(explosion, sword-clinking music)
- Sometimes, nothing screams at you more, literally,
than the ear-shattering sound of screeching brakes.
But what on earth could it be?
Let's take a look then today at exactly what it is,
how you can get rid of it,
plus how you can improve your braking performance.
(calm instrumental music)
Cleanliness.
Something is much less likely to make a noise
in your braking system if it's kept clean.
Now the brakes on a bike are, in fact, open to contamination
because, when you're riding along,
all sorts of road dirt and grime gets thrown up
and it's the ideal place to catch it,
as are oversprays of lubricants and polishes
when you apply them.
So just go nice and carefully when doing that.
Firstly then, let's take a look at our brake pads.
Now this applies to both rim brakes and disc brake pads,
which is always good.
Go close up to them,
and are they covered in a powdery-like, dark substance?
Or maybe they're glazed over, a little bit shiny.
If that is the case, then get yourself some
isopropyl alcohol, apply it to a nice, clean cloth
and simply rub it over them to try and get rid
of any of that contamination.
Now if they're still glazed over or slightly shiny,
what you can also get is some emery paper,
or some very fine sand paper, and actually just try and take
off that glossy appearance so it's more
of a matte appearance or slightly less shiny.
Of course, if you are doing this with a pair
of disc brake pads, then I would certainly recommend
removing them from your caliper.
That way, you can clean them nice and properly.
And, well, if you've got the opportunity to actually
remove them from the brake shoes of the caliper too,
that way, you can get them nice and clean again.
Now rim brake users, that's you here, make sure that those
braking surfaces are as clean as possible.
So get yourself some hot soapy water,
or even that isopropyl alcohol,
and apply it onto the braking surface
with a firm amount of pressure, trying to lift out
all that braking dust, all of that grime
to try and make them, well, pretty shiny, in fact,
because that tends to work well with your brake pads.
Disc brake users, you can clean up that rotor.
So, again, using some hot soapy water
or some disc brake cleaner, what's really important here
is you don't go touching that rotor with your bare skin
because the natural oils found in your skin
can actually contaminate those rotors,
give you that horrible, screeching sound,
as well as bad braking.
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Now if your pads are passed their best days,
that could well be the reason for the noise.
It's a cry for help, if you like.
So now that you've followed that previous step
and your pads are nice and clean,
you can inspect them closely.
And by that, I mean you wanna make sure that you've still
got enough rubber compound left on them.
You wouldn't be the first person out there to have worn
all the way through and down to the metal
and have that horrible graunching sound
of brake shoe versus rim, or brake pad backer versus rim.
Now what exactly do we mean by that?
Well, you wanna make sure if you've got rim brake pads,
you've got at least a few millimeters
of rubber compound left on there still.
And in the case of these ones here, as you can see,
there are some grooves in them.
Once those grooves disappear, you know it's time
to replace them for some fresh pads.
'Cause those grooves, they do a great job of helping
your braking performance because they're also directing
water away from the rim, giving you better braking
and also reducing the chance of any squeals or screams.
Right, you've got your disc brake pads.
Now if they've got less than a millimeter's
worth of compound left on there,
personally I'd look at replacing them.
And try and replace them as well
with something of the same compound too.
If you're unsure of it, get in contact with your local shop
and they should be able to point you
in the right direction to something on the shelf.
However, a little secret I'll let you into here.
I've always found organic pads to be
a little bit quieter than anything else.
However, they don't tend to last for me quite as long.
(jazz instrumental music)
Now a final few checks here that you can make on your bike.
First of all, rim brake users, you wanna make sure
that your brake pads are either towed in
or that they are evenly contacting the braking surface
throughout the contact point.
So by this, I mean that for towing in, for instance,
you want to make sure the first two-thirds of the pad,
that's the first two-thirds towards the front of the bike,
is touching the rim surface before that last third is.
It's a very, very small amount, though.
The other method is to have it flat totally
on the rim, and that is gonna give you
great braking performance equally.
Now an easy way of doing this is to simply hold in
that brake lever, and then get yourself your Allen key,
loosen the brake retaining bolt, and then make sure
that it's nicely flat and lined up, and then re-tighten it.
Now if you are gonna tow them in, easy way of doing this
is with a thin bit of cardboard,
something like a business card, that kind of thickness,
and put in that last third.
And again, pull on the brake lever gently and just torque
up that brake caliper bolt.
Using carbon rims on your bike?
Well, make sure that you've got the correct
brake pads fitted, ones for carbon rims.
If not, you're likely to get a loud, old scream
letting you know you've got the wrong ones fitted,
as well as giving you poor breaking performance
and ultimately leading to premature wear of your
braking surfaces on those flashy carbon wheels you've got.
Now finally, if you're using disc brakes,
make sure that rotor is attached nice
and firmly onto the hub.
A little bit of looseness, that can give off that horrible
screech or scream, as can a slight kink or warp
in that rotor when it passes through the caliper
and you lock on those brakes.
That's something just to keep an eye on.
So there we are, a few surefire ways
on how to get rid of screeching brakes.
Let me know, though, if you've got any ways of getting rid
of a screamer down there in the comment section below.
I'm keen to find out your methods.
Now don't forget, too, to like and share
this video with your friends.
Give it a big, old thumbs up.
Share it with someone who's got a screeching bike.
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at shop.globalcyclingnetwork.com.
Whole heap and array of goodies for you to check out.
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how about clicking just down here.