sorry fo seemingly simple question but ive done a search and found nothing….

my relativly new 2011 SLX brakes are squeeking and vibrating horribly under heavy load. A couple of times I’ve loosened off the calipers, pulled the level and tightened up in an attempt to re-centre but this hasn’t been successful.

Any suggestions for what to try next? They are getting worse all the time!

I wondered is swapping the pads side to side might make a difference if it because the leading egse is catching first?

any help much appreciated!!

The pads should hit the rotor square. If one edge hits first, then either the caliper is misaligned or there’s a piston problem.

Go to the Hope site and watch the videos on caliper install and set-up. It could just be an alignment issue you have, or perhaps a stuck piston.

Oh, it’s also worth checking for rotor/pad contamination. Dark streaks on the rotors is the biggest clue, but you may have to remove the pads and make sure there’s no evidence of oil on the pad compound.

Also, if the brakes have been used for too long with the caliper misaligned, the pads will have been worn unevenly and will probably need replacing as they’ll never work properly again.

Also worth checking whether you have a warped disc,i had very bad vibration/juddering under breaking on a new bike, Lbs could find nothing, i changed the rear disc and hey presto.

Yep, its basically witchcraft trying to source the squeeks, the only time I’ve had serious vibrations though was when I’d installed the rotor rotating the wrong way (in the days before rotation direction arrows, I hasten to add!). Check that the arms are ‘swaying’ forwards, should be the right way.

Is it on the front? My brakes felt like they were vibrating when I pulled them and it turned out to be the headset. I tightened that up a wee bit and it was all fine after that.

Oil, lots of oil 😀

Oil, lots of oil

One of the first jobs I ever had working in a bike shop was to clean up the mess somebody had made of their bike from precisely that. They were cantilever brakes, and in a final, desperate attempt to get rid of the squeaking which had “moved [him] to the very edge of sanity”, he’d gone all the way around both rims and covered every part of the cantis with what appeared to be 3-in-1. Incredibly, they still squeaked.

… but did they brake..?

No

I think you’ve been unlucky…I have two sets and they seem sweet.

Take a look at the brake adaptor/brake caliper mounting surfaces on the frame/fork…If they are way out of alignment then that will cause you this sort of grief….. getting them faced off totally square with the proper tool will sort this, and is good practice (that I hardly ever do) anyway.

I have known it that the caliper won’t pull over enough to centre properly on some set ups, and you might need to file it out a bit to let it centre square.

look on the plus side. it teaches u to brake less through shear embarrassment!