Squealing Brakes on Shimano Zee's

[Interpaul]

My Devinci came with Shimano Zee's. They are incredibly noisy. Have sanded the pads with fine sandpaper and cleaned the discs with methylated spirits but they are still noisy as. They were quiet initially after cleaning but are howling again.

Any suggestions, can I get better quality pads than the on'e that came standard?

It's really pissing me off now and I feel the brake performance is reduced

 

[Deleted member 1275]

I feel your pain @Interpaul. My Code R brakes squeal horrendously - but only when wet. When dry they are absolutely fine.

I can't help you directly with your Zees as never had those but I would say that Methylated spirits aren't recommended to go on disks. Meths can leave a residue and can also degrade brake seals.

Isopropyl alcohol or a dedicated MTB disk brake cleaner is the way to go - I just thought I would mention that as the meths might be the reason for poor brake performance (irrespective of noise). Just a thought!

I also made a mistake many years ago and used a motorcycle disk brake cleaner on my MTB! You would think it would be ok, or at least I did, but what I didn't realise at the time is that while it was fine for my motorcycle it actually ruined two sets of nearly new Hope pads. Apparently, it contained some residues that can be burnt of with the braking forces on a motorcycle - a mountain bike - not so much!

 

[Interpaul]

Thanks for that @Ygau I will try cleaning with proper brake cleaner and see how it goes

 

[ChrisB NZ]

I've been plagued by brake squeal issues on my bikes. Figure it may have something to do with the fact that I store them in my garage/workshop where I do a lot of woodworking, sanding etc with dust. But who knows.

I've used the technique shown in this YouTube video using CRC De-squeak a couple of times and it has worked a treat! I also tried sanding the pads etc but this worked better. You just have to put up with riding around the neighborhood making a hell of a racket!

 

[Interpaul]

I bought some Fenwicks Disc brake cleaner and cleaned discs and sanded pads down. Will test ride to tomorrow but the noise has stopped when I rode in the garden. We will see once I go down a steep hill...

 

[Deleted member 1275]

I did similar yesterday to try and resolve the squealing when wet....the result? they now squeal in the dry!!! Will have another go tomorrow.

 

[Tamas]

It’s contamination because Shimano brakes (using Shimano pads and rotors) are generally quiet. I’m running them on three bikes (SLX and 2 Saints, organic and metal pads). Once they properly bed in I avoid cleaning the rotors but if I have to then I’m using regular automotive break cleaner. As for the pads I just put water on them and rub them to each other as you can see it in this video @5:00 min When I had unstoppable squealing that was due to contaminated pads and no amount of rubbing stopped it I had to replace them.