Contaminated dic/pads

bragawd wrote:

Hi All...
Just wondering if my pads firstly are ruined.
I cleaned my bike the other day and I think I had some spray go on my disc(household cleaner pledge)
so I rode yesterday and my both brakes howled all day and to make matters worse they hardly had any stopping power.
I tried running them "on" on a few of the downhill road section to try wear it off but it didn't work.
so now I'm wondering if a disc clean or both a disc clean and a pad replacement is needed.

I usually clean the disks and replace the pads, I have some success cleaning pads too but if they are used then I replace them. And the easiest method I have tried to clean the disks is the dish washer, tried manually cleaning and it took a lot of effort, I got the same result from the dish washer, just put them in by themselves though, but not I dont use salt or rinse aid, not sure if that stuff will cause a problem.

It wasn't just a wet miserable day like the rest of the UK? If it really was only a bit then they re probably fine, give them AMD the bile a proper clean. If you ve contaminated them properly then you must have bathed them in it!

i spilt brake fluid over the pads and rotor,used acetone(nail varnish remover) to soak the pads for a hour or so and gave the rotor a good clean with it, worked fine,just dont get it on any paint work

If you want to save the money from buying new pads do the following:
-Remove pads and leave them to soak them in disc brake cleaner/IPA.
-Spray a decent amount of the same stuff on your discs and wipe them clean.
-Then use a fine wet and dry paper and sand both your discs in the forward direction.
-Then clean them again with cleaner.
-After that take the pads out of the cleaner and wipe them down.
-Then use some more coarse paper on the pads until the become shiny.
-Finally clean the calipers and install pads

If the noise is still happening and it's not due to wet weather, then you will need some new pads. Oh yea and never ever ever use pledge on your bike again...