[Closed] Is there any saving contaminated pads?

Depends whats contaminated them !,if its owt Oil related,personally i'd binnem,but Brake cleaner etc,gets most stuff out,whats been on em ??

Not entirely sure, I reckon it's most likely oil, but maybe hydraulic fluid.

I blow torch mine until they smoke - works for me.

10 mins of boiling in a pan, sand off, repeat, worked for me a few times on Shimano metal pads that had a bit of mineral oil or spray lube etc on.

I just held mine over the flame from my gas hob. It worked but did get a telling off from my wife about the smell.

I've soaked them in isopropyl alcohol and it seemed to work, took a while to bed them back in tho

I'd try the blowtorch trick, after all you'll be used to having a good flaming 😀

Big hill, high speed, repeated hard braking.
Works every time.
Seriously, never understood this 'contamination' problem.

Don't even bother shielding the brakes when spraying the WD/GT around anymore, complete waste of time.

Big hill, high speed, repeated hard braking.
Works every time.
Seriously, never understood this 'contamination' problem.

You've never had any contaminated ones then! 🙂

I've saved some by wire brushing them or similar suggestions to the above but more recently I got brake fluid on some and they were rogered. Tried everything with no luck so I binned them.

Rusty Spanner - Member
Big hill, high speed, repeated hard braking.
Works every time.

Don't even bother shielding the brakes when spraying the WD/GT around anymore, complete waste of time.

I don't know why any of you give this the time of day, given the history here.

I like to attach paper clips to mine an let the missus wear em as earings

I don't know why any of you give this the time of day, given the history here.

Me neither, but careful you don't say exactly why people should ignore him, because the mods will remove your posts.

You've never had any contaminated ones then!

Define 'contaminated' then:
Brake fluid, GT85, mineral oil?
Like many things in life, often cured by a good, hard repeated squeeze.
Complete urban myth if you ask me.

toys19 - Member

I don't know why any of you give this the time of day, given the history here.

For what pads cost it Int worth it lads !,just bin emm ..you've only got one head,one set of teeth etc etc ..ya need ya brakes ..

reedspeed FTW.

empty tuna tin, splosh of meths, one match .. two if clumsy.

If my pads ever get contaminated I give them the floatation test. I throw them in the nearest large body of water and if they float then I reckon they are OK.

You probably can't save them but I hear you can pick up some second hand brakes in good condition on the classifieds.

Kanza, I take you're new here?

have wee search for brakes + realman

I knew a few students with contaminated pads,they lost their deposit 🙂

Mattie are you an Avid fan of second hand brakes ?

Coyote,not quite up to date with abreviated txt lingo but I get the general answer !,were not all the same are we ?,thk
**** !..

New here Bruneep, but not to disc pads. Mostly car/motorcycle race, but same things. You can make them serviceable but you will never make them operate exactly as per origional's. Which is what I thought, but I guess you can make them work on a bike.

But thanks for the link, will check it out.

Jeez, getting grief from they who know not.

reedspeed, it means "for the win", i.e. I agree with you...

Kanza, check his posting history before being so free with the insults.

Got yah !,were always learning arn't we ?,lol..

My front's got some fork damping oil dribbled on them, useless, just about work, but in the same way the brakes on a 1980s Halfords bike 'work'

Dumped the pad's in a jam jar lid of fresh industrial thinners (more for cleaning lathes & tools than thinning paint!) for a few hours, flicked them out onto some paper and now they're top drawer.

I take the pads out...

get a camping stove in the garden (no trouble from "er indoors"

get an old shoe polish tin (clean)

place tin on stove and heat to burn any crap out of tin...

turn down stove and drop the pads in pad side down

and crank up the heat

Once very hot allow to cool.... and refit after cleaning rotor i use either IPA alcohol Mehelated spirt or Car body shop panel wipe

I found exposing them to a naked flame seemed to lead to them disintegrating

I just buy new pads. Sod all that fannying about, it's not like they cost the earth, or a so rare or valuable.

Boys.... 🙄

Kanza, check his posting history before being so free with the insults.

What insults, I've not and do not insult anyone?

new pads why risk it?

I don't know why any of you give this the time of day, given the history here.

Cheers for all the advice, will try soaking them and burning them, then if that doesn't work, will just give up and bin them.

What insults, I've not and do not insult anyone?

Erm...

Geez' selling contaminated pads on to someone else would mean they could not afford a few quid to buy new ones. Maybe some young kid and take a moment to imagine the damage?

I guess if the post was 'cool' would not have been removed? But I would rather not debate that either.

toys19 - Member

I don't know why any of you give this the time of day, given the history here.

Interesting post toys19

Mattie_H - Member

You probably can't save them but I hear you can pick up some second hand brakes in good condition on the classifieds.

That's a good suggestion, probably less hassle for the OP.

fasthaggis - Member

Mattie are you an Avid fan of second hand brakes ?

Who isn't fasthaggis?

Boiled in hot water for ten mins followed by a minute dangled over the gas hob.

Do the research dude. Some crap brakes changed hands for money and the value of the transaction was disputed. The vast majority were on the side of the guy who was less than chuffed with the deal.

Hey, gotya buddy - now I get it thanks for explaining.

Peaceout.

Boiled in hot water for ten mins followed by a minute dangled over the gas hob.

Realman may be a total douche, but this is probably a bit harsh.

My solution defo works,

You won't burn your fingers or have to mess with dangerous chemicals, it's relatively cheap and is guaranteed to work.

Buy new pads, clean your rotors and calipers.

^^^ Rotors is where MOST of the contam lives.

It gets in all the cut outs, and the gorges in the actual running surface of the brake.

I find only way to do a proper job is a submerge them in a vat of thinners then shake dry.

Cheers BrickMan, gave the rotors a proper good clean. Soaked the pads in white spirit, boiled them in water (and a bit of white spirit), gave them a spray with a degreaser, set them on fire over the hob until they looked pretty cooked, filed off some rough bits, popped everything back together, and I now have wheels locking up with no effort at all. Brilliant. Thanks again for all the help.

[b]

Soaked the pads in white spirit

Are or real ??,its oil based ffs !!!,you wanna STOP doing your own Mechanicing & pay for it doing right,& STOP giving advice full stop !,by all means hurt yourself but not others,you'll be needin a good public liability solicitor the way youre goin pal...

You're right there, don't know how I didn't know that. Worked though.

White spirit my be oil based, but it's a solvent, and evaporates, and is used as an industrial cleaner, so your point is?

White spirit my be oil based, but it's a solvent, and evaporates, and is used as an industrial cleaner, so your point is?

I guess his point is it is oil based and oil does not evaporate?

Post evaporation, your left with just the oil.

Have you tried to sort your pads out using the power of prayer?