Noisy brakes.

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rickh01

Über Member
Location
Lincoln
I'm coming up to my first 12 months of owning my bike and really enjoy it. But everytime I wash my bike the brakes squeal for a few week. Then when I wash it again the process repeats itself. I have even tried just using a dry rag to clean the rims with no cleaning items at all and still get this this awful squeal for weeks. I wash the bike with muc off. I dry it then when I go out it squeals like mad. Being new to riding I was wondering if anyone can shed light on this to stop it happening, or is it just the norm for cycling?
 
Put copper grease on the back of the pads.
 
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rickh01

rickh01

Über Member
Location
Lincoln
On the back? How does this stop the squeal when it's the front of the pad what is in contact with the rim?
 
The vast majority of brake noise is caused by either dirty rims or dirty brake pads. Even when you clean the rim it pays to rub the rim surface with a clean cloth. Even when they look clean they are not. Just run a white cloth round them while pressing down and you will see. The pad faces always pick up dirt which can be ingrained into the pad causing squeal.
 

Turbo Rider

Just can't reMember
...and if you wash more often, you'll slowly start getting through those layers of grime. I only washed once every whenever I felt like it for a while and the result was a jammed cassette. Removal of cassette revealed layers of icky muck. Now I wash once a fortnight and after three goes, it sparkles n shines...for about a day...
 
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rickh01

rickh01

Über Member
Location
Lincoln
The resonance is coming from the interface of the pad and the carrier. Put copper grease on the back of the pad, it stops.
thanks I'll try that, you don't need to smother it though do you?
 

leonardodaforce

Active Member
Hi there rickh, if you have noisy brakes it is basically due to vibration and you need to 'toe in'. I made a short film which shows you how to do this very quickly and easily.

 

shouldbeinbed

Rollin' along
Location
Manchester way
I was going to ask what type of brakes and suggest toe-ing in too if feasible. Basically as shown in the vid above you angle your pads in a mm or so more at the front end of the pad than the back, think looking down over the brakes from the behind and seeing the pads ever so slightly angled in like this / [] \ . ( [] depiction of the rim) the rotation of the wheel is towards the top of the page

It means that when you brake, the front of the pad catches the rim first in the direction it is rotating and the rest of the pad is pulled onto the rim giving a far better and immediately solid grip.

If the pads are flat to the rim like this | [] | the whole pad surface hits simultaneously & they can vibrate or bounce infinitesimally but enough to create a squeal as they effectively clap on and off the rim surface over tiny bits of muck, debris and imperfections.
 
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