MrsIHN took her bike out for a ride in the week, and after me telling her off on the past for just chucking it on the garage covered in crap, duly gave it a quick wash when she got back. So far, so good. However, she just informed me that, not only did she give it a wash, she “used that spray on the metal bits”.

“You mean the GT85, the stuff in the red can?” says I

“Yep”, says she

“When you say metal bits, did you do the brake discs as well?”

“Yes”, she replies, proudly.

Smashing. What’s the best way to get it off?

Wipe with Isopropyl alcohol then dishwasher seems to work for getting rid of leaked brake oil, so should also work with GT85…..
Edit – aye don’t forget the pads

Remove wheel. Wipe rotor with rag soaked in cleaning alcohol or petrol. Then wipe it with a clean damp rag with dishwashing liquid. Then pour boiling water over it.

Remove pads. Scrub with dishwashing liquid and then pour boiling water over them.

if you have a dishwasher thats the easiest solution

Lots of rubbing alcohol type stuff and her best blouse

Get ’em clean enough to work then go for a ride, nothing better than heat.

You can save the pads but unless they’re really posh ones it’s not usually worth the hassle. Again lots of isopropyl, then resurface them with some very course wet and dry on a perfectly flat surface- 80 is ideal, 120 or even 240 works.

if you have a dishwasher thats the easiest solution

I do. Can I just stick the pads and the discs in?

+1 for for the dishwasher, they come out gleaming! Iv never tried with pads but I dont see why not, its only water and a cleaning solution, not a lot of difference between that a wet ride and a wash

I’d be tempted to bin the pads but when I was young and penniless I used to put them in a pan of boiling water for a while. When you turn off the heat you can see all the oily scum that was removed on the surface of the water.

Spray the pads with disc break cleaner and then burn for a few seconds. Seems to work for me. As for the discs I’d go with dishwasher too if I had one. As I don’t it’s disc break cleaner and wire wool

Yep I second the dishwasher route for disc and pads. Worked well for me and done it while wife was out lol

Remove pads. Scrub with dishwashing liquid and then pour boiling water over them.

Does it actually work? I’ve stopped trying to rescue contaminated pads years ago as nothing seems to make any difference. most recently soaked in alcohol and sanded the surface but no diffent

For those without a poshwasher, I buy the tabs and clean loads of bike parts in a bucket with d/washer tab and very hot water, followed by a good rinse.

sometimes you can rescue pads, sometimes not. If its just a bit on the surface then its possible, If they are soaked its not. I burn pads to rescue them

I’d be tempted to bin the pads

In this case, they’ve been sprayed, but the spray may not have really reached the surface of the pads. I would try cleaning them and sanding the surface and seeing if they are ok.

detergents and hot water may encourage any oil on the surfaxe of the pads to be absorbed deeper, I’d sand them down as a first option, but order a new set if you don’t have spares handy.

The only way I have found to rescue contaminated pads involved burning the crap out of them till they stop smoking, but the friction material sometimes came away from the metal backing shortly after so I don’t really trust that method ( I might have overdone it!)

Burn the wife and claim her bike

Then give yourself a scrub in dishwasher

Blowtorch the pads is the best to decontaminate I think.

Blowtorch the pads is the best to decontaminate I think.

For pads
(i) Scrub with nailbrush and washing up liguid
(ii) Naked gas flame until black smoke stops coming off ( I use and old camping gas cooker)

For rotors
(i) scrub with nail brush and washing up liquid

Has never failed, though once the braking surface separated from the metal backing, thankfully just before I set out for a spin 🙂

Dishwasher sounds like a good idea for rotors, maybe for pads too

I blowtorched some pads and the next ride the friction material came away from the backing plate

Washing up liquid on the rotor.

Lots of rubbing alcohol type stuff and her best blouse

What if it doesn’t fit him?

bin the pads, clean rotor and caliper with disc brake cleaner, make sure there’s no gt85 on the pistons (squeeze them out a little to clean then reset with new pads)

It’s just like bedding in new pads…

Descend a mahoosive hill, generating heat in the pads as you go….

If you survive, repeat until the brakes evenetually start to bite again

Just bin the pads, not worth it.

Rotors off and scrub with washing up liquid and hot water. Then some brake cleaner if you have any, IPA etc.

Glad you’re not mad at the wife, we all have to learn somehow. For some it is obvious, some need to be taught in an appropriate way.

Wife in dishwasher, blowtorch the bike, sandpaper yourself?

Saves wear on pads…

I’m sure I must’ve sprayed mine a whole bunch of times, admittedly not very determinedly, but still. My solution has been to brake a couple of times riding away from the house. Er, that’s it. Should I be dead or something?

Buy new pads. The cost next to nothing

It’s pretty obvious when your pads are proper contaminated. I think you’d notice pretty quick.

I have saved a few sets of pads with the blowtorch method.

I would 100% recommend a blow torch to clean the pads and discs, best to do this off the bike.

For future reference, (I’m sure I’ll manage to foul up a pair of pads at some point!) could a heat gun (at approx. 600*c) be substituted for a blowtorch, to burn off the contaminating oil?

I’ve used a blowtorch to clean pads, but I always try alcohol or hot soapy water first, followed by sanding the surface of the pad. Often the oil hasn’t soaked into the pad and it just needs cleaning off the surface. You can always try a blowtorch later if that doesn’t work.

The worry with using a blowtorch is that the friction material might become unbonded from the backing plate. I always fit pads that I’ve given the blowtorch treatment to the back brakes and give them a good workout just in case.