Braking soda?

[Rik]

Excuse the bad pun...

The other day, someone mentioned to me that using good ol' baking soda is an effective way of cleaning disc rotors+pads.
I'm curious, as my reinstalled XT's don't have the bite that I was expecting.
Has anyone else heard of this, is it a valid ingredient for cleaning brakes? I'd assume that mixing it into a paste, smearing it on the rotor, and giving the brakes a few good hard stops would be a good way to clean them, as the soda would act as an abrasive. Is this assumption anywhere near correct?
I may give it a go later this arvo, depending on feedback...what do you reckon?

 

[naz]

try it and tell us how it goes, it sounds cheaper than buyin the proper disc brake cleaner

 

[fastrider gus]

another good way is to boil them in a pot of water...

 

[Turley]

talc powder works. Basically what happens is the powder binds wiht the oil removing it from the rotors and pads. Same as when you spill water in the kitche, you put a rag on it to mop it up. Bit more complex physically than that but, it is the basic principle. It works.

 

[Rik]

Alrighty, cool, doesn't sound harmful, I'll give it a go later today and report back with the results.

 

[naz]

ye boilin pads n rotor works but the oil floats to the top and make sure u remove it beffore you take out pads n stuff or the oil iwll just go back on them

 

[Hank.]

Ric, the water thing is good but forget it, burn them.
Burn your rotors and pads over a gas stove flame, you will know when they have had enough. If they have any oil on, them this method will fix em' up good.
Reblead the brakes, clean the body with alcohol and your on. yo.

 

[CHEWY]

i think im gonna have to do that tonight...
i didnt take the calliper off when i serviced my forks and some oil dribbled out of the bolt hole on the underneath of the lowers = no brakes

 

[Rik]

Burning pads is not for me, I've heard too much bad news about it (ie, pads seperating from their backing).
I'll give baking soda a go, if that doesn't work, then I'll find alternate solutions. But not burning.

 

[CHEWY]

i just burned mine last night and cleaned em up with some of those medical isopropyl swabs... almost compltely fixed them, i just hope it didnt weaken the springs too much

 

[Ryan]

Don't burn brake pads with the springs on them, even better don't burn them at all.

All those horror stories about pads de-bonding from the backing are true, it happened to me about 2 months ago.

Halfway through a run in the middle of a day of shuttling my front discs mysteriously lost power completely. Took the pads out to check and one of the pads had huge chunks missing from it where the pad material had torn off the backing, I'd burnt it on the stove the night before to de-contaminate it :/

 

[lupine128]

i know we are all poor, and need to save money where ever we can, but this is one of the few times when i always say just replace the farked item.
you can clean them with boiling water, then rub them with baking soda, or talc, then reuse them, but no matter what anyone says, you can never get them 100% again (this is where we get the 6 mandatory posts of "mine are brilliant after i did XYZ, you don't know what you are talking about"). by all means clean them until they are useable again, but then put them in a plastic ziplock and toss them into the tool box as spares.
DHD are selling hayes pads super cheap, and they work. just cut down on the booze/smokes/soda/whatever for a week and buy a cpl of sets to keep in the shed for when you need them.
BBB, EBC, and a load of others make pads to fit most calipers, and they aren't really that expensive compared to ploughing into a tree or wall at speed because you were being cheap.

 

[Cúl-Báire]

If I get oil on my pads, I heat them (not alot), once everything is clean I swap them for the rear pads, adn get a new set.

Swapping: I swap them with the rears, because the rear never really gets that hot, certianly never as hot as the front brakes thats for sure. The backing coming off is apparently only a problem when the pads are excesivly heated, keeping them on the back means they willl rarely get hot enough to brake up, and even if they do, you still got a fistfull of front brakes

 

[juzza]

Don't burn brake pads with the springs on them, even better don't burn them at all.

All those horror stories about pads de-bonding from the backing are true, it happened to me about 2 months ago.

Halfway through a run in the middle of a day of shuttling my front discs mysteriously lost power completely. Took the pads out to check and one of the pads had huge chunks missing from it where the pad material had torn off the backing, I'd burnt it on the stove the night before to de-contaminate it :/

Your not meant to burn the actual pad itself! Burn the back of the pad.

 

[shmity]

Rik, if your xts arn't giving you the power that they used to, your pistons might be sticking, thats generaly the reason for power loss. Take wheel off and the pads out, then squease the lever gently, dont do it too hard for obvious reasons, have a look for a piston thats not engaging. If you find one, cover the other 3 pistons with your fingers, or sqrew driver or similar, and squeeze the lever again. The non engaging piston should pop out a little and start working again. Then just press all the pistons right back into the caliper and reinstall pads and wheel. Obviosuly due care is required not to pop a piston all the way out, but dont worry if you manage to do it, they just slip back in, and you rebleed without any catasrophic results.

 

[Rik]

Cheers Shmity, I'll have a look at that.
The brakes are starting to get a bit more power, I don't think they're contaminated, maybe they just need alot of time to bed in (they're pretty much new).

 

[CHEWY]

Your not meant to burn the actual pad itself! Burn the back of the pad.

why the hell would you only burn the back of the pad?
i think im gonna have to go with lupine and get a set of those imperials. burning the pads deffinatly made them better, but not up to the standard i want... plus im scared of losing braking at some incredibly Inconvenient time

 

[lupine128]

if you lose braking it will ALWAYS be at an inconvienient time. brakes really only ever fail under load.... or thats when you notice it at least.

 

[Rik]

Well, I just did it.
I used about a heaped tablespoon of soda, and enough water to mix it into a paste. I poured it on my rotor, covered the whole thing in the paste, and whilst on the workstand dragged the brakes whilst pedalling it through.
I then took it for a few quick pedal strokes.
The bastard squealed like a dying animal, and there was absolutely bugger all modulation, it was either off, brushing the rotor and squealing without stopping, or locked fully. The rear end didn't like it, chattered like hell as I skidded on concrete. I persisted trying to ride it though, annoying the neighbourhood in the process.
After I felt it'd had enough, I rolled back home, and hosed it all off thorougly, took it for another spin, and am now mighty impressed.
It squeals like all buggery, but I now have the power I've been looking for.
These are XT discs, and beforehand, full hand squeeze couldn't even get the rear to lock up on concrete, but now one finger with light touch has more than enough power to lock it up. There is what you'd call "modulation", ie, I can manual and just scrub the brakes when needed, or I can jam it with one finger and come to an ubrupt stop.
It appears the pads are shiny, the soda polished them, but it has made braking better. I'll see how it goes over the next week or so, but right now I'm really hapy with the results.

 

[CHEWY]

Hey Rik, did the soda work out in the long run?? Were the pads contaminated with oil in the first place?
I've stuffed my second set of pads thanks to god knows what. Ive tried burning them, baking them, cleaning them and sanding with emery paper and nothing has got them back. I really need back brakes for tomorrow, so I was just wondering if this was worth a shot.
I do have new pads on order from DHD too..