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How to Stop Break Squeal

1K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  highdelll 
#1 · (Edited)
I have Tektro canti brakes with Kool Stop Pads on my CX. They are new and have only been on a few rides. The rear is fine but the front is squeeks like crazy.

Do you have any recommendation son how to stop this squeal?
 
#2 ·
Toe the pads

thedumbopinion said:
I have Tektro canti breaks with Kool Stop Pads on my CX. They are new and have only been on a few rides. The rear is fine but the front is squeeks like crazy.

Do you have any recommendation son how to stop this squeal?
Toe the front of the pads in slightly and take some scotchbrite pads and lightly clean the braking surface.
 
#3 ·
Ken's tips should stop the squeak, but if the brake still squeaks, check to see if the cantilver arms are tight on the frame. If the bolts are loose, the brakes can move and vibrate. Don't overtighten them, though. Just take a wrench and make sure the bolts are tight and there's no significant play in the canti arms that can cause vibration and squeaking.

Hope this helps.
 
#4 · (Edited)
jimlangley said:
If the bolts are loose, the brakes can move and vibrate. Don't overtighten them, though. Just take a wrench and make sure the bolts are tight and there's no significant play in the canti arms that can cause vibration and squeaking.
I wonder if the 'looseness' has something to do with the front forks. The bike is a Specialized Tricross and the front fork has that rubber compound thing. People have complained about brake shudder (which I have not experienced). Maybe there is too much fork movement?

Thanks for the input guys. I'll adjust the toe, scotchbright the pads and let you know how it turns out.

Cheers!
 
#7 ·
A bit of toe in helps, so that the rear of the shoe doesn't touch first and cause the squeal. Koolstop recommends about 1/32", (about 1mm) so place a thin washer or piece of cardboard under the heel of the shoe when mounting it.

One problem is that many of the bosses are underbuilt, so when you apply a front brake the bosses flex to a toe-out angle. (rears flex in the oposite direction, so don't usually squeal so much) To remedy you might try increasing the toe in slightly (a dime under the tail) or remove the shoes and use a coarse emery board to break the corner at the heel.

Don't increase the toe in too much, since it'll make a proper adjustment almost impossible. On some bikes you just have to live with it. On my old road bike that I commuted with the front brake squeal was so amazingly loud that I just started thinking of it as an automatic horn.
 
#8 ·
thedumbopinion said:
I wonder if the 'looseness' has something to do with the front forks. The bike is a Specialized Tricross and the front fork has that rubber compound thing. People have complained about brake shudder (which I have not experienced). Maybe there is too much fork movement?
The rubber is around the fork leg and not through it. It is just a dampener. Brake shudder is probably from lose brakes or headset.
 
#9 ·
JSellers said:
Brake shudder is probably fromloose brakes or headset.
nice diagnosis :) makes total sense...-as forward motion pushes the pads forward, they [the pads] eventually roll/twist enough to break* contact. the resultant snap-back allows the pad to contact the surface yet again and starts the process again repeatedly; causing a 'shudder'. i would guess this effect would be amplified on an 'out-of-true' wheel.
to go even further, i submit that a torsionally(sp?) weak brake-arm [ think weight-weenie ;) ] would do the same; requiring even more pad toe-in.
*= maybe the first time this word was used correctly in a 'brake' thread in a long time :p
 
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