The WORST thing about disc brakes!

Rubbing, noisy or ineffective disc brakes? I've got some super simple and quick hacks to get your brakes working perfectly.

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[paullehrbmx]

as a mechanic, i disagree with all of this being good practice. if your brakes are mushy, you must bleed them, it's an indicator of wear/air/other issues. if your rotor is rubbing, don't push the pad's directly and clean the pistons before pressing them in, this can lead to stuck pistons, or worse, damages piston seal. noise is generally contamination or too much heat. causing pad glazing. i can see how the rotors in this video show signs of overheating, those pad were glazed from contamination as well. rotor truing advice is fine.

[lowlifescum]

To find the “wobble” or “bend” in the disc use a permanent marker and draw on disc as you spin it around.. then once you turn the wheel the bent section will rub off when passing pst the pads..

[cNq]

Hydraulic brake system is not an open system, unless it is leaking, it relies on the pressure, i.e. you are not getting rid of the air by taping the lever to the bar overnight, you are relocating the bubbles to one spot and temporarily improving performance.
🧐 You would have to open your bleed port on the lever before taking the tape off, suck the air on top out and push in more fluid whilst loosening the lever.

[amuro]

Your best video short and right to the point ! Learned a lot, but still love my rim brakes .

[allrounderbicycle]

Great and concise advise. If I could add a tip from my experience as a professional mechanic. When using a rotor truing tool while the bike is on the bike, do your bends on the opposite side of the axle relative to the caliper. For instance the caliper is around 2 o’clock from the axle, rotate the segment of rotor needing bending to 8 o’clock. This prevents the caliper from becoming a bending tool as well.

[davidenglund]

That first hack of wrapping the brake handles in engaged position is something ANY of us can do. Thanks for sharing that! :D

[richiejames]

I love my disc brakes and being a heavier rider they are essential. but boy they are constant work!! Swap wheels, , They rub.. clean your bike, , they rub. bleed your brakes…they rub. Oh and then have to do a lever bleed again a few months later as a massive bubble has mysteriously appeared under the bleed bolt… reset everything. go for one joyous ride. go for a second ride and…they rub lol

[a.campos]

For my mountain bike I love disc brakes. For my road bike all I need is rim brakes. They are lighter, simpler, easy to service and easier to align than disc brakes.

[ianlloyd]

Thanks for the info, very useful. Just a suggestion on using abrasive paper to deglaze the pads. Wash them off with brake cleaner after doing this to get rid of any fine abrasive particles before re assembly.

[julianmorris]

There’s not enough tolerance on road or gravel disc brakes, never had a problem with mountain bikes because the calliper is on a hearty fork leg and not a spindly fork that flexes, I reckon that’s the biggest issue, a fork should be compliant for comfort, as soon as I’m out of the saddle on my gravel bike I got disc rub because the fork is flexing 🙄

[myscreenurs]

0:10 "they require very little maintenance"

Me watching this video: "LIES!!!😡"

[nizerp]

+1, great video, David! Cleaning your pistons is more of maintenance than hack, but build up of brake dust will gum up the piston seals, reducing how much they will move back. Over time that can exacerbate rubbing from other causes: bent rotors, deformation after hard braking, etc.

[firemedic]

Superb video. The first hack absolutely blew my mind. Anything that can help one avoid bleeding hydraulic brake lines on a bike is a God-send, as the task is so time-consuming and such a total pain in the ass. Bravo, my friend, for sharing this. I thank you for that.

[byrondixon]

This is video is a great argument for rim brakes 😎

[Caleketa]

Thanks for sharing. My rear break was spongy and with the tape hack the problem was solved the next day.

[botondrostas]

One main reason for loud brakes from my experience is that break mounts on most frames are not faced out of the factory (regardless of the brand / price) and as such the calipers can't be adjusted to sit perfectly. There is no hack around this but to take the frame to a bike shop and pay them to do what the factory should have done.

[Mixail]

Had rim brakes for many years, barely done *any* servicing at all, didn't even change the pads once! Switched to hydro discs and doing at least some maintenance every month or two and buying new pads regualrly all for a smidge of improved performance.

[chrisgravel]

While often left out of the bike delivery process Disc brakes should come with a pad spacer/block. The Sram Avid one I use has one side for pushing pads apart to get the right spacing and reseting calipers. The other side is to insert while travelling so you dont pinch the pads together. Of course make sure its cleaned with alocohol each time.
Shimano has a simular block but it lacks the wider side for reseting pads.
Ask your shop for 2 of these if they didn't include them with your bike or at least one for pad/caliper adjustment.

[markhebden]

The fact that this and many other videos like it exist, tells me I want to stick with rim brakes for as long as I can.

[bitgeist]

Great video, David. I actually learned something new in this presentation about brake noise and how to address it. (So thank you for that!) I'm currently running the previous generation of Ultegra Di2 with the BR-R8070 disc brakes. I am having an issue with the caliper pistons as they seem to retract very slowly upon a sustained braking event. In other words, I can hear the pads brushing up against the rotors for about 100 meters or so before they retract enough for my brakes to go silent again. I want to try your degreasing recommendation to see if the pistons aren't mucked up internally.
One other thing I learned that I would like to share with your community regarding noisy brake pads. When installing new pads, (I use Ice Tech in general); one of the thing I like to do to keep things very quiet is to use a metallic brake pad on the inside surface of the rotor and a resin pad on the outside surface of the rotor for both the front and rear calipers. In my experience, this keeps braking extremely quiet even in wet conditions. When coupled with your recommendations, I think everyone will have a very noise-free braking experience 🙂