how do you stop the infernal brake squeal? Just coming off my first full winter on a disc roadie. I know there’s a lot of crap on the roads but in the wet these brakes (SRAM rival) make a hell of a noise. I gave them a good soaking with some muc-off brake cleaner stuff but that only minimised the problem for a couple of weeks and now they are as bad as ever – even doing it in the dry sometimes. Do I need to MTFU and properly clean the discs and pads every two weeks in the winter? Never really had this problem with mtb brakes – wondering if it’s because the road brakes never really get that hot on the commute to burn the crap off.

Superstar organics quietened my BB7s from a banshee wail in all conditions to only a bit of a meow when it’s damp.

Braking’s as good as or better than standard avids, life is maybe half (??), but they’re about 3 or 4 times cheaper.

Re-set your brake calipers, persistent squeal can be the symptom of misalignment.

Also, pull the pads out of the caliper, give the inside of the caliper a good clean and put a bit of copper slip on the back of the pads, being careful not to get any on the actual braking surface.

thanks – what does the copper slip do?

Clean the pads with fairy washing up liquid and then heat them and the discs in the over to around 130deg for 10 mins. Spray them with finish line brake cleaner as soon as you remove them and once cool, clean them again with the finish line.

Copper slip (grease) stops the pad seizing against the piston. Reduces or stops vibration. Standard procedure on cars and motorbikes.

I tried some Shimano Metal pads in my RS685’s, they were awful, changed back to resin, peace and quiet again. 🙂

great – thanks for all these tips. Wife at the in-laws this weekend so I’ll sneak the discs and pads into the oven then 😉

Dibbs – Member

I tried some Shimano Metal pads in my RS685’s, they were awful, changed back to resin, peace and quiet again.

+1 – sintered pads always squeal for me, whereas resin ones are generally nice & quiet.
Might be worth trying some new resin pads & re-aligning the caliper.

I’ve had the same problem on the commuter as the discs and pads never get warm enough to clean off the road crap that gets on them (oil, diesel, salt etc) and were glazing after a few days. Tried all sorts of different pads, cleaning the discs and pads and it got tiring! Organic were the best but still awful after a week with the braking power getting worse every ride until the squeal came back with no power. Doesn’t help my commute has a grand total of 40ft of hills in it’s 4 miles, only use the brakes for traffic lights.

Tried some lightweight discs and organic pads on the recommendation of the LBS and it’s been fine so far. The theory is the disc has more edges to scrape the pads and with less disc surface to grip there’s more force through the remaining surface so temps will be better. 3 commutes in and the power has stayed the same so fingers crossed it’s made a difference.

Tick

I just found a big hill I’d divert to, pedal down it furiously while braking and getting enough heat into the pads and rotors. It worked every time and I’d just repeat the exercise every couple of weeks.