cure for brake squeal

[kneejerk]

I have two sets of wheels one with 6 bolt discs and the other with center lock discs. I noticed more brake squeal with the 6 bolt discs by far, actually the center locks are very very quiet... don't think they have squealed on me at all.

So, I tried putting some zip ties on my rear rotor to try and dampen the noise and it seems to have worked brilliantly. Anyone else try this? (attached pic shows three black zip ties on spider of brake rotor). Not all rotor designs are going to accomodate this... these are Shimano rotors I'm using with my Hayes Stroker Ryde calipers. I didn't bother doing this to the front, as I have not had the same kind of squeal issues there.

[SB Trails]

Kj---what a great idea.. I can see where this this would work great..2 attaboys and 1 good job for thinking outside the box...

[zarr]

i hear swiss stop pads are good.

[kneejerk]

just send all royalties to my paypal account!

[bulerias]

What's the melting point of a zip tie? Or is this just a winter fix? Seriously, maybe there would be a market for a more elegant 'product' that would take the inevitable glowing rotor descent. Of course, the one size fits all aspect of the zip tie is hard to better.

[RobinGB]

im trying to figure out why 3 zipties would cut down on squeal... added stability vs vibration?

[kneejerk]

What's the melting point of a zip tie? Or is this just a winter fix? Seriously, maybe there would be a market for a more elegant 'product' that would take the inevitable glowing rotor descent. Of course, the one size fits all aspect of the zip tie is hard to better.

I doubt I will ever heat them to more than a hundred degrees F. Although you bring up a good point. They probably start to melt around 250 degrees F. (I imagine)

[kneejerk]

im trying to figure out why 3 zipties would cut down on squeal... added stability vs vibration?

it dampens the vibration, similar to holding your hand onto a drummers symbol stops the sound

[RobinGB]

that it im heading down to zipped mine.... lets see how well this works.

avid elixer 5's squeal like hell when wet, and its been piss'in for days.



now did you physically remove the rotors get enough tension in the zipties?.

[LWright]

I have tried reflective tape with limited success, might try the zipps although keeping pads and rotors clean between rides has worked the best so far.
To get zipps good and snug I use a cable puller!

[shehateme]

I have two sets of wheels one with 6 bolt discs and the other with center lock discs. I noticed more brake squeal with the 6 bolt discs by far, actually the center locks are very very quiet... don't think they have squealed on me at all.

So, I tried putting some zip ties on my rear rotor to try and dampen the noise and it seems to have worked brilliantly. Anyone else try this? (attached pic shows three black zip ties on spider of brake rotor).

I am doing this now!

[ddprocter]

Genius, trying this for my next ride, whenever it stops pouring in CA

[Eville140]

Bump'n for updates. My elixer 5's squall like crazy.

[RobinGB]

Bump'n for updates. My elixer 5's squall like crazy.

Day 1 with my elixer 5's , no change under extreme wet conditions. I think the way the avid brake rotors are made make it unlikely this will help.

Hopefully i can get a dry ride in on sunday and see what happens. err hear rather. lol

[HitmenOnlyInc]

I have some Elixir 3 that squeal bad. I am gonna try this tomorrow!

[kneejerk]

if you continue to have "squeal" problems you can always switch to an "organic" pad compound or a rotor with an "aluminum carrier"... both of those options should also minimize the vibes (I imagine)

I clean my bikes pretty regularly with a "bike wash" solution (Pedros or Finish Line)... which makes the brake performance deminish for a while afterward, sometimes even with some Wooooe!... momemts on the first few downhill applications... but the stuff burns off after a few of those and normal braking performance returns.

I actually changed out my original brake pads on these same brakes because they squealed so bad it bugged me (Hayes Stroker Ryde)... and since I found this zip tie trick was able to go back to the original pads w/o squeal. If you can't get a zip tie to extend across a decent distance of the rotor it may not be effective. Also, I didn't pull them very tight as someone else mentioned, I just did the zip ties as tight as I could by hand and rotated the ends to where they would not hit anything.

[RobinGB]

I keep meaning to jump over to organic pads, but no one carries them and i never think ahead to order them.

I really need to research out a rotor that sheds water though, 90% of my squeal is due to wet muddy conditions.

[Learux]

Formula brakes, organic compound quite noisy, switched to sintered, have not heard them since.

[kneejerk]

Formula brakes, organic compound quite noisy, switched to sintered, have not heard them since.

I guess going with a "softer" compound is what I meant by getting a quieter pad. Maybe there are "organic" compound pads out there that wear slower than a "metal" pad. Just going from brand to brand can bring changes in "noise" or performance.

[RobinGB]

trail day 1,

spent more time swimming then riding, super wet rotors soaked the whole way down. I guess we will see what next week brings.

[Billinsd]

Any updates?

[MitchD]

I developed a squeel when I changed wheelsets. I thought no way so I put my old wheels back on and no noise.Hmmm, same rotors,same pads one makes noise and one doesnt? My next step was to put rubber grommets in the smaller openings in the rotors and no more noise,quess the grommets are soaking up the vibrations?I think this is on the same concept as the original poster with zip ties

[wschruba]

I guess going with a "softer" compound is what I meant by getting a quieter pad. Maybe there are "organic" compound pads out there that wear slower than a "metal" pad. Just going from brand to brand can bring changes in "noise" or performance.

It would be difficult to find an organic/non-metallic pad that wears as well as sintered metal. Someone feel free to jump in if you know of one.

Mitch: do you mean you spaced the rotor away from the wheel with the grommets, or put them under the bolt head, on the outside of the rotor?

[axisofoil]

I doubt I will ever heat them to more than a hundred degrees F. Although you bring up a good point. They probably start to melt around 250 degrees F. (I imagine)

225C, or 437F. Most quality zip-ties are made from nylon 6,6.

[kcvpr]

Brake squeal has more to do with improper brake bed in procedure than whether or not you use zipties for their supposed vibration dampening properties.

Improper brake bedding causes microscopic 'hills and valleys' in the rotor and pads to form from the bedding layer of the brake pad not being evenly distributed on the rotor. This is why if you actually read the manual to your brakes they tell you not to lock up the brakes when breaking them in.

When you improperly bed in your brakes you are basically turning your brakes into a phonograph. The rotor being the record and the pad being the needle.