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Sticking Brake

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 1:44 pm
by Drago
As the title says I'm frequently having trouble with my brake pads sticking. I live in a fairly rural area and travel down muddy lanes five days a week. This crud is getting into the calliper and causing this issue. Bizarrely on my SYM Joymax the front brake suffers the most, the rear does not on my previous SYM GTS it was the rear that tended to stick rather than the front :? . Now this is of course wearing out the pads quickly and of course reducing performance/mpg.

So what's the best way to prevent/fix this? Clean the callipers daily? Remove them and clean frequently? I did use a brake cleaner but this is expensive and didn't seem to help. I'm not to mechanically talented but I'd rather sort this issue out myself rather than having to put up with rapidly wearing pads/poorer performance and paying a mechanic. Any help/advice would be appreciated.

Re: Sticking Brake

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 2:27 pm
by Funkycowie



Re: Sticking Brake

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 3:05 pm
by MrGrumpy
I suspect its the salt that's causing more of a problem than 'mere' crud. Apart from cleaning, the brakes could probably do with a full on dismantling and service.

Re: Sticking Brake

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 4:13 am
by roadster
First remove the pads and spray generously inside callipers with something like rubber grease or even wd40. This is just to clean out the general debris before pushing the pistons in until nearly flush. then coat the inside of the pistons ( if they are the hollow type ) with Coppa slip or a similar copper based grease. Also apply this grease to all the point where the pads touch the calliper lugs but make sure the surfaces have no residual mud or corrosion by scraping them clean first. Coat the back of the pads with Coppaslip and also try to smear a little on metal edges that need to slide against the calliper. The pads should fit into place with no force required. Grease any anti rattle springs and also generously coat the retaining pins. After everything is refitted squeeze the lever to get the pads back in contact then rotate the wheel a couple of times. Check to see that no grease has found its way onto the disk and wipe it clean if necessary. In fact this type of grease doesn't hurt the contact surfaces as much as you might think so the odd fingerprint doesn't adversely affect braking efficiency.

I find this treatment only needs doing once a year in the condition you describe.

Re: Sticking Brake

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 5:23 am
by 2wheelover51
Similar to Roadster. I take the calipers off the discs and clean with brake cleaner and ACF50 on a rag, making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies. Once they're clean I coat the pistons with red rubber grease. I do this about 3 or 4 times a year. This is fine for my light usage but not sure if it would keep the calipers ok with daily usage in really muddy conditions. It might need to be done monthly etc.
Bike/scooter calipers should come with rubber boots like car calipers. Maybe if you could find something that would fit, it might be the way to go, or else rig some sort of deflectors to keep the crap out.
Some available here: https://www.motorcycleproducts.co.uk/ca ... 8_117.html
They look model-specific but maybe some could be adapted to suit if you look around.

Re: Sticking Brake

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 6:26 am
by Ralph
What I do and I don't recommend it is push on the caliper with my knee
pushing the pistons back this keeps them free to move but you must
pump the pistons back out with the brake leaver after or you wont have
brakes first time you pull the leavers.
The way to start is in the post above get them working right and clean to start with.

Re: Sticking Brake

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 2:08 pm
by Drago
Well I tried using hot soapy water as shown in the 2nd video Funkycowie posted. I don't have access to a hose at present so instead just to try I used a 2l hand pump bottle I got at a garden centre. I gave the disc and caliper a good blast and found that this helped clean out/free up the brake. Literally it was near jammed on in the morning, I could barely turn it by hand. But after emptying the bottle it was turning a lot more freely. The scoot is due for a service soon anyway and the pads will still need replacing this time. I'll now stick to rinsing the brakes frequently with hot soapy water to prevent the issue happening again. I never thought of using something as simple as hot soapy water before.

Re: Sticking Brake

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 3:45 pm
by Whatsisname
I like the garden pump/bottle idea, It struck me that the brush in the video wouldn't get right into the space behind the pad. Now I've got to decide whether to dump the 2 litres of weedkiller in the sprayer, or buy a second one!

Re: Sticking Brake

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 4:33 pm
by Funkycowie
I use an 8 litre Hozelock Killaspray and a bucket, where I wash my scoot I have no water access so use the killaspray to wash and rinse it. Soapy water in the spray at firs,t then rinse out the sprayer with a bit of water from the bucket, finally refill it fully from the bucket and spray clean.