Brakes
My brakes are excellent stoppers but they do bind a bit. I was having the wheels painted so I needed to remove the
disks anyway, so while they were off I gave them a good service. Not much to do really, just cleaned the bolts with
a wire brush (in a drill held in a vice)and then cleaned the buttons and washers with a good soak in WD40 and
then wire wool. I also
cleaned the surrounding disk and hub area so that when everything was re-assembled the disks were fully floating
again (i.e. the outer disk could move). I also bled through fresh brake fluid. I'd been advised to do this at least
once per season to both keep the brakes working at their best and also because the old dirty fluid contributes to
the damage the seals receive. I cleaned the pistons (brake cleaner/clean rag/compressed air), cleaned the
slider bar that the pads slide on and the rear
of the brake pads with wire wool and cleaned the pad faces with a wire brush. To get the pistons out evenly
I placed a small spanner between them and pumped them out. Where they didn't pump out evenly I used a pair
of plumbers pliers to hold the spanner and pistons in on one side while I pumped the other side out.
I just generally gave the brakes a
good service.
One tip I
can add is to remove the master cylinder lid and pump the brake lever in and out really quickly and watch for any
bubbles. Do this loads. Then tie the lever on overnight and then repeat the pumping thing. Do this repeatedly
over a few days and you might see an improvement. I did.
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