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Re: [ST] More Brake Info...



What is the copper grease and do you put it on the pistons?

Tim Elliott

Nathan Maher wrote:

>Listers,
>
>There's been a lot of discussion about brakes on this list in the past week
>(month, year, etc.) and the situation always seems to be somewhat similar, a
>spongy feeling lever or reduced feel or control.  One solution that's been
>discussed in the past but hasn't come up yet it this round of debate is the
>"dirty piston" scenario.  For those who are not familiar with this I'll give
>the short version, the brake pistons become dirty over time and stop moving
>in a smooth manner - essentially they get stuck.  The solution to this is to
>remove the calipers (while still attached to the system) and manually clean
>the cylinders.  Stephen McSpadden was kind enough to email me instructions
>on how to perform this little operation and given a beautiful Sunday this
>past weekend I decided to give it a shot.  The whole operation took a total
>of two hours (with a mowing of the lawn thrown in to give the calipers a
>chance to fully dry) and really was very simple.  Tools required: a T-55
>torx bit, a size 5 metric hex-key/allen-wrench, brake cleaner, plenty of
>rags and copper-slip type grease.
>
>Before the cleaning I had a dead spot of about a quarter pull of the brake
>lever, that is to say that the brakes did nothing for the first quarter of
>the brake lever travel.  When I removed the right caliper only one of the
>pistons moved smoothly, after cleaning all four would move with the first
>touch of the lever.  The left caliper was only slightly better with two of
>the pistons being really stuck and two moving fairly freely.  Again, after
>cleaning the pistons all four were moving.  If you'd like detailed
>instructions of what I did, let me know, but basically it's no more
>complicated than removing the calipers one at a time, removing the pads and
>then forcing the pistons to move out so you can clean them.  Care should be
>exercised when getting the pistons to move as if they are allowed to come
>out to far you can damage the seals and allow air to enter to system along
>with spilling brake fluid everywhere.  I'm a hack of a mechanic and I had no
>issues so basically if you can open a pickle jar this task is well within
>your abilities.
>
>After the cleaning all I can say is WOW!  The brakes feel like they did when
>the bike was new - tight, predicable pickup and most importantly, no dead
>spot.  I have a feeling that this cleaning will now accompany oil changes
>for me as it's just that easy and the results are so good.  I'll report back
>if the results do not hold up very long but my sense is that there was some
>serious dust build up that wasn't going to clean itself.
>
>Special thanks to Stephen for being kind enough to email me his
>instructions.
>
>Keep the rubber side down,
>
>Nate
>00SprintRS
>
>
>
>
>
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>


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