Hi,

My SRAM HRD brakes were set up by Wiggle and leaked before I had a chance to put them on my bike.

Leaking around the lever near the bladder. Luckily I saw it and there was no resistance at the lever.

I returned the brakes to Wiggle.
They’ve told me it was the wrong fluid?
And SRAM have repaired them and the bladder is ok.

Would brakes leak with the wrong fluid?
I’ve asked for a detailed report but nothing from them.

I thought it was a set of faulty levers.

Should I call the U.K. Sram service centre and ask them? I’ve had the brakes for 14 months and won’t be entitled to a refund.

I’m just concerned about safety.

Why wiggle have anything to do with the filling of your (brake only?)* brakes I’ve no idea but yeah, mineral oil in dot brakes (or vice versa) will likely leak.

*Supplied on a bike I can foresee they bleed them so might have contaminated the fluid, I’d be surprised if the amount was enough to make them leak though or even noticeably bad.

The brakes were setup and sold by Wiggle as pre bled units. That’s why I’m concerned they when they told me it was wrong brake fluid.

when they say “wrong” did they clarify what wrong ?

The brakes were setup and sold by Wiggle as pre bled units

In so much as no-one sells new complete units that aren’t, they would still be a manufacturer bleed I’d have thought. The need to bleed arises from shortening hoses or otherwise adjusting the brakes to fit your bike which you’ll still need to do unless you’re very lucky.

I can’t see distribution of unfilled unassembled brakes to resellers (to the point Shimano developed that mid hose join thing to make handling fully bled brakes quicker when assembling huge volumes of bikes)

Just to clarify: you bought a set of brakes, we’re not talking about a set of brakes that came on a built up bike?

If former, then I’d be very surprised if Wiggle did anything to the fluid. I’d have thought they’d have come straight from SRAM in a box, which you then received.
Unless they were take offs from a bike, in which case they could have come from anywhere (like the recent batch of OEM stuff from Santa Cruzs) but again, I’d be surprised if Wiggle did anything to them.
Even when bikes come ‘unbuilt’ from a manufacturer, the brakes are usually pre bled from the OEM supplier.

Maybe it was OEM, they came from Wiggle in bubble wrap (not on a bike).

If they are safe to use and will last a few years then I’m happy to use them.

I didn’t need to shorten them as they were the perfect length.

I’d like a detailed report why they are leaking. Does the wrong fluid do this and will it be ok now?

I’d like a detailed report why they are leaking. Does the wrong fluid do this and will it be ok now?

I can’t imagine you’ll get anything more than they’ve already told you*, at best they’ll just send you another set I imagine.
Buy yes, wrong fluid damages the seals. They’ll need a flush and seals replaced them be fine for however long sram brakes last this week.

*How much more detail do you want?

If they have replaced the seals then I’ll be happy.

Just spoke to Newdales Bikes and they really great about asking for a Sram repair number and to make sure it’s been flushed and new seals everywhere if the wrong fluid was used.

Apparently the wrong fluid can different swelling properties on the rubber seals used.

I do like using Wiggle but the aftersales trust isn’t great for me when it’s do with faulty brakes.

Just got off live chat with Wiggle customer service and they going to find out for me in a several days.

Maybe I’m a picky basket when it comes to Elf and safety.

Stick some Hope seals in a pot of mineral oil or Shimano seals in Dot 4/5 and it should become clear what the issues can be.  IIRC from my days of fiddling with brakes with Dave Culimore during my Middleburn days, that mineral oil causes typical seals to swell up a huge amount which would cause havoc with the sealing properties.

The chances of you getting a report are really slim. I’d just order another set, and return the originals for a refund (in that order) if not convinced

might have contaminated the fluid, I’d be surprised if the amount was enough to make them leak

I work in automotive brakes design. On a Ford project (20 years ago) we had leaking seals in master cylinders on dozens of cars during vehicle build. When we took brake fluid samples (DOT 4 fluid) we found 1% mineral oil contamination.

We later discovered that the mineral oil had leached out of a flexible rubber hose which was linking the brake fluid reservoir with the hydraulic clutch master cylinder. This tiny amount of mineral oil was enough to cause leaks before the cars left the factory!

Thanks for the info!

Thing is Wiggle Warranty told me the rubber bladder was fine…

Err it’s been exposed to the wrong fluid! And it was leaking at the bladder?!

Not a happy bunny.

“I can’t see distribution of unfilled unassembled brakes to resellers (to the point Shimano developed that mid hose join thing to make handling fully bled brakes quicker when assembling huge volumes of bikes)”

Most (shimano) brakes, more road STI levers are coming with caliper and hose NOT connected to STI levers, but they are filled with fluid (they got bungs and plastic stops in levers to stop lever been operated)
This is mainly down to “most” frame are now internal hose/cable routing, so you would have to disconnect the hose cut it to get nut/olive etc off to then feed it through the frame then fit new olive/insert which is a extra thing they have to supply. Also it helps if you like the brakes the wrong way round 😉
I not seen a brake kit covered in fluid yet, plus the pads etc are safely in a palstic bag.

The “mid hoose join” was mainly for complete bike builds been sold in UK and europe, so easy to swap hose to UK or Europe brake set up.

Wiggle has def not put the fluid in them, that’ll have been done by SRAMs factory in Taiwan where the brakes are made.

This tiny amount of mineral oil was enough to cause leaks before the cars left the factory!

Well that does surprise me but there you go!

Need to find out what the wrong fluid actually means – it might have been Dot 4 instead of Dot 5.1 – in which case, not a major issue other than the leak itself. If it was mineral fluid used then the seals will all be shot and all will need replaced – if those weren’t then it will never be ok.

I’m still a bit confused as to why Wiggle did anything to the fluid in the first place. Unless they were removed from a new bike with internal routing that resulted in them needing to be disconnected, reconnected and rebled, but I wouldn’t have thought that was Wiggle’s thing.

Well I found out from SRAM that it was 5.1 so at least the seals are ok.

My brakes were delivered yesterday and leaking all over the levers. Looks like faulty bladder area.

SRAM said there were none in stock.

To be fair Wiggle did a good thing sending them back but should have tested before sending them out before someone gets injured or dies on their bike.

Waiting for Wiggle to get back to me and probably let SRAM have another go.

I’ve ordered another brake system and shifter and making my bike flat bars until I get my Rival setup back and working.

Bad luck I guess.

Well I found out from SRAM that it was 5.1 so at least the seals are ok.

Well it *should be* 5.1 but if that’s what they were filled with then it’s not the wrong fluid.
I wonder if it should have been “they were fillied with the fluid wrong[ly]” as opposed to “they were filled with the the wrong fluid”.

Entirely plausible they’ve been over filled with the correct fluid and screwed the bladder.

Not that I speak from experience of bleeding a pair of euro brakes and not realising until the lever I didn’t have open went pop as I pushed fluid from the caliper. nope not me. I absolutely didn’t wonder where all the fluid was going as it didn’t top off the reservoir as I did it. No siree Bob.