Well, that was expensive. Owing to the shortage of Shimano parts over Covid I stretched the pad change on my front brakes about 2500 miles further than I should have, including through the winter. Turns out that if you leave it long enough the stainless steel pad retaining screw corrodes beautifully into the aluminium caliper body.
Owing to the location of the screw it's not possible to cut a deeper slot or grab it with mole grips.
Let this be a lesson to you all. Although mostly me. At least the new caliper come with brake pads... 😬
Don't feel too bad (neglectful), mine had ceased in after only a few months from new! A friend had the same. Totally ceased after no time and bolt made of butter.
The new calipers have had the bolt replaced with a split spin.
Pah, amateur. We ran my son's front brake through the pads through the backing plate and through the piston.
Only realised when I bled it and all the fluid pissed straight put onto the floor 🙁
Never heard of grease?
Never heard of grease?
Grease. On a pad retaining pin, which is right next to the brake pads. And the disc rotor?
No thanks.
Split pins for the wins.
Coppaslip or loctite, don’t go mad but well known corrosion prevention methods. A smear on the threads and a wipe on the pins so that the pads slide nicely. Do it on bicycles and cars. Still alive, 62, never had a pad securing pin seize.
Used to be a standard method of stopping pad squeal on cars was a thin shim and copperslip between the pad and the piston. With kits available in all car shops.
A small dab on the threads of the pin has no risk providing you're totally ham fisted and go lathering half a pound of the stuff on the rotor or friction material.
I prefer the "do some maintenance more regularly than once every few thousand miles" method of making sure my brakes aren't seized to buggery 😁😜
I’ve always just used whichever random split pin I’ve had that fits (or random bit of metal with the ends bent up). I assumed that’s what Shimano came with as standard.
In my case both front and rear bolts were totally ceased only a few months after I got the bike as new. I'd not be expecting to remove and grease all bolts on a brand new bike.
When I was looking into it at the time it's apparently pretty common with those calipers with a flat screw driver headed ss bolt.
As above split pins ftw for me.
Grease. On a pad retaining pin, which is right next to the brake pads. And the disc rotor?
No thanks.
Ti prep- Titanium anti-seize.
Or do what I saw on a bike on holiday, pop a zip tie through instead of a bolt or split pin. Sure as hell won't seize 😂
This happened to a mate on our last trip. Tiny slither of head left, so I tapped a flat head driver into it and it screwed out with no resistance
I 'acquired' a handful of stainless steel cable ties for this very purpose.
We ran my son’s front brake through the pads through the backing plate and through the piston.
Only realised when I bled it and all the fluid pissed straight put onto the floor
Pah. Amateur. My mate wore his through and didn't realize until smoke started pouring from his back brake half way down a big descent as the fluid squired onto a very hot rotor. "**** my brakes are on fire."
I wore through the pads once or twice. Very easy to tell when it happens because of the loud metal scraping sounds and completely ineffective brakes. But one time, I didn't have time to change them and wore right through the rotor, spokes, and cassette too!
Grease. On a pad retaining pin, which is right next to the brake pads. And the disc rotor?
No thanks.
How do you think all the moving parts* in brake calipers are lubricated?
*Fair enough, cycling calipers don't have sliding pins like automotive calipers. But the principal is the same.
Plenty of other pad options available that could have saved the expense...
I always coppaslip the threads on the pins. Same as any other thread. Even new parts will be stripped to do it.
I’d not be expecting to remove and grease all bolts on a brand new bike.
You should. Most are mass produced in far east factories where speed of assembly trumps greasing small parts.
Even some of the parts that are lubricated may as well not be for all the good it does. Next time you get a new Shimano derailleur have a look where that lovely luminous green grease is. Chances are it has just been randomly squirted in to the mech and isn’t actually in contact with any moving parts.
Half an hour spent putting a small dab of copperslip on a few bolts when the bike or component is new can save a great deal of time, money and aggravation further down the line.
It's a terrible bit of design from Shimano. They actually recommend their own anti seize paste on the pad retaining pin... I ended up cutting the pads off of the pin using a dremel, cutting through the pin then drilling it out. Absolute ball ache but saved buying a new caliper.
Just remembered that my impact driver works in both directions, so might give that a try tonight.
I’d not be expecting to remove and grease all bolts on a brand new bike.
I pretty much strip down new bikes to (almost) constituent parts and reassemble, properly.
The number of under and over torqued or dry bolts/assemblies i find means it's always a useful exercise.
My bikes tend to last decades rather than years though
I always coppaslip the threads on the pins. Same as any other thread. Even new parts will be stripped to do it.
+1
And when I've acquired cheaper Shimano calipers I've always replaced the split pins with the threaded pins.