So, my rear brake makes a weird noise

cabbage

cabbage

cabbage

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Joined
29 May 2005
Posts
171
Hello,

The rear brake on my bike has been a bit off recently. Whilst breaking theres a noise, not constant, more of a pulsating "scruh-scruh-scruh-scruh" noise. Almost no breaking force until i really push hard then it locks the back wheel. Has been doing this for the past 500 miles, so its not just some grit. Theres plenty left on the pads as well.

I have held a metal ruler up against the disk/spun wheel, so the disk hasnt been warped. I thought it might have as it mainly started after trailing the rear brake all the way down a pretty big hill. (no I didnt intend to, I just didnt notice till the bottom :o )

Any suggestions as to the cause?
 
Is the caliper sticking?

I had a similar problem on the wifes Mazda. Pads looked fine but were seized in the claliper making you use excesive force to engage them. Once engaged they also took ages to disengage.
 
Could have also glazed the pads. If you heated them up with the downhill run, it might have made a glass smooth surfacing job on them. Try pulling them out. If they're shiny, replace them. If not, you'll need to go on to the next suggestion.....
 
Mickey D that sounds pretty likely. Ill pull them out tomorrow and have a look.

edit: Surely the glazed surface wil just wear off btw? So i dont need to replace the enitre pad? Theyre pretty new :p

Third Op, It disengages no problemo, and engages, its just not giving much brakeing force :)

Ill post again when Ive had a look at the pads.
 
cabbage said:
Almost no breaking force until i really push hard then it locks the back wheel. Has been doing this for the past 500 miles, so its not just some grit.
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Your breaks haven't been work for 500 miles, and you haven't done anything about it?!? :eek:

Take it to the professionals and get it sorted. There are two parts of your car you do not take any chances with - your tyres and your brakes.
 
Tesla: Can you elaborate?

Mr Jack said:
Your breaks haven't been work for 500 miles, and you haven't done anything about it?!? :eek:

Take it to the professionals and get it sorted. There are two parts of your car you do not take any chances with - your tyres and your brakes.
Click to expand...
Rear brake doesnt provide much braking force on a bike, Its mainly the front brakes if you need to stop in a hurry, and engine/gears for more gentle braking. Plus it does work, just not very well :p

Its also bloody expensive to take the bike to a mechanic for every little problem, thought I'd try and sort it myself on zee forums :D

Loz

edit: Had a look at getting the rear pads off. The entire system looks pretty encrusted with road-crud so its not coming off without a fight. Would rather not try :p Will the glazed pad surface wear off with time?
 
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If you can get them off (the pads) take a wire brush to them, tis all the boys in the garage would do. (If they are glazed)
 
Righto, I'll have a go. If i cant get them off, I'll just leave it till the glazed layer has worn off. After another 500m if its still not right, I'll look into it being something like what Tesla suggested.

thanks for your help all,

Loz
 
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Glazing generally doesn't wear off, it gets worse.

Because the glazing makes for less friction on the pad, it has to heat up the glazing and make it soft to grab (hence why they suddenly grab REAL hard). This actually creates MORE glazing.

The only way to get rid of it is to either grind or wire brush them. Best solution is just to replace them (after cleaning the disk really well).
 
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