Disk Brakes issue

Alanstrainor

Hey,
Just wondering if you guys had any advice, i have a mountain bike with twiin disc brakes. Recently my front brake's stopping power has dropped drastically. I have checked the pads to see if they need replacing and they seem fine. I changed them a little over 6 months ago. Does anyone have any tips on disc brake maintenance?
Cheers,
Alan

Ciaran500

What brakes?

If they are mechanical the pads will need to be adjusted so they are closer to the disc. If they are hydraulic they sound like they need to be bled.

Alanstrainor

Ciaran500 wrote:

What brakes?

If they are mechanical the pads will need to be adjusted so they are closer to the disc. If they are hydraulic they sound like they need to be bled.

Sorry, i forgot to mention they were "mechanical", and i have already adjusted the distance between pads and breaks, the pads clamp the disc just fine but just don't have anywhere near the stopping power, they feel spongy and unresponsive where as before they were sharp and stopping distances were next to nothing....
thanks for the reply
Alan,

kona

if they are are shimano , hayes , avid , tektro IO,youll have a easy time. ......... basically if your bike cost under e300 , adjusting them will be a night mare, the cheap end of things DO NOT WORK, no matter how much fiddling, they ajustment to square the pads off with the disc isnt there, i have to do my best to set up ****ty cheap brakes everyday, they are a pain, if you tell me the name of em, if they are cheap the are prob artek or promax, i will tell you how best to set em up.
by any chance have you accidentally put anything other than meth spirt, white spirit or water on them??

Alanstrainor

kona wrote:

if they are are shimano , hayes , avid , tektro IO,youll have a easy time. ......... basically if your bike cost under e300 , adjusting them will be a night mare, the cheap end of things DO NOT WORK, no matter how much fiddling, they ajustment to square the pads off with the disc isnt there, i have to do my best to set up ****ty cheap brakes everyday, they are a pain, if you tell me the name of em, if they are cheap the are prob artek or promax, i will tell you how best to set em up.
by any chance have you accidentally put anything other than meth spirt, white spirit or water on them??

Ay, they are tektro IO, :rolleyes: Get in!, and i haven't gone at them with anything so there's no wd40 residue on there.
Thanks,
Alan

kona

Alanstrainor wrote:

Ay, they are tektro IO, :rolleyes: Get in!, and i haven't gone at them with anything so there's no wd40 residue on there.
Thanks,
Alan

IO are easy, loosen the two bolts holding the calliper, pull the lever, then tighten slowly.
next ajust the distance of the moving pad by setting the cable tension.
you can fine tune with the stationary pad with a allen key, take your time and youll be fine!!!