Just had my XT’s bled at the LBS and he asked if I wanted new pads. I said no as there’s HEAPS of life left in them. He said… “ah ah ahhhh” or something along those lines. Said that when the pads are half worn, the ceramic pistons are overly exposed and may damage. I suspect there’s an element of truth but not sufficient to warrant a new set of pads…. Or is he right?

Pish

I always put in new pads on a bleed, just find its the best way to get a good feel after. Nothing to do with the pistons though, the seals keep the crap out of the calliper and if you can get enough grit in that tiny gap to damage the piston I’d be amazed.

If it was alloy pistons and you were riding on salted roads then maybe he would have a point – otherwise its just nonsense

yeah I thought so too but he was quite convincing (and not pushy either). there’s a reason why id never heard that waffle before…

oh, and thread title “<50%” was there, but its not now.

Special symbols often screw up in thread titles. The HTML cannae handle it.

Note that you might have problems when it comes to installing new pads though as there might not be enough clearance to fit them in and you’d have to allow some fluid to escape. Depends if he used the standard blocks when bleeding them.

Thought it’d be something like that.

Well the “old” pads are still in but I imagine I’ll need to release a teeny bit of fluid and push the pistons back if/when I do get new pads.

Like I said, depends. I’d expect a competent bike mechanic to take the pads out and use the bleeding blocks. In that case the new pads should still fit.

Twaddle, and what scotroutes said ^

Like I said, depends. I’d expect a competent bike mechanic to take the pads out and use the bleeding blocks. In that case the new pads should still fit.

But a more than competant mechanic knows that you can get the brakes to feel better buy getting getting the pads a bit closer to the rotor once it is bled. So pad thickness does matter when you bleed them.