Fitted a set of avid elixir r brakes front a rear, has a 203mm front and 185mm rear disc, the front is brand new and the rear is very slightly used. Pads are also very slightly used. I have yet to ride the bike and bed the pads yet. Not sure if I need to? Basically I cannot stop the pads to rub on the disc, only very slight as both the wheels spin very well just noisey. I have followed the avid manual, undo the caliper, hold the lever in then tightern the bolts but still rubbing. Any tips how to get rid of this. I was thinking of putting 2 bits of paper between the pad and disc to set the gap, good idea or not?
Sam

Push the pistons back in and centre the caliper. Then I put a business card in each side between the pad and rotor and squeeze the lever.

That’s how I used to do mine anyway.

Go for a ride. As longer as they are setup/aligned as best you can (Slacken off brake bolts, spin wheel, apply brake and re-tighten) they tend to sort themselves out after riding in my experience (2 x sets of Avid Juicy 5s and 2 x sets of Avid Elixir CR). I’ve had it where I’ve changed the pads and its a job getting the wheel back in because the gap between the pads is barely the width of the rotor but after a ride it’s all fine.

Does the disk move relative to the calliper slightly when you press the lever with the wheel stationary? If so the callipers need a re-align. I have just put a brand new set on my new build and I lined them up as close as I could by eye ( no twists etc.) with a VERY light pressure on the bolts to hold approx. in place and then pumped the brake a few times as the manual suggests before a final tighten. The cone washers do allow inaccuracies in two planes to creep in. In my experience you do need to bed in as manual suggests to get best from pads

I’ve got this issue with mine. On pushing the pistons back in they don’t both fully retract. I’m assuming there’s a bit much fluid in the system so am planning on opening them up and pushing the pistons back in. Might work.

It’s a bit of a feature. THe pistons don’t reset very well. I find it does it for a short while then stops after the brakes have been used.

Normally push the pistons back with a tire lever when replacing pads.

I have the same problem. With previous brakes (Hayes 9’s) I used to just ride them and they’d soon sort out, but I appreciate this is quite annoying and a bit hit or miss.

The bolts attaching my callipers are, to use the technical term, “a bit funny and wiggly.” it is possible that the calliper itself isn’t positioned quite right and that could be the cause of the rub. I’m going to strip mine down tomorrow and try that, so I hope it is!

That’s because they are a pain in the ass 😆

Same problem with my elixir 4s…. Rebled the rear twice same issue noticed the piston not retracting fully either. Ive read that red rubber grease when applied as the piston is expanded will possibly allow it to go retract fully easier. Ive also ordered replacement pistons from crc… Wish id never bought the brakes (from this forum, feel a bit ripped off tbh) my magura julies were less hassle than these. Stupid of me really ive spent extra money on pads,bleed kit, avid washers and now a piston kit… Should have bought something else new!

Might try credit card trick tomorrow but I doubt theres enough space to fit the pads 2 cards and a disc on mine!

welcome to Avid….!

PITA to bleed, set up and use!

the Avid brakes would be the first thing i’d remove if i’d bought a bike with them already in place.

If you want your brakes set up correctly, then you can abandon any thoughts of just squeezing the lever and tightening the bolts(if you’re lucky enough for it to work for you then i’d suggest you buy yourself a lottery ticket too),expecting a thin strip of steel to stop the caliper twisting is asking a bit much really.The method I use (many times a day, every day of the working week, every week of the year, i’m not bitter, honest)is to loosen the caliper just enough to allow movement, sight down the rotor, hold the caliper so the gap to the pads is even at all points, and nip the bolts lightly.The caliper will probably move, so loosen just one bolt a little, move that end a touch in the right direction, then do the same at the other end.It’s all trial and error, expect to have to repeat it many times until it’s perfect, then spin the wheel and find you’ve set it up on the bent part(there will usually be one)of the rotor, and start all over again once you’ve straightened it.

+1 to setting them up by eye. I used to be of the ‘hold the brake and tighten’ opinion, but since taking the time to set them up by eye, the wheels spin freely and I haven’t had to touch them for ages.

Also, use the pad spacer in the bleed kit before you line them up against the disk, it’s easier to see if one piston is being lazy or stuck if you do.

Oh, and you’ll probably need to bleed them too, they come from the factory with shed loads of air included, and freeing up the pistons works wonders too.

Just changed my first set of pads on my new elixir cr carbons

The rear pads looked like this

one has worn evenly, the other has worn more at the bottom, and on one edge its down the the metal despite there being a good mm on the top edge 🙁

how do you free up the pistons?

PITA to bleed, set up and use!

????? Avid Elixirs are by far the easiest brakes to set up and bleed that I have ever had. What is so difficult about them?

OP, check the allignment of your callipers first and foremost, the cup and cone spacers you get with Avids can mean that the calliper might not be on 100% straight but the bonus of these is you can change the allignment by fractions of a degree just by untightening your bolts adjustign and retigtening. Also as has been mentioned try a bleed and fully push back your pistons mid bleed as you may have too much fluid in the brakes.

I had this exact problem, the brakes were OK but I could never eliminate rotor rub entirely. I think the problem was the slightly fiddly tri-align system but mainly the fact that the pistons never seemed to retract properly. Tried all the tricks that have been mentioned. Replaced with Hope X2 and rotors now spin with no rub ride after ride!

how do you free up the pistons?

With the pads out I use a ring spanner to push back and hold the working piston in place, then work the lever to get the other moving. Clean them up and work in bit of brake fluid or silicon based lube.

As always with the bleed procedure, I can’t stress enough the importance of RTFM. There are good videos on Pinkbike and Youtube, just be methodical, and it is a piece of piss.

Are these brakes any good power wise? Are they going to be worth the time to set them up for the riding I do, I do trail riding, nothing majour downhill but mainly my commute to work. I did have shimano deore which were ok. Should I stick the avids back on ebay and try some better disc and pads?

the shimano deores i have are br-m525, the space between the pad and the disc on these is larger so i dont have any disc rub, on the avids, there is no gap either side

One finger braking without problems with just 160mm rotors front and rear, so they’re not short of power. Mine had been rubbing recently – realigning by eye sorted that. Haven’t needed bleeding in over two years now…

can sometimes be an issue with flexy Shimano hubs I found.. hence not experienced with servo wave Shimano brakes..

1 finger stopping with 160mm? what are you like six stone?

Twice that. But I do have my brake levers set up properly so I’m actually pulling on the right part of the lever. And I don’t have STW cliche middle-aged IT consultant fingers which are only good for typing…

I’m running 160mm front and rear on a burly hardtail, elixir 5s. Never had a problem stopping with one finger.

12 stone, 160 rotors, BB7’s, 1 finger braking no probs.

have rode with these brakes today, the power is so much better than before, they both need to be bled up yet, i shorted the hose and didnt bleed when finished as i didnt think they was staying on the bike due to them rubbing non stop! you the rubbing has got alot better and you cannot hear it when riding and there is no sqeel etc when braking.
i do need to sort the pad gaps out, when pulling the lever you can see it pushing there disc over slightly to one side, will have to spend some time and do it by eye

only problem now is they are silver and i wanted white (didnt look at [photo’s clearing when i bid). so going to find some elixir 5 in white and sell these on, is there any difference between the 5 and the r? apart from the colour