Brake squeal (V-brakes)

Jamey

Are some brake arms simply incompatible with some frames, when it comes to squealing and vibration?

My front brakes (Tektro - came with the bike) are different to my rear brakes (Avid Single Digit 5s - purchased to replace the old ones which seized up) and whichever way around I try them the Avid pair always squeal.

I already know all of the normal steps you'd usually take to avoid squeal and I've tried them all.

In fact, here's the full list of everything I've tried so far. In each point below both sets of brake arms are using the same pads (Kool Stop Salmon) unless otherwise stated:

• Tried having the Avids on the front and Tektros on the rear - the Avids squealed and the Tektros were silent.
• Tried having the Tektros on the front and the Avids on the rear - the Avids squealed and the Tektros were silent.
• Tried toeing in the pads on the Avids - they still squealed (both on the front and the rear).
• Completely cleaned the rims' braking surfaces and completely cleaned the brake pads - the Avids still squealed, the Tektros still didn't.
• Tried different pads in the Avids (the ones that came with them) - they still squealed.
• Tried playing with various tension and bolt tightness settings until the cows came home but the Avids still squealed.
• Rode up and down the length of my road several times with the brakes applied medium-light to try to "bed them in" but the suealing didn't get any quieter at all.

All in all I spent about five hours on Sunday messing about with every single possibility and combination of front/rear, Kool Stop pads/Avid pads, toed in/not toed in etc etc and nothing made a blind bit of difference... In every single combination the Avid brakes squealed and the Tektro ones were silent. And it's not just squeal, you can actually feel the vibration that's causing the squeal through the frame.

Hence me asking the question - are some brake arms simply incompatible with some frames when it comes to brake squeal?

The Avid Single Digit 5s are lovely brake arms, very well make and solid pieces of kit, but if I can't stop them squealing I'll have to try some others, starting with XT brakes and if that still doesn't work I'll try to find replacement Tektros the same as the old ones.

alfablue

I think some brake/fork combo's are prone to this. I had "singing" XT V Brakes on my mtb (front brake), I got the XT's swapped for XTR's and that cured it (allegedly too much play in the XT linkage). I changed my Rockshox SID SL forks to rigid steel on my mtb/commuter and the squeal returned - I could reduce it by careful pad setting and softer compound, but never eliminate it - I think the new forks were particularly resonant!

Jamey

Cheers Alfa, that's what I think too - that it's my particular combo. Shame really as I did think the Single Digit 5s were a good set of brakes. Hopefully XT will be just as good without any noise. Ta.

BTW I now have a set of Mudlovers to put on the bike next time I give it a proper service, probably at the start of spring. Cheers for your recommendation on those.

alfablue

Jamey wrote:

Hopefully XT will be just as good without any noise. Ta.

Ah, but note, it was XT that were giving me problems, I swapped them for XTR. I don't know if they have been improved now, but it was a known "feature" of earlier "parallel push" XT V brakes. I reckon cheaper ones without parallel push, or XTR are the way to go, though you will only find out for sure when you try them.

Jamey

The current batch of XT brakes don't have parallel push. In fact the Shimano XTRs are now the only V-brakes on the market that have a PP linkage.

I just managed to grab some XT arms on eBay for £15 delivered, which isn't bad. I'm gonna exhaust the cheaper options before I start thinking about XTRs since they're a hell of a lot more money.

alfablue

Oh good - they gave them up as a bad job! Can't go wrong at £15, you can always re-sell them if they don't solve it.

I don't think parallel push are worth the fuss to be honest, KISS "keep it simple, stupid", as they say. (Or should that be "keep it simple, Shimano"?).

(I think I am a bit out of touch with current mtb components :oops: ).

Frank the tank

Going back years I had XT V's on my MTB and the front one squealed like a stuck pig so I actually downgraded it to LX and it cured it.

I still ride this bike with the same set up albeit as my hack/work bike.