Swapping xt brakes with Avid elixers

hainman

i recently bought a giant reignn that comes with avid elixer 1 brakes and im swapping over to my XT's...rear has went onn no problem,front is a diferent matter,had to rearange the washers for the mount and its on but the disk is slightly rubbing the caliper,every time i try to centre the caliper,slacken bolts on caliper,pull on brakes and re-tighten bolts it still rubs .am i doing something wrong??are the shimano calipers not compatible with the avid disks or brackets??i took the xts of my Rockrider which had no bother,i was running a 203 rotor on RR and trying to put onto a 180mm rotor but the rub is doing my head in...

Thanks for any advice

Craig

The Rookie

Check the caliper isn't twisting slightly as you do the bolts up, sometimes you need to do the bolts up in stages to stop it.....the disc isn't usually stiff enough to stop that either.

Sometimes you have to align by eye if you have worn pads and the Pistons aren't coming out equally.

hainman

thanks mate,the uneven piston could be the problem as one seems to be out farther than the other,how do i fix that???

The Rookie

Align by eye and it will even up, that or remove, remove pads, pump the pistons out a bit, clean (with a little mineral oil) and then push back, refit pads after removing any excess oil!

hainman

cheers,will need to go and get some mineral oil and try that,if that doesn't fix it what else do you suggest??Shimano post mount adapter??

DodgeT

Why are you still using the washers?
I've just replaced 2 sets of avids (on both my bikes) with SLX, you get rid of all of the shaped washers and just bolt the caliper onto the adaptor.

hainman

The bolts are massive when you remove the washers so I will need smaller ones or just need to use the set up as the bolts on my other set up are to small if I don't have the washers then the rotor rubs the calliper

oxocube1

Yea the Shimano brakes do not need any of the curved spacers the avids use, they just have the bolt with a single washer holding it onto the mount.

See here:


You will probably need shorter bolts. They are simply M5 bolts if i recall correctly, very easy to get hold of.

There could also be a compatibility issue with the the caliper mounts if they are Avid specific, as they require all the spacers so it is likely to not be as long/deep as a Shimano adaptor. It could be worth while getting a new one. The one I have in the pic there is a PM-PM F180 from Superstar. Adaptor number 7.

hainman

cheers oxocube...do i just need the adapter or new rotor too??the m5 bolts are like half the size in length of the ones on the brake just now,someone mentioned that my rotor is infact 183 not 180 but the giant website states its 180..

oxocube1

Hmm a 183 is an odd size, its usually 180 or 185. Does it say the size on the rotor itself? As that would certainly be correct. You should be able to get away with just the Adaptor anyway, I doubt it's a case of needing a new rotor too!

hainman

just had a look.180mm so just need a shimano compatible adapter then...

DodgeT

Think the bolts are m6 x 20

hainman

is there a reason why the shimano 180 post mount looks totally different from the superstar mount???

oxocube1

You got a pic of the one you are looking at? Also what type mount is you fork PM or IS?

hainman

http://www.parker-international.co.uk/1 ... Mount.html
Its post mount on my Reign 2

oxocube1

It looks like that one uses only 2 bolts that go through both the caliper and adaptor into the fork. Whereas the Superstar one has 4 bolts, 2 for the adaptor into the fork and 2 for the caliper into the adaptor. It probably does not make a difference which one you use, they appear to just be 2 different designs for the same thing.

The Rookie

They are just 2 different designs of the same thing....the Shimano solution is lighter (uses only 2 bolts not 4 even if they are longer) but the bolts don't quite sit flat on the caliper which some poeple don't like.

You shouldn't need to change adaptor going from Avid to Shimano, just the bolt length bolting the caliper to that adaptor.

hainman

@the beginner I thought that it should be straight forward but when I tried it without the washers the calliper is catching the rotor at the top so I moved one off the washers in between the calliper and the mount instead of behind the bolt.i might just buy the shimano one and use that.looks like less faffing about.or the superstar one it's cheaper