Hope brake fanbois, you won’t want these

Wasn’t a option they offered and don’t think I’ve ever co e across qr 110 but don’t doubt somewhere obscure it exists.

@wr404

What is the metal looking bit on that seal damage photo?

Are new seals metal backed? If that’s the case, how do you get them in?

Or is it a bit if swarf stuck on the seal?

I have had the issue sadly on E4 tech 4 ….first set was just the rear but second set both had the issue .
Second set also had the rear clicking lever .
Sent them to hope for repair then sold them .
Worryingly I’ve just received a pair of F22 in silver for my birthday and the first ride the pedal squeaks.
Removed it yesterday and the right pedal Bush wasn’t seated correctly and no grease on the axle.
Not what I usually expect from hope

The Hope’s appear to have absolute performance though and they’re completely serviceable and rebuildable for their entire lifespan.

I’ll take a minor inconvenience over throwing my brakes in the bin.

I take what you’re saying completely especially the non disposable nature of it, but for someone like myself, time starved and without the skill, patience or time to undertake anything other than basic servicing, things like stripping a brake down and replacing seals pistons etc isn’t what I’d expect on a brake of any price let alone a premium product. I want fit and forget. I like the serviceability but with a view to getting many years out of them not fixing an issue within months.

What is the metal looking bit on that seal damage photo?

Thats the piston itself. plastic middle(ok its not actually plastic, but i cant spell phe.. 😆 ) with the stainless steel outer, its that outer bit you can see.

Are new seals metal backed? If that’s the case, how do you get them in?

According to the exploded diagram on the Hope site,the seals are the standard as before on the tech 3 X2,E4,V4 calipers.

This is the bottom of the new T4 piston, and its got either a chamfer or roundover on it, so i cant understand how it is catching the seal when being fitted.

Dyna-ti, eh, he’s referring to the pic of the caliper with the piston removed from it, so your answer makes zero sense. I was wondering the same thing as onzadog.

Are we talking about this? I interpreted that as a hole pulled in the seal (and the seal twisted) so you can see the metal of the calliper bore behind it.

But the bore is anodised black with the rest of it. Looks to me like it’s on the surface.

I sense theres now irony in the threads title.

Yeah that looks like swarf on the top of the seal. That absolutely shouldn’t be there.

I sense theres now irony in the threads title.

I was thinking that. Shame to see all these issues as the reviews were so good. I do have a high level of confidence Hope will get it sorted though.

Does it? Looks like the inside of the seal to me as to the left you can see what looks like the silver continuing under the rubber and it looks like the rubber has been deformed away. I always thought the seals where just rubber though 🤷.

For balance, absolutely no issues with my tech 4 e4s that I’ve had on for a few months now! Not sure if I rate the green pads though, think the reds are a better all rounder

Does it? Looks like the inside of the seal to me as to the left you can see what looks like the silver continuing under the rubber and it looks like the rubber has been deformed away. I always thought the seals where just rubber though 🤷.

They are just rubber. As I said, that’s swarf and not supposed to be there. It’s a flat flake rather than a chunk but either way it’s still going to impact seal performance.

I checked my E4’s at the weekend and they’re bone dry so hopefully I don’t have this problem.

I know it’s a bummer for those who have had to mess around waiting for replacements. Still though, of all the manufacturers to have an issue with I’d rather it were Hope than anyone else. I trust them to sort this out and everyone will be enjoying amazing brakes asap and hopefully for the foreseeable future. And I’m no fanboy, I’ve been very critical of them in the past.

How long have Shimano been churning out brakes with the famous wandering bite point? And Sram with the plastic pistons that get stuck when the sun comes out? 10 years or more, with no solution in sight?

I’ve had multiple very prompt replies from Hope support this morning and they’re happy for me to send them in for repair (although postage is at my own expense).

It definitely sucks but if they come back working perfectly then I’ll be happy overall. I’m well aware that any product has some rate of failure and that you only tend to hear from those people in forums, not the probably 1000s who have no problems.

I’ve got a set of tech4 e4 with no issue.
Very happy with the power and feel.

It wasnt metal, just a reflection from the oil on my phones flash!

It wasnt metal, just a reflection from the oil on my phones flash!

I was going to suggest that, as you can see the light being reflected in a straight line down, in line with that bit on the seal.
Hope you get these sorted, though its a bit of a joke that you need to pay postage given this is something Hope have caused.

It wasnt metal, just a reflection from the oil on my phones flash!

Doh! 😳

Hope you get these sorted, though its a bit of a joke that you need to pay postage given this is something Hope have caused.

I thought so too, but actually Biketart came through brilliantly and arranged a same day collection from my house, next day delivery direct to Hope for me 👍 I’m hopeful that they’ll resolve it quickly, I’ll let you know.

My brakes are back basically as quickly as they could be (arrived at Hope on Tuesday, shipped back on Wednesday, arrived with me on Thursday). They’ve had a full set of new calliper seals fitted and a new set of green pads installed. I can’t see any leaking around the pistons this time so I’m hopeful they’ll be good now.

Good service from Hope and Biketart 👍

Yep mine was delivered to Hope yesterday, got a FedEx email for a delivery coming back to me tomorrow. Tbh the longest part was Yodel delivering it!

I’m expecting the same on mine, new seals which will be the fix. Still need to clean up my disc which I’ll do at the weekend or tomorrow if I have a quiet day at work!

Any comments on how the new pistons hold up over time either in new brakes or retro fitted as replacements for the phenolic ones in older brakes?

I’ve seen the comments in this thread about how easy they are to push in, and Hope say they should need much less maintenance, but it’d be good to hear from someone who’s riding with them in grotty conditions regularly and doesn’t use an air line to dry their bike after every ride. There’s a lot I like about my tech 3 E4’s but I do get fed up of the sticky pistons on them. I’ve fully stripped and rebuilt the calipers a couple of times, but they rarely go more than a couple of grotty rides without needing tweaking again. Would the new pistons help, or are they just going to rust and stick like the old ones if not dried properly every time the bike goes away?

Any comments on how the new pistons hold up over time either in new brakes or retro fitted as replacements for the phenolic ones in older brakes?

I was on tech3s and went to tech 4s when they came out.
6 grotty months of winter riding and they are still slick and smooth

That’s great, thanks Kimbers

I have some tech 3 on my hardtail and have noticed there is sometimes a dribble of oil near the pinholes on the top caps. I know there’s a rubber diaphragm/seal under the top cap. Will this just be excess that ends up between the two when re-fitting them after a bleed? I’m guessing it shouldn’t be there but a bit puzzled as to why it is. Anyone else had this?

First ride on tech 4 e4 today. Tons of power and tons of modulation. Took a while to get them dialled in to what I wanted but they’re superb!

I have some tech 3 on my hardtail and have noticed there is sometimes a dribble of oil near the pinholes on the top caps. I know there’s a rubber diaphragm/seal under the top cap. Will this just be excess that ends up between the two when re-fitting them after a bleed? I’m guessing it shouldn’t be there but a bit puzzled as to why it is. Anyone else had this?

Yeah I’ve seen this too, it’s normal. My bars are turned 180 degrees and my bike is hung by the front wheel so my levers are upsidedown – I’ve only seen tiny bits of fluid by the holes. It’s just excess brake fluid on the top of the diaphragm.

Another day of riding steep tech all day on fully fettled, properly bedded in E4’s.

They’re mint aren’t they? They’re what I always wanted Hope brakes to be.

I know I’d be less impressed if I had to mess around with replacement calipers and stuff but I haven’t so, objectively speaking, they’re excellent.

My only problem is that I’m going to need them on my other bike.

My only problem is that I’m going to need them on my other bike

Funnily enough, the thought did cross my mind.

I’ve not been put off yet, they’re on my birthday list for the wife 😂 just gotta wait until April

Couple of rides in now on my V4s. Can’t see me wanting anything else from a brake, rakes of power and modulation to boot.

Looking forward to hitting some long descents.

I was happy with Tech3 E4s beforehand, but these really build on the modulation that Hope have and add more power 👌

Well, I’ve just returned my Tech4 V4s.

I got them back from Hope with new seals, mounted them to the bike, carefully set them up without trimming the hose and no matter how I tweaked and adjusted them could not get the lever free stroke down to a level comparable to the Tricksuffs they were meant to replace and a big reason for replacing them was that I imagined the bite point adjuster would let me tune that down further.

I spent the next hour giving the Direttissimas a really careful clean, bleed and re-setup I think that the Trickstuff are just plain better, they feel amazing now and I could not get the Hopes close.

Assuming the power is similar (which I don’t have an answer to because I wanted to keep them returnable) they seem like great brakes, I guess the second best you can buy. It’s a shame, I wanted them to be better or at least the same.

Blatant ad: If anyone wants the silver levers that @tomhoward sold me then let me know.

hmmmm this is interesting just popped back in this thread – i wonder if this is why my rear brake screams like mad at the drop of a hint of water?

my front is totally silent (ive tried swapping everything around, even a new rotor and it does it still) wondering if the caliper is slightly leaking – need to investigate it now a bit closer

i thought/think its totally odd as the front is completely silent no matter what the weather!

Mine were honking only when cold, once warmed up they were fine.

Should be easy to check if there’s any contamination on the rotor. The green pads are fairly easy to sand to get rid of any glazing too.

Mine came back, said they’d had a caliper service which I think is new seals at the least. I’ll keep an eye on the discs but can’t immediately see any fluid.

yeah thats exactly what my rear one is like, any hint of water/damp and its howling until it heats up – front no matter it goes through or temps etc is completely silent

did them fixing remedy the noise then? have they made any sounds in the wet/cold since then??

did them fixing remedy the noise then? have they made any sounds in the wet/cold since then??

Haven’t been out since refitting them, I put in a fresh set of green pads I had, bedded them in and did have some strange warbling – however I then sanded the pads, re bedded in and that’s gone.

100% my noise was caused by rotor/pad contamination so it’ll be a while before I know if they’re fully fixed.

Any update on the noise @ta11pau1 ?

I’ve been out today and it’s wetter than wet out, and my god my rear brake hasn’t shut up all day, once it was wet it never recovered only when I’d really done some hard braking, but as soon as it cooled down again it was back to squealing

Still the front is absolutely silent no matter what it goes through!

I am starting to think it is contaminated from some leakage given I’ve tried a new rotor new pads everything’s aligned (spins for ages freely)

Think I’m gonna see if I can send it in for inspection

@appltn

Hi,
What thickness rotors were you using ?
In theory they would be set up from the factory for the thicker 3mm vented rotors, so to get a firmer feel if using thinner rotors would need to bleed with the correct bleed block, I’m using 2.3mm thick rotors and bled them with Shimano blocks, really good feel to them and still has really good pad clearance.