I had some fun bleeding my xt brakes yesterday. pushed the pistons back to get the bleed block in and somehow one of the pistons ended up skewed slightly and jammed. As I pumped the brake lever the hydraulic pressure shattered one of the pistons. A 20 min job turned into a 1 hour + job. Luckily I had a new SLX caliper which I bought a few years ago so I pinched the piston out of that. Twas a pain in the arse but good to see how the calipers go together.
Bleeding hydraulic brakes after 1 year - worthwhile?
- Thread starter Binaural
- Start date
Oddjob
Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
Yikes. Flat plastic tyre levers are your friend. Did you have to disassemble the caliper to get the piston in?
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pink poodle
気が狂っている男
You good sir are in the wrong thread...
https://www.rotorburn.com/forums/index.php?threads/confessions-from-the-fuckwits.257029/
stirk
Burner
I have done the quick and dirty top up and 'bleed' a few times works a treat.
My shimano brakes do this if the bike is laid down or held upright for a while...had a scary moment at Thredbo when I pulled my bike off the chair and went thundering down the fire road and the rear lever went back to the bars, couple of pumps and all good!
The Deores on my commuter were untouched for almost 2 years, I went to bleed them and the fluid was black! Ended up getting the shop to give it a good flush out!
I don't understand the hate for the Guides, I find they have really good modulation compared to the Shimanos which are grabby!
Z
Zaf
Guest
Riiiiight up until they modulate in...and decidestay there. The hate is coming from a place of reliability, rather than use. Also, with internal routing it gets super old REALLY fast; having to pull a dot fluid filled line through your frame (which is a pretty shitty job in general, regardless of brake fluid being used) but that's kind of the cherry on top that it can kill some paintwork in the process.
JTmofo
XC Enthusiast
Anyone who spills DOT fluid on their paint and leaves it there without rinsing deserves to have fucked up paint.
Hope also use DOT fluid, as do all motos and cars. It's not a big deal if you treat it as corrosive and take precautions.
Some people are lazy, as well as being sheep and unable to form their own opinions regarding what's cool aid or not.
The original pre 2016 guides had issues with sticky levers, but they have held their hand up and are replacing them under warranty.
I've got a set of Guide RS on my Canyon. I fired in a set of sintered pads and they have been flawless.
There is no doubting that Shimano have had a better track record regarding reliability, but the also make shitty brakes too (M8000 are junk).
But there is also no doubting that SRAM brakes have better modulation and feedback than Shimano.
Some people like that feeling (me included), and bleeding a set of brakes takes me 20mins.
I for one, would have Sram over Shimano all day. Non specific lever sides, 4 pot power, nicely shaped levers and heaps of feel and feedback.
Haters gonna hate.....
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Z
Zaf
Guest
The official stance when the Guide Ultimate's were released was that the sticky lever problem was solved within that revision...but they suffer from it also. DOT fluid is shit, it needs a whole separate disposal method because of how caustic it is, it's not nice on or in anything. Mineral oil is a no-consequences alternative, I am perplexed as to why anyone persists with DOT Fluid.
I have never even had an issue with the Guide's personally, every set I've used have been faultless, but even among the small sample group that is my immediate riding buddies, I am the exception, not the rule.
Damned straight haters gonna hate!! Brakes need to be reliable.
I have never even had an issue with the Guide's personally, every set I've used have been faultless, but even among the small sample group that is my immediate riding buddies, I am the exception, not the rule.
Damned straight haters gonna hate!! Brakes need to be reliable.
Binaural
Eats Squid
I've long held the same opinion. I was curious to see what serious arguments can be make for dot5 over mineral oil - the attached link makes the best I've seen. As far as I can tell, the only substantial reason (as opposed to "for the sake of argument" stuff) is that it's cheaper. Of course, you only need a hundred ml to fill DOT5 brakes and then you often have to throw away the rest, whereas mineral oil lasts forever after opening.
http://www.epicbleedsolutions.com/blog/dot-brake-fluid-vs-mineral-oil/
Yes I did consider nominating myself! I normally use a ring spanned to push the pistons back without issue so I’m not quite sure what happened. I’m generally very careful and thorough!
Yes. I ended up using the complete right side of the caliper from the slx unit which is identical to the xt caliper except for the colour.
droenn
Fat Man's XC President
Haha, I just did exact same thing this week and had to also get Slx caliper to replace!
But I did it twice (although did realise front was gone until rode it, seems more to with seal), and used a tyre lever so have no idea how I fucked them up so bad. Only 18 months old and have bled them fine previously. My brake pads were almost down to nothing, so they were out pretty far... Probably worthy of the fuckwit thread, in any case.
Why did you take the pots out and put them in XT caliper? I sourced some slx calipers and just did a straight swap since I can’t see any difference between them?
My guides haven’t been bled in a couple years, probably need to but still very reliable.
I didn’t realise they were identical (right down to the threaded hole for the retention bolt that xt uses) until they were apart. I decided to leave the pistons be and just replace the whole right side. Good to see them apart... very simple and effective design!
ozzybmx
taking a shit with my boobs out
The Shimano pots are the same whether it be SLX, XT, XTR or their road calipers... which is hats off to Shimano, using the same stuff rather than being brake specific. Even able to use the cheap https://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=8;product=142731;menu=1000,4,170 K02S pads in all Shimano brakes if you dont mind doing away with the finned pads, if you want finned, then its different part numbers for the specific finned pads with the different brakes.
The Duckmeister
Has a juicy midrange
ALL DOT fluid-filled brakes need periodic bleeding, whether there's any change in performance or not. As mentioned previously, the stuff absorbs moisture, even sucking it past piston and reservoir seals. DOT 5.1 has a particularly voracious appetite; it's the trade-off for a higher "dry" (before water absorption) boiling point. Higher water content lowers the fluid's boiling point. This may be fine and undetectable in most situations, but if you go pushing the brakes hard, you may find yourself running out of pressure as the fluid boils & breaks down. And if you start getting air in there as well, you really set up the scene for internal corrosion.
Some SRAM/Avid offerings, particularly Elixir and Trail brakes with "Taperbore" levers/reservoirs do not have expansion bladders, so as the fluid absorbs moisture and it expands, the only way it can handle the extra volume is to jam the brakes on.....
So bleed your bloody brakes!!
Some SRAM/Avid offerings, particularly Elixir and Trail brakes with "Taperbore" levers/reservoirs do not have expansion bladders, so as the fluid absorbs moisture and it expands, the only way it can handle the extra volume is to jam the brakes on.....
So bleed your bloody brakes!!
The Duckmeister
Has a juicy midrange
The Duckmeister
Has a juicy midrange
Fuck, I'd to see the colour of the fluid when you do get around to it. I also shudder more than an Elixir brake to think how they'd perform on a big descent.
Z
Zaf
Guest
My comments were based purely on their lack of reliability in general, regardless of whatever regular maintenance you put them through. Also DOT fluid is shit. If your Guides aren't sticky, they still need replacing though.Sticky pistons is not related to whether or not the brakes need bleeding, so that entire line of "my brakes aren't sticky so they don't need a bleed" is just plain bullshit.
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link1896
Mr Greenfield
General thread comment. Fuck fellas, we like our brakes like we like our sexual partners, alcoholic drinks, cars and which side of the bed to sleep on, I.e everyone is different, there is no right or wrong. Haven't we done this to death over and over and over?
I think the avid engineers, God what a messed up bunch they were, attempted to included an expansion membrane in the taperbores, it's just so crap it's ineffective. I'm talking about the rubber membrane around the piston rod itself. I'd never paid attention to it until I started vacuum bleeding avid/sram and it would get stuck over the port hole and I'd have to apply a positive pressure at the calliper end to get it free.
I think the avid engineers, God what a messed up bunch they were, attempted to included an expansion membrane in the taperbores, it's just so crap it's ineffective. I'm talking about the rubber membrane around the piston rod itself. I'd never paid attention to it until I started vacuum bleeding avid/sram and it would get stuck over the port hole and I'd have to apply a positive pressure at the calliper end to get it free.
