Fronts are “ok”, as good as elixir (r)’s ever get without new pads. Both brakes bled recently and have a VERY good firm lever feel.

Rear has no power (can’t lock wheel on slippery slope), requires two fingers and hard braking to lock the rear wheel but as soon as I do an incredibly loud squealing turkey gobble occurs.

NB. I have tried realigning the calipers (loosen, spin wheel, brake, tighten 1/4 turn, repeat until tight) and cleaning the discs.

Pads are sintered and still have like a full 1mm wear to go.

Any thoughts?

contaminated probably? Sure the pads are still there…not just the backing material?

try slathering mud all over the caliper/disc/pads then use the brakes a couple of times. Reapply and try again. I’ve done this for minorly contaminated disc brakes in the past and glazed pads and it works fantastic. Dont forget to hose it off afterwards with a little water. no pressure wash…

Isn’t gobble vibrating discs? Will try removing, sanding and washing with isopropanol.

They are only weak when I am cycling – when in the garage if I spin the wheel they can happily lock the wheel; and once locked I can’t turn it with my hands.

Not sure about the no power thing, would just put new pads in tbh and bleed again just to be sure. Check the piston in the calliper too. Might be sticking.

I had horrible turkey gobble on my rear break. I would always align in the way you described, never got rid of it after several attempts and several annoying rides. Then I tried doing it by ear. Loosened the calliper and jiggled it while spinning the wheel until it sounded like there was no contact, then tightened slowly. Never had a problem since.

I have elixir 5’s btw

Much better to align by eye and by ear, use a torch to shine through the pad gaps to make it more visible, and do it against a light, clean background. Stupid avid conical washers make this a pain in the ass to get right – I’m increasingly seeing them as an excuse for poor manufacturing and poor mount alignment at the bike factories.

If your pads are already worn to a bad alignment then they won’t take kindly or quietly to being aligned. New pads.

Lift dustbin lid insert Elixirs close lid, buy any other brake system you fancy. Cured all my lack of power, dreadful squeal, turkey gobble, horrendous judder, hopeless in wet, more hopeless when cold problems. Looked nice in white though.

I binned my old elixirs on my remedy for 2012 xt’s, but that was back when one could still sell a pair of elixir r’s secondhand for more than a hundred quid.

Oh the days.