Squeak gone!

[Johnny4428]

Hi all, just had the 550 out a run after front brake Caliper clean and Dot 5 upgrade. Cant believe that horrible squeak has gone (for now). As read hear under someone’s recommendation just mearly removed outer edge of pads and that appears to have sorted it. Happy Days!😁 (And quieter too)

[paulbaker1954]

Hi all, just had the 550 out a run after front brake Caliper clean and Dot 5 upgrade. Cant believe that horrible squeak has gone (for now). As read hear under someone’s recommendation just mearly removed outer edge of pads and that appears to have sorted it. Happy Days!😁 (And quieter too)

Can you put the link to the fix you refer to. My 500 front brake squeal has driven me nuts for years and tried many things

[deltarider]

Did you use DOT 5.0 (not advised!) or 5.1?

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Did you use DOT 5.0 (not advised!) or 5.1?

Dot 5.1 is not Silicone based it's basically Synthetic fluid but it still absorbs water. On my 400 I used Silicone Dot 5.0 yes the boiling point is slightly lower but small amounts of water in normal fluids counter its performance.

It's a Marmite situation though the fact that Dot 5.0 does not strip paint is a bonus.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Hi all, just had the 550 out a run after front brake Caliper clean and Dot 5 upgrade. Cant believe that horrible squeak has gone (for now). As read hear under someone’s recommendation just mearly removed outer edge of pads and that appears to have sorted it. Happy Days!😁 (And quieter too)

Can you put the link to the fix you refer to. My 500 front brake squeal has driven me nuts for years and tried many things

The photo below illustrates modern car brake pads that have a chamfer on the edges you really only need to do the leading edge of the pad in its position in the caliper. Car pads are larger and both edges are chamfered so they can be fitted on either side. You only need to  file down a short edge on your bike for it to work - I worked to an angle of about 20 degrees. The deeper the taper the longer the fix will work - I did this in the 1960's when pads were not chamfered - I think the ban on Asbestos made noises more of an issues as well as brake grab. I had some racing pads in an Astra SR that were so harsh the front ARB came out of its rubber mounting!

.modern pad by Macabe Thiele, on Flickr

[Johnny4428]

Sorry Paul can’t remember the where the thread was. But just as Ted describes, it’s as simple as a very small chamfer on the edge of pads.

[Oddjob]

I seem to recall the original pads were all chamfered on the edge.

[deltarider]

I think so too, the EBC pads (FA13) were clearly not.