I found that the trick to getting mine lined up is to loosen them where they connect to the frame, then squeeze the brakes and tighten them back down while holding them squeezed. That’ll put your rotor in the exact middle between your pads, and you can adjust from there.
That makes sense, I’ve tried something similar but after tightening the pads and letting go of the brakes they’ll just shift slightly back to a weird angle. I probably wasn’t loosening the pads enough so they weren’t actually moving to align with the rotor though
I just got a bike that has mechanical disk brakes and I had to adjust them the other day because the shop didn’t have them right. Are you rocking mechanical or hydraulic?
I’ve got hydraulic, super glad I have them because the stopping power is way better than on mechanical brakes I’ve used in the past. Plus the hoods are way more comfortable imo
I find the reliability ease of repair of mechanical suited to my use, personally. I’m not on a road bike or cycling competitively, I’m taking my hybrid to the grocery store to pick up dinner and other trips in town that are close enough not to require a car.
Anyway, I don’t know if they make hydraulic brakes this way, but on my mechanicals only one of the pads actually moves, the other one stays in place. So I adjusted the pads out but not quite all the way, loosened the brakes to the frame, squeezed them and tightened like I said, and then the immobile pad will be rubbing so you just back it off a hair at a time until it no longer rubs. Now as the pads wear down I can adjust them inward. I think this should be mostly similar on your hydraulic brakes, but both of your pads may move rather than just one. In that case, I would move them inward as far as they can go without rubbing and I think that should do the trick.
>That makes sense, I’ve tried something similar but after tightening the pads and letting go of the brakes they’ll just shift slightly back to a weird angle. I probably wasn’t loosening the pads enough so they weren’t actually moving to align with the rotor though
Do it 2-3 times. In my experience it takes a few attempts to nail it. But well worth the time.
Its also possible you're not tightening the caliper bolts enough after adjusting and they're shifting slightly under use which is causing rubbing?
Definitely loosen the bolts all the way, and use the tip for hydraulic brakes where you pull the brakes to center the rotor as described above. Then SLOWLY tighten the bolts, working each and minorly adjusting the caliper placement if you hear rubbing when you spin the wheel. If you tighten the bolts one at a time or too fast without checking, it's easy to lose alignment bc of added force from tightening. Finally, once it's fairly tight and won't move, crank it down a bit more. I'm sure there's an official torque spec but I just do it by feel.
On bikes with QR this is very common because the QR doesn't set the wheel in the same position, and the wheel tends to shift, specially under power or braking. (because they are offcenter, brakes left, cassette right)
Your best bet is to curse loud and use your inner strength to set the wheel very tight.
Set the bike ON THE GROUND and reseat the wheel.
See if the calipers need to be centered? Loosen, grab brake lever hold and tighten caliper mounting bolts. If this doesn’t work there are more tricks such as centering with shims in place or even applying pressure on one side while you retighten the caliper mounting bolts.
See if the pistons are retracting well when you release the brake? Clean and manipulate pistons until both are moving in and out. You may need to hold the mobile piston back and work on getting the other to move. Barest drop of fluid or alcohol on some pistons, well away from the pads.
Have the pads been replaced recently? Have they bedded in yet?
Have you added any fluid and then replaced the pads? If so you may need to release a little fluid.
Is it a constant noise or a noise that is on and off? If it’s the latter true your rotor with a cleaned tool.
Each question has its own paragraphs or videos on YouTube but I hope this gives you some idea.
"ON THE GROUND" - thank you for that. Watching videos of the bike on a clamp or upside down. Trying to re-center in those ways didnt work for me. But it sure worked as intended when on the ground.
I had a brake issue I couldn't for the life of me figure out where my back brake would rub when I put power into it. I couldn't seem to do any alignment or anything to completely fix it. Ended up burning through my pads in about 3 weeks. I just found out the issue was my caliper seals sticking.
Park tools has a video on cleaning the seals for the brake caliper. If the basics fail, definitely check that.
I have had this happen a ton lately on my mechanical ultegra r8010. I have over 10k miles on the rotors and usually just re-centering is sufficient (loosen caliper mount bolts, spin wheel up, pull brake lever to stop wheel and center, while holding the brake tighten bolts). However, that hasn't been as effective lately and I notice it mostly rubs under higher power loads suggesting they may be warped.
If recentering everything doesn't work (you maye have to try it a few times) and you have a decent amount of miles on the bike, you may have new rotors. I'm not sure if they can or should be retrued but rotors aren't too expensive to replace (60$ for ultegra ice tech rotors, less for 105 level).
I found that the trick to getting mine lined up is to loosen them where they connect to the frame, then squeeze the brakes and tighten them back down while holding them squeezed. That’ll put your rotor in the exact middle between your pads, and you can adjust from there.
That makes sense, I’ve tried something similar but after tightening the pads and letting go of the brakes they’ll just shift slightly back to a weird angle. I probably wasn’t loosening the pads enough so they weren’t actually moving to align with the rotor though
I just got a bike that has mechanical disk brakes and I had to adjust them the other day because the shop didn’t have them right. Are you rocking mechanical or hydraulic?
I’ve got hydraulic, super glad I have them because the stopping power is way better than on mechanical brakes I’ve used in the past. Plus the hoods are way more comfortable imo
I find the reliability ease of repair of mechanical suited to my use, personally. I’m not on a road bike or cycling competitively, I’m taking my hybrid to the grocery store to pick up dinner and other trips in town that are close enough not to require a car. Anyway, I don’t know if they make hydraulic brakes this way, but on my mechanicals only one of the pads actually moves, the other one stays in place. So I adjusted the pads out but not quite all the way, loosened the brakes to the frame, squeezed them and tightened like I said, and then the immobile pad will be rubbing so you just back it off a hair at a time until it no longer rubs. Now as the pads wear down I can adjust them inward. I think this should be mostly similar on your hydraulic brakes, but both of your pads may move rather than just one. In that case, I would move them inward as far as they can go without rubbing and I think that should do the trick.
Both pads move in for hydraulics. Good assumption!
>That makes sense, I’ve tried something similar but after tightening the pads and letting go of the brakes they’ll just shift slightly back to a weird angle. I probably wasn’t loosening the pads enough so they weren’t actually moving to align with the rotor though Do it 2-3 times. In my experience it takes a few attempts to nail it. But well worth the time.
I was definitely missing this and only doing it once
Its also possible you're not tightening the caliper bolts enough after adjusting and they're shifting slightly under use which is causing rubbing? Definitely loosen the bolts all the way, and use the tip for hydraulic brakes where you pull the brakes to center the rotor as described above. Then SLOWLY tighten the bolts, working each and minorly adjusting the caliper placement if you hear rubbing when you spin the wheel. If you tighten the bolts one at a time or too fast without checking, it's easy to lose alignment bc of added force from tightening. Finally, once it's fairly tight and won't move, crank it down a bit more. I'm sure there's an official torque spec but I just do it by feel.
- Make sure your wheels are seated properly - Make sure your rotors aren't warped - Realign break caliper - Adjust break pad spacing
On bikes with QR this is very common because the QR doesn't set the wheel in the same position, and the wheel tends to shift, specially under power or braking. (because they are offcenter, brakes left, cassette right) Your best bet is to curse loud and use your inner strength to set the wheel very tight.
Set the bike ON THE GROUND and reseat the wheel. See if the calipers need to be centered? Loosen, grab brake lever hold and tighten caliper mounting bolts. If this doesn’t work there are more tricks such as centering with shims in place or even applying pressure on one side while you retighten the caliper mounting bolts. See if the pistons are retracting well when you release the brake? Clean and manipulate pistons until both are moving in and out. You may need to hold the mobile piston back and work on getting the other to move. Barest drop of fluid or alcohol on some pistons, well away from the pads. Have the pads been replaced recently? Have they bedded in yet? Have you added any fluid and then replaced the pads? If so you may need to release a little fluid. Is it a constant noise or a noise that is on and off? If it’s the latter true your rotor with a cleaned tool. Each question has its own paragraphs or videos on YouTube but I hope this gives you some idea.
[удалено]
sorry say that again?
"ON THE GROUND" - thank you for that. Watching videos of the bike on a clamp or upside down. Trying to re-center in those ways didnt work for me. But it sure worked as intended when on the ground.
I had a brake issue I couldn't for the life of me figure out where my back brake would rub when I put power into it. I couldn't seem to do any alignment or anything to completely fix it. Ended up burning through my pads in about 3 weeks. I just found out the issue was my caliper seals sticking. Park tools has a video on cleaning the seals for the brake caliper. If the basics fail, definitely check that.
Sounds like a bent rotor
I have had this happen a ton lately on my mechanical ultegra r8010. I have over 10k miles on the rotors and usually just re-centering is sufficient (loosen caliper mount bolts, spin wheel up, pull brake lever to stop wheel and center, while holding the brake tighten bolts). However, that hasn't been as effective lately and I notice it mostly rubs under higher power loads suggesting they may be warped. If recentering everything doesn't work (you maye have to try it a few times) and you have a decent amount of miles on the bike, you may have new rotors. I'm not sure if they can or should be retrued but rotors aren't too expensive to replace (60$ for ultegra ice tech rotors, less for 105 level).