Not a contaminated pad shriek or a wet weather squeal but sounds a bit like a vuvuzela!

Only tends to happen when doing numerous DH runs…

Ideas?

It might be just trying to encourage you.

Haha. It did! So annoying I squeezed them less!

changed pads, cleaned rotor with isopropyl, greased the pistons and the caliper bolts. brake is still humming away… 🙁

What brakes?

Alignment, sintered pads? or just the fact you’re using them when you shouldn’t 😀

I’ve heard it diagnosed as glazing, brakes often get noisy when they’ve been particularly hot. This doesn’t really help you unless you really want to brake a lot less.

You could try just rubbing down the disc and pads with some sandpaper, but not really practical between runs. I would ignore it if they’re working.

they are Saints. sintered pads from Superstar (i think) no let up in performance, just make a freaky noise!

Had this on daughters xc race bike. Tried all the above suggestions & made no difference. You could hear her on the other side of an xc course. It made her not want to brake, so went slower so she didn’t need to.
Solution was using non sintered pads. Fine for xc but not DH!

I had this before but it ended up with the brakes nearly failing, tried new pads’ discs etc and still didn’t make any difference, was Shimano SLX, ended up junking the system for Formula.

Drove me nuts, more so in the wet!

Try Kevlar pads instead of sintered. Harder wearing than regular organic, far less of the squeal of sintered.

Been using kev for many years now and so much better. I ran out though and had to stick a spare sintered in and instantly squealing.

Not as durable as sintered in the winter but do pretty well I find, and you can get loads of them for the same price as one original brand from likes of superstar and uberbike.

Try original pads not superdoooper or whatever cheapies you put in.

Its usually contamination however that leads to noise.

I had the same issue during a trip to the Picos in Spain a few months ago. Lots of big decents and the brakes were soon howling. The brakes still worked fine but the noise was seriously off-putting. The discs actually turned very dark brown/black. I tried sanding down the pads and discs and it worked for a while but the noise soon returned. Upgraded the brakes to XT IceTech when I got back and so far so good. Trouble is I really need to go back to the Picos to do a thorough test.

new pads, new rotors… starting to resemble trigger’s broom!!!

still happening so i guess the caliper is ****.

On the my last ride my rear started honking, with a nasty vibration through the frame.

I’m putting it down to heat, was a couple of miles of descending when it started. I’m going to put a bigger rotor and see what happens from there.

wee on them

Mine started in the Alps doing endless DH runs too. But now it happens cold straight from the door.

Mine did that in the alps too, new pads when i got home sorted it.

I wish I had some riding that would get that much heat into the pads to make them squeal again 😀

Sintered pads really aren’t suitable for long runs in hot and dry conditions. You’ll just be wearing down the discs much more quickly. I tend to run organic pads in the summer and sintered for muddy conditions in the winter.

I love noisy brakes. Nothing like sneaking up behind a granny, hitting the brakes, and watching them panic trying to get out of the way of the truck they think is about to flatten them. Hilarious.

I did read an article on t’web a while ago and someone reckon he’d cured his noisy brakes by ziptieing the hose to the stay just after the caliper as he reckoned it was the unsupported hose vibrating that was causing the noise. – at least it’s a cheap and simple one to try…

I would put money on it being the crappy superstar pads. They feel like blocks of wood until the pad material falls off the backing plate. Get some original Shimano ones.

actually… my hubs are 6 bolt, but one of the threads is spun so theres only five bolts securing the rotor – surely it cant be this? dont some weight saving savvy’s only run 3 bolts anyway?

Well went out today and the noise was absolute murder. Tried someone else’s wheel and it still happened.

Came home, swapped callipers with an old Zee i had , kept same levers, hoses, pads & rotor l, just straight swap out of callipers… went for a spin – SILENCE!

Woohoo

In fact, I’m not sure there is any difference between the Saint and Zee calipers? They look and feel exactly the same! Still got my sexy saint levers so happy days….