vertrkr
Member
Bike: 2021 Trek Rail 5 alloy
Short story: My rear brakes never worked well, rubbing, noisy, lack of power or uneven wear. Tried everything I know, new hardware, LBSs, nothing worked completely. Broke down and bought the ParkTool facing tool, now it's perfection.
Longer story: I've fiddled with my rear brakes for 3 years since it was new. I could eliminate one issue but another one would pop up. I tried new hardware, rotors, pads then finally new TRP DHR EVOs with no luck. I had the LBS head tech give it a shot and it was no better.
Strangely I had a dream, of all things, that my post mounts were not parallel. I didn't even know that was a thing. Researching this it is indeed a thing and a few companies sell tools to reface the mounts. ParkTool sells one, DT-5.2, for about $500.
I figured a bike shop must have this tool so I called all the LBS. Nobody had one but some offered they could eyeball it with a file. At this point I wanted it done right so I bought the damn tool myself.
I watched and read everything about how to use it as there's no turning back if you screw up. With the facing tool, cutting oil and marking dye I gave it a shot.
The best tip I found was to put the most pressure on the sliding collar down on the chrome shaft while turning the blue knob.
One post was 3mm higher out of parallelism and both tilted a few degrees. That took about 30 minutes of hand cranking, checking, cranking, praying I'm not doing it wrong.
It worked, now I have perfection. No need for conical washers as the caliper is perfectly aligned to the rotor and brakes like a dream. Happy to put this one to bed.
Short story: My rear brakes never worked well, rubbing, noisy, lack of power or uneven wear. Tried everything I know, new hardware, LBSs, nothing worked completely. Broke down and bought the ParkTool facing tool, now it's perfection.
Longer story: I've fiddled with my rear brakes for 3 years since it was new. I could eliminate one issue but another one would pop up. I tried new hardware, rotors, pads then finally new TRP DHR EVOs with no luck. I had the LBS head tech give it a shot and it was no better.
Strangely I had a dream, of all things, that my post mounts were not parallel. I didn't even know that was a thing. Researching this it is indeed a thing and a few companies sell tools to reface the mounts. ParkTool sells one, DT-5.2, for about $500.
I figured a bike shop must have this tool so I called all the LBS. Nobody had one but some offered they could eyeball it with a file. At this point I wanted it done right so I bought the damn tool myself.
I watched and read everything about how to use it as there's no turning back if you screw up. With the facing tool, cutting oil and marking dye I gave it a shot.
The best tip I found was to put the most pressure on the sliding collar down on the chrome shaft while turning the blue knob.
One post was 3mm higher out of parallelism and both tilted a few degrees. That took about 30 minutes of hand cranking, checking, cranking, praying I'm not doing it wrong.
It worked, now I have perfection. No need for conical washers as the caliper is perfectly aligned to the rotor and brakes like a dream. Happy to put this one to bed.
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! But not for that price.($500+). I see a few bikes come through my cave and some of those bikes could use that tool. I’d really need to justify it though. None of our LBS’s have one. 
probably a tool I’d hardly ever use though.
