XT M8000 Brakes still best avoided?

Are these pretty much a bargain or are XT still suffering from leaky bits and a bit naff overall?

https://www.merlincycles.com/shimano-xt-m8000-front-and-rear-disc-brake-set-85820.html

Ive got 2 sets, never had any issues over 000’s miles including Alps riding. I’m 74kg so not particularly heavy.

Same here, been fine and I’ve had them about 3 years now. They’ve lasted longer than the frames they have been attached too……

20 months old, still on original finned pads too, brilliant.

Got one for sale, came off a new bike never used.

We have had so many problems this season. It’s getting to be an issue and for next years I plan changing all of our hire bikes on to something else.

Bashed mine about at BPW the other day and I’m a big lad.

Had them on the bike for a few months now and No dramas at all.

Got xts. They’re shit.
Not sure if same model but the slxs on my new bike are loads betterer.

I have 2017 versions. BPW and lots of big Lakes descents without issues. 203 up front and 180 out back floating rotors with Shimano sintered pads – I think they’re great. Not had to bleed and changed pads once since had bike in Aug last year – I’m not light either!

When they are good they are very very good but when they are bad they are horrid!

I’ve had a pair on a bike from new, and they have just started to play up, first pull on them now feels slightly soft. I’ll try a bleed but past experience says if won’t sort them out for more than a ride.

If that’s the case I’ll be fitting some new 4 pot hopes, mostly because I know that I can buy once and keep them running for years.

Mine are a bit irregular in feel. Sometimes get soft, sometimes hard. Prefer riding previous version slx.

I have xt m8000 and xtr m9000 on different bikes, both have been fab and reliable. 8000 are around 2 years old now

3 sets, thousands of miles, not a problem if they are properly bled.

Over two years old and no issues at all….

When the Xt m8000 first launched they had issues , lever just went dead I have had two ends returned and warrantied for brand new, saying that I had the same issue with sram guides,
onto e4s not looked back, XTs more powerful and sharper but definately prefer hope

Sounds like they could be good / could be bad – just pot luck.

A mate has slx brakes and they’re very variable in feel – sometimes you grab them and they’re pretty good – other times they pull to the bars first grab them second time they’re fine again. Best hope you don’t need them really bad on the first pull!

Thanks everyone. Sounds like it might be a bit of a gamble as suspected.

Have a look at the formula cura for about £50 more per set.

I’ve been looking at the Cura and saving towards a set. Cheapest I can find is £230 odd with rotors imported from Italy. Other option is the Magura Trail Sport, but the Cura seem more robust, get great feedback and I like the idea of the hose connectors.

It’s a weird thing because they used to be really reliable. We have had issues the last two years. We are constantly changing brakes from euro to uk style and back so lots of bleeding and I accept it’s a hard life for brakes. Problems we find are definitely poor bleeds, we have got really good at that though. We find issues because in the uplift vans they are sometimes stood vertically and at the top they just won’t work. That is all bleeding related though. On top of that we find problems with suspected seals in the master piston and the caliper which seem like a bad bleed but no amount of bleeding fixes. That means changing out a lever or a caliper. Another issue is constantly changing bite points, not bleed related. Often we find that they just suddenly stop working, often after a pad change, and it seems the lever isn’t connected to the piston in some way.

This year I have been running Codes on my personal bike as a test and they have been fantastic. I can’t fault them to be honest.

Next year I’m not sure what we will do as I have quite a few bikes. 8 pairs of codes are super expensive! Last year I paid a similar amount to get rid of the stock raceface droppers which were beyond useless and were meaning constantly trying to fix them. I have a feeling I’ll be biting the bullet and removing the XTs this month coming.

I read that Shimano had problems with the earlier batches but they fixed it. I don’t think you can find out if you receive an older or newer brake when buying them, so I just went for the 4 pot XT’s for the extra £50 from Merlin. So far, compared to my 2 pot M785 XT’s they have more modulation even though I have dropped a rotor size front and back (203/180 – 180/160) and more power then I will ever need. The initial bite isn’t as full on but still feels ‘Shimano’ like i.e. more than SRAM Guides but less than the M785 XT’s; then you can feather the lever to increase/decrease the power.

Early days, but no problems so far.

I’ve been looking at these as an upgrade for my Calibre Dune, can’t get my head around the pricing though. I’ve seen a few places with a front and rear set for £150, but Rose has front and rear separately for less, even with shipping. Am I missing something here? Does the front and rear set have something that the individual ones don’t…?

They’ll be the ‘wrong’ way round from Rose. So you’ll have to swap the levers, which is no biggy, but might put some people off.

I’ve had those on one of my bikes since end of 2015. Never had any problems with them at all, loads of riding in Wales, they’ve have been great. First set of disc brakes I fitted myself as well.

I had the variable bite point on my M8000 but no issues whatsoever with leaks after I fitted some Goodridge Hoses or more accurately Goodridge fittings. No performance gain but totally reliable top quality fittings instead of Shimano cheap crap.

Recently I changed the calipers to the new 4 pot XT version. Now the variable bite has gone away and the power is much higher so I am using smaller rotors.

A lad I ride with was having trouble with his second set yesterday( 1st set were replaced on warranty ), same problem of bite point changing. Sometimes it was just not biting at all then 5 mins later working normally, then back to nothing. I personally have a set of slx m7000 on my hardtail and so far so good, they are basically the same but without the bite point adjustment ( doesn’t work anyway to be honest ) so just as good with less to go wrong.

I had a pair. The front was fine, but the rear needed constant fetling. The rear would not work after a period of no use. It would behave like a contaminant pad/disk and loose all power and need to pump the lever to get any sort of braking.
In the end I swapped the caliper to saint calipers and found that the rear banjo o ring was split. It must have come out the factory like that. So this wasthe cause of all my fustrations.

I’ve just moved from XTR to code. The Shimano’s nearly did for me 3 times in Finale. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn’t. Was a bit of a nightmare managing them all week. I now own no Shimano kit, just a few years ago I ran all Shimano. It’s sad to see how far they have fallen.

Deore 4pots ftw! MT520.

No issues on mine for 18 months but they are bleed sensitive indeed. It’s very easy to leave air somewhere even if you think you’ve bled them to death. You probably haven’t… I don’t really know what is naff a out them either.

Yep, personally I’d take these over the 2 pot XTs.

https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/shimano-deore-mt501-4-piston-rear-disc-brake-caliperdeore-mt501-4-piston-rear-disc-brake-caliper-2669652

£107 + postage for front and rear 4 pots?! What’s not to like! Granted the hoses are the wrong way round but they can be swapped and trimmed to length in half an hour.