Hi

The XT disc brakes on my Major Jake are squealing when I finally come to a stop and I think I’ve tried everything to cure it…….obviously I haven’t coz they’d have stopped if I’d done that.

I’ve checked the alignment of the caliper to the disc (new XTR discs on an XT centrelock hubs)

cleaned everything with brake cleaner

copaslipped the edges of the pads

Torqued all the bolts up to the correct torque

Taken the pads out and lightly sanded the friction faces

Would it be worth sanding the discs to roughen up the surface or maybe swapping the sintered pads (standard shimano) for resin pads

Not sure what else to do…..any suggestions

Cheers

Ken

in the alps a couple of years ago, i got so fed up with my squealing brakes that i swapped the pads (shimano sintered) for some new pads (also shimano sintered).

This was a last-resort-i’ve-tried-everything-else experiment.

and it worked, my brakes were quiet.

Unfortunately, the walkers could no longer hear me coming, so i had a lot more close encounters. So i put the noisy pads back in.

Failing that, have you tried sacrificing a Chicken, under a full moon, within a pentagram of salt? Candles and chanting help, if only to keep the chicken calm.

Sanding the discs might help. filing a chamfer on the leading edge of the pads as well – just a mm or so.

Other than that you seem to have done it all

Are you using sintered pads? They tend to squeal more than organic ones.

are they performing badly as well or is it just the annoying noise?

I had a problem with squealing brakes that was sorted by doing some aggressive stops on a steep road descent – helpful? 🙂

if it is an uuuuuurrrrrrrcccchhhhh noise then it is pad contamination, A tinny squeak and a concentric line on the disks might indicate a wee stone or a bit of pad that has come off. An alternating squeak could be a bent rotor, a wheel not fully in the drop outs – usually sorted out by dropping the weeh or re-aligning the calipre (loosen bolts, apply brake, then tighten bolts)

pads and disk

oven

gas mark 9

30mins.

dont tell the missus.

Just buy some new pads.

IIRC if you put a little copper grease on the back of the pad it stops them squealing.

I always use copper grease on the back of pads; got that from using copper grease on the back of pads for the car. You can get tubes of copper grease from halfords. dead cheap, worthwhile having in the workshop. try to avoid putting it on the front of the pads.

could be due to not having the fork faced?

possibly a silly question,have you got sugar on them?

i bedded mine in once, and splashed water out my camel back over them, except it was ribena.

i was DEAF after the descent, honestly, it was SO painfully loud it made me go faster because a fear of speed was less painful than the noise they made.

didnt wear off for the whole ride, but washed off with water when i got back

Stripped the brakes ….cleaned the calipers with brake cleaner and made sure the pistons moved freely and evenly

cleaned the pads with brake cleaner and baked them

Copper greased the edges & back of the pads and the retaining bolt

Sanded the discs again

A quick blast round the block had no squealing but time will tell on a longer ride….if this doesn’t work then resin/organic pads are the next thing to try