Muc off disc brake cleaner

Bought some of this a few weeks ago for some noisy shimano zee callipers. It’s stopped the noise but the brakes perform really poorly for ages before they start to bite again. Went out yesterday for nearly 3 hours and the brakes only started to bite properly at the end of the ride and I had to put some puddle water onto the discs a couple of times
I don’t remember having brake issues like this with other disc brake cleaners
Currently spraying the disc/Caliper leaving a minute then wiping off with a clean rag. Very careful not to contaminate with chain lube etc as well
The pads are 6 rides old and bedded in properly And they do bite well by the end of the ride
Could the cleaner be clearing off the pad left on the disc from bedding in and I’m effectively have to bed them in again each ride or is it just leaving a residue which needs clearing off?
Might Try rinsing the cleaner off with water or just get some more wd40 IPA contact point cleaner again which didn’t cause the same issues?

Cheers

James

Try cleaning the disc and putting the pads in the oven for an hour or so before reassembling. Could be cross-contamination.

sounds like a contaminated pad to me tbh – i use all sorts of brake cleaners (inc muc-off) and have never noticed any differences between them – they’ve gotta be fairly standard chemicals.

The only thing I use brake cleaner for is cleaning up after bleeding brakes at the levers and the calipers with the pads and discs safely somewhere else.

Its not the worst thing for cleaning rotors if you are meticulous with wiping off any excess, but its easier just to stick them in the dishwasher if you think the rotors are contaminated. But I completely avoid using it on pads, I’ve never found a cleaner that doesn’t make pads significantly worse.

I’d avoid spraying the caliper with the disc cleaner, or take the pads out before you do it.

I run Zee’s with resin pads in them, if I clean the disc (using the MucOff cleaner) I only ever spray that and wipe if off with kitchen/blue roll. I just wipe the calipers down with a damp cloth if they’re particularly filthy. Never had an issue doing it like tha and the bite remains the same.

If the pads are glossy try give them a rough up with some gritty sandpaper too to take the shine off them.

Cheers, I’ll try cleaning/sanding the pads and rotors again

I have used a few disc brake cleaners in the past, inc Muc Off, and they always absolutely killed my brakes.

Use bike cleaner e.g. Muc Off/Halfords/Fenwicks on brakes. It works well.

Cheers, I’ll try cleaning/sanding the pads and rotors again

Sanding rotors isn’t a good idea IME. When your brakes bed in, it leaves a layer of pad material on the rotor which gives you good braking. At least, that’s what they say, doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. HOWEVER it is certainly the case in my experience that new rotors have little braking power until they’ve done a few hard stops on a hill (only takes 4-5 goes), and sanding rotors means you have to do this again.

Lay wheel down, spray disc with cleaner, put a [edit] lit match to it. Lean back.
LBS bloke recommended method, works well 🙂

(Lidl’s brake cleaner for the bargainous win.)

Never understood the need for the product. Always thought lots of muc-off products were shit. I would just use IPA.

Does sound like the pads are contaminated. Get new ones.

I only use the brake cleaner if I’ve been doing maintenance jobs, just to make sure there is no oil/grease on the discs.

Never understood the need for the product. Always thought lots of muc-off products were shit. I would just use IPA.

Needs recognition 🙂

To me it sounds like you’re cleaning off the bedded in material and then having to rebed in your brakes, why are you cleaning the discs and pads?

I used to clean my brakes the same way when washing my bike, but stopped as I had the same issue. I now just rinse with water and avoid spraying any muc off near them too.

And… don’t spray brake cleaner directly onto the pads.

Who cleans brake discs or pads? Usually some grindy mud stops any squealing – and for bedding in new pads I just go up and down the road pedalling hard and then braking to a stop. Normally does the trick.