Avid bb7 disc brake pads

seanorawe

I also posted this on the MTB section.

I have avid BB7 mechanical disc brakes on my Planet X.

So, I have tried everything and my discs still squeal very loudly on every attempt. They are a few months old and they were never loud at the start, until the bike came back from a service. I took the rotors off, and cleaned them in very hot, slightly soapy water, dried thoroughly and cleaned again using alcohol wipes. They were not as bad, but were still noisy. 20 mins in to a ride and they started squealing bad again.

Could my pads be dirty, and they are transferring oil to the rotors? I was careful to try and bed them in properly, but not entirely sure if that was successful. Will I take the pads out and clean them with something?

One last technical question. With the wheel off, can I take the pads out of a Avid BB7 brake without taking the brake caliper off? Just open the both pads up fully and pull them out?

andrewjoseph

yes, take wheel out, open both sides as much as possible, use needle nose pliers to pull them out.

are the brakes working well but just noisy or are they not stopping properly?

you can bake them in the oven for half hour to try and burn off any contaminants, or drop them in a small container of meths and light that.

try one or the other, and clean the rotor again and give them another go. get some spares in. i'm trying kevlar based pads on my (edit) spyre front and bb7 rear. they are quieter but not as long lasting and the original sintered pads.

k-dog

I did a few things to sort mine.

Cleaned then installed new organic pads.

New cables, removed inline adjusters - nothing to do with squealing but made brakes much more positive.

Set up from scratch to align calipers etc.

Bedded them in - repeated stops letting them cool in between - did about 10 times.

Since then they've been basically silent.

veronese68

I used to take mine out by just squeezing the tags together by hand and pulling the pads inwards towards where the hub would be. Might have to back off the adjusters if the pads are newish. Mine would always squeal in the wet. I would check everything is tight first as vibration can cause squealing, then look at contamination. Don't use any sprays or automotive brake cleaner near them, isopropyl alcohol is the thing to use to clean discs.