NOooooo!!!! not again!!!

[Trumpettom001]

after upgrading mechanical discs brakes to hydraulics, I thought hydraulics were the best thing ever, including sliced bread..... now, not for the first time, I have managed to get oil on the disc/pads and it has become impregnated into the pads to the point that it is impossible to sand off a layer of the pad to get rid of the oil.....

my question is: do I need to replace the pad AND the disc? or do i just buy some disc brake cleaner, clean up the disc reaaaallll good, and then drop a new set of pads in.

Tom.

 

[smeg]

Personally I wouldn't worry about it, you could just use some degreaser to clean it off? For a while I oiled my mechanical disc brake rotor (before it bedded in) because it was squeeking really loudly and frightening people along the cycle track lol - stupid I know but it made little difference to the braking, mind you this is my Halfrauds Apollo MTB Artek disc brake (front) which I'm referring to which is naff anyway so whether it's rotor/pads is covered in oil or not makes little difference. I have now replaced it with a Zoom caliper, which is just as bad, in fact I think it's worse. I can't say I like disc brakes in any form, I much prefer good ol' V brakes.

 

[RedBike]

Sadly getting oil on the pads is the often the death of them. All you can really do is clean the rotor with alcohol / meths and replace the pads.

Disc brake cleaner is worth a try if you've got some to hand but don't expect miracles. It works great on rotors but it can't remove soaked in oil from the pads.

Normally small amounts of oil can be burnt off by getting your brakes RED HOT. Ride them hard and drag the brakes while pedalling down the biggest badest banks you can find.

 

[RedBike]

Personally I wouldn't worry about it, you could just use some degreaser to clean it off? For a while I oiled my mechanical disc brake rotor (before it bedded in) because it was squeeking really loudly and frightening people along the cycle track lol - stupid I know but it made little difference to the braking, mind you this is my Halfrauds Apollo MTB Artek disc brake (front) which I'm referring to which is naff anyway so whether it's rotor/pads is covered in oil or not makes little difference. I have now replaced it with a Zoom caliper, which is just as bad, in fact I think it's worse. I can't say I like disc brakes in any form, I much prefer good ol' V brakes.

Smeg, At that level V's do often out perform disc brakes. However, v's aren't a patch on good hydrallic brakes, espeshially when used in harsh off-road conditions.

 

[summerdays]

I know when I got oil - and it was only a tiny bit on my rotors, that it made a huge difference to braking. First time I applied the brakes afterwards - absolutely nothing happened. I then cycled around trying to burn it off and its definitely improved but not back to what it should be. I'm annoyed as I had only just replaced the worn out pads.

 

[Mr Pig]

The disks will be absolutely fine with a good clean up but I wouldn't waste time on the pads, I'd bin them.

 

[smeg]

Smeg, At that level V's do often out perform disc brakes. However, v's aren't a patch on good hydrallic brakes, espeshially when used in harsh off-road conditions.

I was thinking mainstream, how many people use their bikes in harsh offroad conditions if at all? Unless you're referring to the pavement hopping teenagers which is about all the offroading they'll do. Disc brakes just seem an unnecessary annoyance to me, awkward and difficult to set up properly, extra weight and lots of faff and maintenance i.e. constantly having to clean/degrease the rotor etc, compared to v brakes which are much more reliable, easy to set up and need very little maintenance at all, just slight adjustments as the pads wear down and cleaning the wheel rims which you'd still do anyway if you had disc brakes.

Disc brakes are put on cheap mountain bikes (+full suspension) just to make them look cool (Halfrauds) regardless of their suitability for their intended use.

 

[RedBike]

I was thinking mainstream, how many people use their bikes in harsh offroad conditions if at all

I would like to think that everyone riding around on a MTB would ride their bikes off-road at some point. Although sadly I know this just isn't true. MTBs are often brought because they're fashionable then the closest they ever get to going off-road is the concrete path through the middle of a park or the pedestrian zone in a city center.

I totally agree that cheap disc brakes are a pain in the backside. They're no more powerfull than V's and they're a pain in the backside to setup / adjust.

I also agree that in the main disc brakes aren't needed on the road.

However, if you ever intend to use a MTB for (god forbid) MTBing then you'll really apprechiate a good set of discs brakes. Like so many other MTBs I wouldn't swap back to V brakes. Not only are discs are just so much more powerful than v's, they're dependable in the wet and they don't wear out as quickly.

Wear is a major problem with MTBing. A set of V brake pads will not last for the entire duration of a long wet ride. If you're wearing out 3 or 4 sets of pads a ride then you're rims aren't going to last very long either. Disc brake pads outlast V's 10 times over and they don't wear out your rims.

 

[Mr Pig]

A set of V brake pads will not last for the entire duration of a long wet ride. If you're wearing out 3 or 4 sets of pads a ride...

Sorry, but that sounds like crap to me. You can wear out four sets of pads on one ride???? :0.

 

[Trumpettom001]

Good to hear that about the disc being salvageable - annoyingly this was on a brand new XC3 MTB - shame really as I was astounded by the difference a 180 rotor makes over a 160. I'll try burning the oil off the discs - by braking/riding - NOT with a blowtorch like I did on my last bike.... and if not then I'll get myself a new set of pads and some cleaner..... thanks for all the info guys.

Tom

 

[Trumpettom001]

P.S. of the 250 miles of riding I've done on this bike - 100 of them are off road - although the slicks tyres make that interesting - going round a corner with the front wheel drifting is not particularly fun I tell you...

 

[Mr Pig]

I invested in another set of wheels so that I have a set with slicks and a set with knobles. Works great :0)

 

[summerdays]

My disks are on a hybrid that hardly ever leaves the road. However I much prefer the stopping power of the disks (especially in the rain), not having to adjust them as they wear, no I don't clean my rims, and they don't wear down unlike on the previous bike, and I don't get as filthy. And if you do get your rims muddy/gritty you can still use your brakes.

 

[RedBike]

Sorry, but that sounds like crap to me. You can wear out four sets of pads on one ride???? :0.

Go to any wet 12 hour race and they'll be a stall doing a roaring trade in disc brake pads. Despite having started the race on relatively fresh pads it's inevitable that some solists will wear theirs out during the race. They'll change the pads and set off again; but because the pads haven't had chance to bed in properly they'll no doubt get close to (if not wear out) the replacement pads too.

That means they're going to have to replace the set(s) they fitted during the race before their next ride. Which means they've worn out the 2 sets they came with plus the two sets they fitted during the race. Which means that one race (ride) has worn out 4 sets of DISC brake pads.

Now disc pads esaily last 10 times longer than V brake pads. So i'm sure you can see just how it's easy it is to get through 4 sets of V brake pads if you're doing an all day ride in muddy conditions.

 

[Mr Pig]

So i'm sure you can see just how it's easy it is to get through 4 sets of V brake pads if you're doing an all day ride

Mmmmm...nope.