[witcomb]

I have been using disc brakes for a year now, Hayes Mechanical (MX-1 I think) and they have been great. Although, recently my fronts have lost all power. I just looked over the pads, they are looking to be in great shape. I adjusted the cables, all was looking good. I took the bike for a roll down the driveway and then applied my front brakes and nothing. The pads would grab the rotor, but they just slide.

Now, I'm not sure how to go about fixing this. Is it time for new pads? Should I attempt the pads from the rear on the front, see how they work, they are good on the rear? Could I have bigger problems?

Thanks for any info

 

[MannyECG]

Try This.....

I have been using disc brakes for a year now, Hayes Mechanical (MX-1 I think) and they have been great. Although, recently my fronts have lost all power. I just looked over the pads, they are looking to be in great shape. I adjusted the cables, all was looking good. I took the bike for a roll down the driveway and then applied my front brakes and nothing. The pads would grab the rotor, but they just slide.

Now, I'm not sure how to go about fixing this. Is it time for new pads? Should I attempt the pads from the rear on the front, see how they work, they are good on the rear? Could I have bigger problems?

Thanks for any info

I have a cousin who had the same problem with his MX-1s. Sometimes due to excessive braking, the front pads (which is where your stopping power is) kind of "fuse" together and just slide when you apply the brake even tough the pads still have a lot of wear left. Just change the new pads with new ones. Swapping them with the rear ones will only transfer the problem to the rear brake and the rear pads on the front brake wont last long either.

Another thing you might try (depending on your riding style) is to change the front rotor to an 8" rotor (if you have a 6"). An 8" rotor will give you more braking power and make the pads last longer. All you have to do is buy an adapter for the calipers and buy an 8" rotor. This is if you do a lot of DH on your bike, which wears out the pads for 6" rotors fast. If you just trail ride, just changing the pads should work even though your current ones might still have padding left.

Happy Trails!

 

[damion]

Cross hatch and clean.

Cross sand the pads and rotors to remove residue, and clean the rotors with rotor cleaner or isopropyl alchol.

 

[rumor]

You should check how far away the inboard pad is away from the rotor. If it is too far, the pads don't squeeze the rotor straight. I think you can adjust the inboard pad by turning the "dial" behind the pad. I did this to my buddy's bike and it ws a night and day difference. HTH

Cheers

 

[Warp]

Sand the pads....

Get'em off. Sand them with a very fine grit paper over a flat surface. Just to remove the outer layer of pad material. After this you gotta go thru the bed in process again in order to avoid glazing them again.

Your problem sounds pretty much like glazing.

Hope it works out.

 

[witcomb]

Thanks guys, I'll give all this a try. My hands have been killing me recently and now I know why, no front brakes. I'm curiuos though, what causes "glazing"? I can't really think of when my front brakes would have started to go and I'm not sure what I could have done to cause this.

Thanks again

 

[Warp]

Kind of what Manny said... basically the outer layers of the pad material melts and obtains a crystal like surface which is very low on friction coefficient. It also causes squeal as the pads are just rubbing the metal instead of actually braking.

The cause... I dunno but I suppose is overheating and quick cool down on the surface of the material.

 

[witcomb]

As it turned out, the problem was the inboard pad was too far from the rotor. So, front brakes work great again. Actually, I endo'd on my first ride out after hammering on the front brakes forgetting that they worked.

To adjust the distance for the inboard pad there is a dial to turn. The dial on the rear though is stuck. The front was really bad too but I got it to finally turn. Anyone have similar problems or possibly know why it won't move?

Thanks

 

[dusty]

The knob...

That knob getting stuck is evidently the weak link with the old Hayes. I had a caliper replaced a couple of weeks ago. Now I'm just going to give them a click back and forth every so often so they don't completely seize.

 

[bdee]

. The dial on the rear though is stuck. The front was really bad too but I got it to finally turn. Anyone have similar problems or possibly know why it won't move?

Thanks

I had the same problem, I never really figured out a way to rotate the dial other than using needle nose pliers to grip those little holes in the dial, give that a shot.