Having recently had a rear brake that performed badly after a bleed I presumed I’d contaminated the pads somehow so removed the wheel, cleaned the disc and fitted new pads. It was here that I noticed the caliper was loose. Can it be that the paDr aren’t actually soiled?

It would be a likely culprit, I think..

A quick nip up of the bolts and ride down the street should help to clarify things.

maybe, nip it up and re test that should answer the question.

You can feel a properly loose caliper knocking about when you brake (eek!), a slightly loose one must start to become noticeable. Worth a shot.

What was wrong post bleed?

A loose caliper can be a big problem but it’s not the answer to everything

I don’t see how a loose caliper would cause poor braking.

If it was so loose that it could move away from the disc and only part of the pad was in contact, I guess. Otherwise, just think of it as a floating caliper – should be free to align itself perfectly when you pull the brakes.

Interested to hear if tightening it up fixes it.

As above, I can’t see how it could make the braking bad. Maybe it was rubbing a lot and got hot.

It doesn’t seem logical as applying the brake would centralize the pads and they would work as normal. Post bleed they weren’t good, I thought that I maybe got fluid on them so bought new pads, removed the wheel and cleaned the rotor. When I went to fit the new pads I noticed the caliper was loose. If I put the old pads back in and they are contaminated I’ll have to clean the rotor again..it’s no biggie but just can’t be doing with the faff.

surely if the caliper is loose then when the brake is not being applied then it could be floating and the pads being pushed apart which would mean more travel on the lever when applying the brake.