Best way to clean brake discs?

Mine are badly contaminated with fluid from a previous set of brakes and I need to clean them up before fitting my new brakes.

Oven – ours needs a clean itself, so may leave greasy deposits on the discs
Petrol and match – could do, but won’t that leave a tarnish?
Dishwasher – anyone tried this?
Finish Line disc brake cleaner – got some so will try this but worry it won’t be man enough.

Any other ideas that have worked well?

Disc brake cleaner?

Err, yes…see my edit. I’ve tried it before, but I’m not convinced it’s man enough this time round.

Petrol and a clean rag, or brake cleaner on a clean rag. If really contaminated you made need a couple of goes at it, turn the rag over to a clean part – don’t spray/pour the cleaner straight onto the disc, I find it works better for cleaning when applied direct to the rag.

Meths/clean rag

Muc off Motorbike chain cleaner. Awesome.

IPA

Iso propyl alcohol (sp?) IPA, cheapest in a 400ml can from CPC (Farnell) would be better than petrol I reckon.

MUD MUD MUD. get some nice wet mud and pour it on your brakes then use them a little bit for like 20 metres. Hose the mud off then reapply. Few times usually sorts it out pretty well.

For reference I did this on a set of pads/discs that LITERALLY were covered in mineral oil and it got them as good as new.

Greene king ain’t the best beer in the world, but I wouldn’t waste it on cleaning bike parts!

IPA from Maplins.

Hot soapy water, then a quick wipe with IPA. Was it an oil or dot fluid contamination?

whats contaminated the pad or the rotor.

some pads wont clean up.

meths/wirewool for your disks

I bled my brakes at the weekend and even though I took wheels and pads out for the bleed then thoroughly cleaned the disks afterwards they still squealed like piggie.

cleaning the disks with muc off brake cleaner didn’t cure the squeal – if anything it was worse.
sanding the pads with a coarse grit sandpaper cured it for me.

so if you do clean your disks you might need to sand your pads. to me it seems like the pad surface and disk surface bed in together – if you reset one you better reset the other.

Hope recommended meths to me as it evaporates without leaving a residue like a lot of disk brake cleaners.

Meths is great as others have said, just don’t be tempted to have a sip it will make you blind 😀

Used to use Muc Off disc brake cleaner but switched to Meths on advice of Hope – cheap, easy to get hold of (sneaked it in on the weekly shop…) and does the job

yesiamtom – Member
MUD MUD MUD. get some nice wet mud and pour it on your brakes then use them a little bit for like 20 metres. Hose the mud off then reapply. Few times usually sorts it out pretty well.

For reference I did this on a set of pads/discs that LITERALLY were covered in mineral oil and it got them as good as new.

Nothing worse than getting your discs metaphorically covered in oil. It’s like…er… I mean….

Finish Line disc brake cleaner – got some so will try this but worry it won’t be man enough.

Are you serious? That stuff i the yellow spray is nasty.

I normally use IPA as it wont damage anything else so don’t need to be careful.

Use Ajax/Vim abrasive cleaner with a scrubbing brush on a flat surface (off the hub) both sides, working the holes and slots well, and rinse a couple of times, then finish with boiling water.
Do not handle with bare hands and refit with new pads.
I know it’s a faff, but the only way to make a fresh start.

The mud-mud-mud is a variation on my kitchen solution.

PaulD

IPA – got mine from Maplins (mentioned above)

They do though become quieter soon after a mud bath (also mentioned above)

Thanks chaps. They’ll be new brakes with new pads, so no worries there. And it was mineral oil contamination if that makes a difference.

Muc off brake cleaner, and do the pads at the same time.

I’ve used oven cleaner a few times when brake cleaner’s not been man enough. Just do it outside as the fumes are vicious……..

+1 meths/wirewool for your disks