Squeeky rear disc brake

Pork Sword · January 2011

I need a bit of advice... I have some new Shimano SLX disc brakes on my Scott Scale. Being new to hydraulic brakes I'm not exactly an expert on how to get them working sweetly. They stop great, it's just that the rear brake has a tendency to drag ever-so-slightly leading to a irritating pinging noise which disappears when I put some brake pressure on (not enough to brake, but enough to stop the squeeking noise). What I want to know is: would bleeding the brake help or has anyone else experienced a similar problem but used a different method to provide a cure? Any ideas?

cooldad · January 2011

Have you centred the calliper?
Bleeding won't help - that's for spongy brakes.

Pork Sword · January 2011

Yep. I've centred the caliper by messing around with the shims but to no avail. I can move the position of the caliper in the direction you think would help (look at the brake pad that's closest to the rotor and create more space by adding an extra shim etc) but it just seems to make the problem worse - no matter how much re-shimming I do.... Was wondering if I could play around with the brake pads to see if that could help?

cooldad · January 2011

Loosen the bolts holding the calliper on, squeeze the brake to centre the calliper, tighten the bolts, release the brake.
No need to play with shims.

Pork Sword · January 2011

Thanks for the response. I'll give that a go. Hydraulics... great stopping power but not the easiest to make adjustments to.

cavegiant · January 2011

Some people will disagree with this advice but it works great for me.

Most pads do not fire equally, so having something centred perfectly will mean the pads hit unevenly.

Try lining up the pads to when they hit the rotor the rotor does not move AT ALL.
when centred there is normally a bit of deflection, aim to remove this.

It might not be the purest method of fixing (as you should really be rebuilding your brakes to make sure the pads more equally) but it is a lot less effort and seems to work perfectly.

cooldad · January 2011

The normal method I described does actually centre the pads, not the calliper if you think about it..

bluechair84 · January 2011

try resetting the pistons, wedge a flat screwdriver between the pads and twist - don't lever. You'll work the pads back to their most open.
I've got SLXs and haven't had a problem with squeal, you could try cleaning the pads and rotor as well though you should do it with a proper brake cleaner.

cavegiant · February 2011

cooldad wrote:

The normal method I described does actually centre the pads, not the calliper if you think about it..

Very true, I was just going in to a bit more detail. As the disk moves a bit with your method (especially on larger disks), it needs a bit of manual assistance to line up perfectly.

Squeeky rear disc brake

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