Morning all,

I fitted new pads into my SLX discs last night, complete with faffing around getting a sticky piston to push back flush.

With the reservoir closed off again, the brake lever pulls further than it did, and doesn’t seem to have much power compared to before.

A little oil came out of the lever when I was pushing the pistons back – can I just top this up again?

Cheers

yes. use the correct fluid.

cheers

Oli, before you top-up/ bleed. Try this:

I had a similar symptom from my SLX brakes despite perfect bleeding. Turns out the pads were simply retracted too far from the disc and therefore not making contact until quite far through the lever travel. All I did was remove the wheel from the bike; pump the appropriate brake twice; replace wheel. Voila, perfect lever travel, perfect firmness, great power 🙂

I’ve never had to do this for any other brakes I’ve used – Hope & Hayes

The pads will take a good few action to settle down and get to the correct bike point. So take it for a bedding in ride and just work them. If there still spongy after that you may need to bleed them

hmmm, ok then, ta. Front still works fine so it’s not like I’ll have no brakes

what’s the worst that could happen 😀

I’ve got exactly the same problem. Rear pads don’t make contact until over 1/2 of the lever throw. I’m going to try blahblahblah’s suggestion before topping up.

What I would do:

Pump the brake a few times, then tie the lever up against the bar and leave overnight. I’m not sure exactly how this works, but it seems to briefly redistribute any air in the line and get it up to the reservoir. You’ll be able to feel the difference in the morning but it’s not a permanent fix. Anyway, if you then release the lever and top up the reservoir you should get rid of a bit more air (compared to if you hadn’t done the overnight trick).