Brake pad replacement

[stuarttunstall]

Hi all..

Having had another spoke break yesterday I have just collected the wheel all ready to go out in the morning..

I noticed that the rear pads had worn down quite a bit, more on the piston side which was down to the metal on one area... Would you say this is poor after 1800 or so miles? I must admit I am not the lightest of riders although lighter now, and there are a couple of slopes that need brakes

The pads are resin, Shimano B01S..

Having never changed any pads on a bike it took me 10 mins to do the job, very easy

Stuart

 

[si_c]

Resin pads do wear a lot quicker than sintered pads, particularly in the wet, so 1800miles isn't necessarily bad depending on what conditions you ride in.

It does look like the caliper alignment isn't perfect though which is why it's worn down on one end of the pad but the other has some material left - also not sure if I'm 100% reading the images right but it looks like the pad on the other side has far less wear than the other - again indicating that caliper alignment needs sorting if this is the case. If you get any squealing when braking then that would also be an indication.

 

[stuarttunstall]

That is correct, the one pad had more material left than the one on the piston side... there was no squealing at all, just a sound of rubbing when I put the wheel back in, that is when I noticed they had worn..

How do you align the caliper? I am a complete novice so may even go to the LBS and ask them after all it is brakes.

 

[si_c]

There are two bolts (usually Allen Key, could be Torx) above and below the brake caliper. Loosen those off and move the caliper a little bit to free it up and then pull the brake lever on hard and then wiggle the caliper a bit, then loosen the pull it tight again - whilst holding the lever full on re-tighten those bolts back up again, don't tighten the top then the bottom, do a bit of one, then a bit of the other until the bolts are tight.

Loosen the brake lever and take a look at the brake - you should see the left and right pads are about the same distance from the rotor and they should be parallel to it also. If it's not quite right then just repeat the process until they are.

 

[stuarttunstall]

Thank you, I will have to take a look and make sure

I appreciate they need to bed in but on a plus just been down the road and they seem to work OK (rear brake)

Bit worried about going out again after a spoke replaced, always worry the first time out lol

 

[stuarttunstall]

Well I have to say, changing those rear pads has made hell of a difference to the back brake think I may do the fronts now

You never realise how down on performance things are over time...

 

[stuarttunstall]

New brake pads in the front as well now, not quite down to the metal like the rear's but close to it... Brake levers feel a LOT better now