benefits of complete brake disassembly

bluechair84

I'm thinking of donig a complete brake disassembly on a pair of Avid Ultimates, the pads seem to extend at different rates and I want to see if I can eek out a bit more power. Is striping down the caliper and cleaning it all out - inclusing the pistons - likely to make much difference?

supersonic

Yes, but is hard work! Most pads extend at slightly different rates anyway - have you tried extending the pistons (not all the way!), cleaning and lubing?

nicklouse

and you need a compressor.

The Rookie

The outer pad will almost always extend faster than the inner pad as that side is fed direct where the inner piston is fed via the passage through the caliper.

You won't gain much, if any, stopping power (unless they are really seized or on the point of) but you may gain some responce/feel if they are at all sticky (noting caveat above).

Simon

nwmlarge

good luck getting the pistons out of the caliper!

blazingmonga

nwmlarge wrote:

good luck getting the pistons out of the caliper!

I removed the pistons dead easy from my Oro's recently by splitting the calliper into its two halves (so the pistons are no longer face to face)and then pumping fluid in - you could then use the lever itself to push one piston out at a time.

I guess this only works for callipers where the banjo runs through two halves. Still, I was chuffed when I figured this one out.

bluechair84

ung... ok this is sounding like more effort than I was wanting to put in. Compressors and what not? I'll do a freehub strip instead.
Thanks for the input guys

Chunkers1980

What's the freehub got to do with a full brake strip?

bluechair84

nothing at all, but of things to do that will be more beneficial without needing compressors... I think the freehub is a pretty good start