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Cycling in Berlin in winter means constant high wind 4C 95% humidity and wet roads even if not raining, and with that crud/oil/diesel from the road gets flung onto the rotor andor caliper which can result in annoying rubbing andor loud shrieks when braking.
I've learned that sintered pads are way superior to organics in such conditions, they may squeal for a second but then go quiet again as the crud evaporates whilst power remains good, organic pads on the other hand act like sponges that once contaminated stay squealing with near 0 braking power (Shimano and Swisstop equally bad) - my Christmas gift to you if you did not know :>
Very happy with Shimano's sintered K04s and will test K04c finned pads to see if the fins can shield the pads a bit from the crud, which made me wonder - how does the crud get onto the pads in the first place? Primarily from the rotor or does it drip onto the pads from the fork?
Could say 3D printing a cover for the caliper help prevent contamination?
Obligatory photo of disc brake covers designed to make disc brakes less lethal...never caught on for some reason.
@yohandsome those covers look terrible and will increase wind resistance and reduce your average speed and marginal gains you've worked on all year.
Just wash your bike every now and then and degrease your rotors from time to time.
Covers are a joke, but cleaning will not fix shrieking brakes or rubbing from crud every wet ride.
Don't rim brakes suffer the same, or worse being closer to the ground?
What do folk do to keep them oil free?
Rim brakes pad are typically rubber, disc brake pads are not, so not necessarily, really depends on the pad compound and rim.
@yohandsome you need to ride faster so your gone before it can splash on your rotors 😜
We all ride on roads with crap on but it's not really an issue. If your brakes are rubbing it sounds like a set up issue more than anything else.
Fix your alignment issue and just get used to the squealing or for organic pads.
To be fair, it just sounds like they are cold and wet. A contaminated pad (ime) will never stop properly again or stop squeeking no matter how much temperature you get into it. I think you're correct though resin pads do absorb a bit more water so take a little while to get them heated up again.
We all ride on roads with crap on but it’s not really an issue. If your brakes are rubbing it sounds like a set up issue more than anything else.
Fix your alignment issue and just get used to the squealing or for organic pads.
It's not a setup/alignment issue, the rotors are 100% bang on - it's a clearance issue: fresh pads and low clearance leads to rubbing if dirt gets on the calipers or pads. Heard some calipers have better clearance e.g. hopes relative to 105s. Not a big issue for me and it'll get better as the pads wear down.
A contaminated pad (ime) will never stop properly again or stop squeeking no matter how much temperature you get into it.
If just from road grime sintered pads seem to never stop working and will stop squeaking right away, if you spilled mineral oil on them it might be a differert story and you'd want to bake it off andor sand them down.
Thanks for your persistence YoHandsome, by this point I had just given up and gone back to rim brakes, but it's good to know there might be hope out there for those of us who can't tolerate squealing! 😀
I do remember settling for sintered Shimano pads on my MTB as an acceptable compromise between performance and noise so it was stupid of me not to try them on the road.
I'd still love to resurrect my old 29er for those gravel rides where I might appreciate a bit of front suspension (I have my eyes on some very old rocky landrover tracks in Perthshire) but it's cursed with squeeling Deores. Will stick some sintered pads in, sand the rotors down and give them another go.
I used to get noisy brakes regularly when commuting across Edinburgh on a daily basis. This was with BB7s (which definitely benefit from reduced pad/rotor clearance). My cure was to do a small detour to a decent hill and pedal down it furiously while braking. This weekly "maintenance" was all that was required to restore silent braking.
I think there's an argument that most road riding doesn't dictate hard braking and that this leads to a build up of contamination. I've wondered if smaller rotors would be an improvement. An enclosed brake would benefit from both reduced contamination and increased heat build-up and maybe this would be a good thing for city riding.
Thanks for your persistence YoHandsome, by this point I had just given up and gone back to rim brakes, but it’s good to know there might be hope out there for those of us who can’t tolerate squealing! 😀
Haha thanks, I'm honestly pretty pleased right now, will see if finned pads make any difference.. next up, 3D printed caliper covers ;p
My cure was to do a small detour to a decent hill and pedal down it furiously while braking. This weekly “maintenance” was all that was required to restore silent braking.
Yeah, do some hard breaking it squeaking usually goes away with sintered pads at least. Baking the pads at 400C for 20 minutes help for some (diesel should evaporate then, mineral oil will start evaporating above 177C). A propane torch until they stop smoking should also work..
I'd have though that finned pads could make things worse as the pads will not get as hot.
There was another thread last week involving a theory that caliper placement might be an issue, though that one was also regarding shitty water coming off mudguards and flowing onto the rotors.
’d have though that finned pads could make things worse as the pads will not get as hot.
There was another thread last week involving a theory that caliper placement might be an issue, though that one was also regarding shitty water coming off mudguards and flowing onto the rotors.
We shall see, the finns also look like they could protect the pads a bit if the grime comes from above (from mudguards or just grime hitting the the fork and falling onto the caliper). Worth a shot.