Disc brake stuck on!

[illmonkey]

Went for a ride this afternoon and it was bloody hard work. Stopped, turns out the read disc pads were biting the pads.

They are Avid juicy 5's, discs have meat left in them. I suppose I can't just push the piston back like on cars? Does it need bleeding? Worth getting new pads as these were mighty hot when I removed them to carry on cycling.

[CoolC]

I'm very new to the world of disc brakes myself, so I'm sure someone with more experience will be along to confirm, but it sounds like a grubby piston.

Strip clean and rebuild time. Probably worth replacing the pads at the same time.

Oh and while your at it, some bling anodised banjos

[shalmaneser]

CoolC said:

I'm very new to the world of disc brakes myself, so I'm sure someone with more experience will be along to confirm, but it sounds like a grubby piston.

Strip clean and rebuild time. Probably worth replacing the pads at the same time.

Oh and while your at it, some bling anodised banjos

Quite possibly a sticky piston. You can just push the pistons back into the caliper and try re-centreing the brake but it might be rebuild time.

[illmonkey]

Woah! Bikes only down about 700 miles. I'll find a guide. New pads are cheap, may as well grab some more.

Thanks.

[robpearson]

700 miles might not sound like much for a set of pads, but it really depends on what you ride on. My current pads have lasted 2 years, and a few thousand miles, but when I used to ride in the wet sandy nastiness of Cannock chase frequently I often got through a set in a hundred miles or so. If you can get the wheel off, try pushing the pads back in with a very wide screwdriver blade if you don't have anything else. You might be ok. Have a look at superstars components for cheap replacement pads too - I am a big fan of their Kevlar pads.

[XG332]

No need to change the pads. Of your worried about uneven wear. Simply run them down with some sand paper on a flat surface to even the face.

[CoolC]

Maybe it's a simple adjustment needed then to re-centalise the caliper.

I have Elixir brakes which needed to be centered after not much riding at all.

[Engineer1]

Another thing you had centred the wheel properly hadn't you?

[SkinnyBoy]

Engineer1 said:

Another thing you had centred the wheel properly hadn't you?

First thing I would check.

[Gazzab]

I have juicy 5 and 7 on a couple of bikes. I recently fitted new pads to the 7's and had to take a small amount of fluid out so as to get the calipers back far enough.

[illmonkey]

Engineer1 said:

Another thing you had centred the wheel properly hadn't you?

Of course!

The bikes been out of use for 4 months and it worked fine before, so I think the caliper has seized.

I'll try to push the piston back today and see what happens. I've lost the spring clip anyway, so can't put the pads back on.

[Engineer1]

I only bring up the idioticly simple solution as I'm usually the one dismantling things to fix them only to find there was a simple solution you can't use any more as that option has been destroyed.

[ccr32]

As has been mentioned elsewhere, you should just be able to push the pads back in.

I think the Avid's are self adjusting which would mean that if you were to pull the lever without the wheel/disc in situ (or if it has been knocked as such while in storage in your case), the pads would adjust in and not come all the way back out, hence your problem...

As you're down there, would be worth giving it a good squirt out with some disc brake cleaner too just to make sure there's no crud or anything stuck in there preventing the piston from going back in - you don't want to end up scoring the piston walls when pushing the pistons back in after all...

[Gazzab]

And be careful not to snap off the nipple in the piston.
Personally I would open the bleed screw, then push open the piston.