning the pads, caliper and rotor with Muc-Off “Re-Hydrating Disc Brake Cleaner” but the brake still squeals very loudly and lacks ‘bite’.

First question: Does mineral oil terminally contaminate brake pads in the same way as DOT fluid, or can the pads be cleaned and ‘rescued’ in some way?

Second question: Does anyone know where I can buy spare pads for an M596 brake? I’ve looked in all the usual online places I can think of and nobody seems to do them, perhaps because they are so new. I have seen a few that look the same shape though, so I’m wondering if Shimano ‘share’ brake pad fitments across several models, rather than having specific ones for each model.

try cleaning them off with fairy liquid and hot water, rinsing well then boiling them up in a pan of clean water for a few mins. rinse and boilup again. dry and scrub with fresh clean sandpaper. maybe repeat. works with my metal pads from shimano brakes, not tried cleaning up dot fluid or resin pads the same way. i have no idea if this is a safe thing to do or a good idea, it works for me on oily pads, maybe not ‘oil spilled directly onto them’ oily, but pads that were ‘squealing and not biting’ oily.

if not new style slx, xt and xtr pads should fit.

Cheers, I’ll give that a whirl. So the current crop of SLX, XT and XTR brakes all use the same pads as eachother and my Deores, have I understood that correctly?

Shimano share pad shapes for different brakes. All you need to do is match the shape. As to where to buy them I’d suggest superstarcomponents or discobrakes. Been fine for me for years now. They have guides to help you get the right shape.

As for contamination, in my experience they are dead. I tried disc brake cleaner, fairy, hot oven and in a particularly slow day a range of solvents at work. Didn’t have any luck. About the only thing that might do it is sanding off the top layer and hoping the contamination is only on the surface as suggested above.

I think EBC CFA730 look like the right fitment. Happy with that, I always used EBC greenstuff on my old Hopes (and on my car for that matter!) and was very satisfied with them.

I found after using the Muc Off brake cleaner you have to put some heat into the pads to get it all off, stop the sound and get any real braking back.

I’m a big fan of using the dishwasher for stuff like this. It’s worked for me in the past. Mrs Davesport got the hump about the cylinder head off the car going in there though. You should be able to get away with a set of brake pads 8) I use two DW tablets instead of one & make sure to use the hottest program.

D.

Interesting… might try popping them in the mother in law’s dishwasher next time we’re up that way!

You’ve likely transferred the contamination to the disc as well. Boiling pads and discs has worked for me in the past with mineral oil.

discs are easy to clean with brake cleaner or degreaser. They are just metal after all.

tbh a lot of the lack of bite may just be new brakes needing bedding in. Give them a good clean with some degreaser and then clean off the top layer with some fine wet ‘n dry and then go out for a blast to bed them in (carefully).

ebay – bikefridge (not me, I just buy my pads from him/her)

Dishwasher every time – nothing is hotter or more caustic.

Warning: don’t put aluminium parts in the dishwasher, the hot causticity will erode the surface. Don’t ask me how I know this.