[waldog]

After much angst and shopping around, last October i purchased a new XtC3. I was very happy with the spec on this bike, especially the brakes, Hayes HFX-9 XC's. I felt safe in the reputaion that these brakes and all of Hayes' brakes held, and believed that i would be receiving a quality product that would easily last the life of my bike, with due attention. Well, from the start they were trouble. The rear brake rattled and hummed every time it was used, the problem only stopped after three different pads, and a bleed at the LBS, even after all of this, i still intermittently have the same problem. The next problem was calliper allignment, no matter what I or my LBS did the brakes still managed to find a way to rub against the disc. The next problem was the pads that came standard from Hayes, they worked ok for about a month before the became glazed over and had to be replaced at both ends of the bike, a pretty costly exercise only a month after purchase.

All of this leads me to today. I went out on one of my local rides, nothing out of the ordinary. Came home and gave my bike a good clean, being winter here it needed it. The when I went to move my bike so i could oil my chain I grasped the front brake lever and heard a 'pop' noise and the lever went straght back to the handle bar, with no braking force applied to disc at all. So my bike is now back in the shop hopefully getting fixed, and then 9's are gone!

I'm shocked that in only 9 months i could have so many problems with a set of brakes, and the thing the disturbs me the most is that if this last problem had of occured out on the trail it could have ended up being a rather unpleasent situation for me depedning on how badly i need to stop.

Anyone else out there had similar problems?

Sorry to have a whinge and sook guys, just really jack of the brakes.

Cheers,

Grant.

 

[Jet-Mech]

Sorry to hear of your ordeal Waldog . Its funny how peoples experience with a certain product varies so much. Just about every product reviewed on this site has people who love and loath that product with equal intensity. I believe that Dogonfr has nothing but praise for his beloved Hayes.

 

[Relayden]

The HFX-9 are plagued with issues. Also, don't hear good stuff from the El Camino. Seems that the only good ones are the Mag's. Go get yourself a set of Shimano's, Magura's or Avid and be gone riding....:thumbsup:

 

[XSL_WiLL]

The Mags are the only good ones. They actually modulate, and they don't break down so often.

 

[waldog]

Cheers guys! I'll wait and see what the LBS has to say today, i will looking for some shimano's or avids!

Grant.

 

[waldog]

Just got back from the LBS and the news isn't good, the seals in the caliper have perished allowing the free flow of fluid out of the caliper and in turn has contaminated my pads and the seals arent serviceable. It's now going to cost me over $100 to get a new capliper and pads (LBS being very nice too me). What i wanna know is, should this be covered under warranty? LBS thinks not.

Cheers.

Grant.

 

[MikeDee]

Just got back from the LBS and the news isn't good, the seals in the caliper have perished allowing the free flow of fluid out of the caliper and in turn has contaminated my pads and the seals arent serviceable. It's now going to cost me over $100 to get a new capliper and pads (LBS being very nice too me). What i wanna know is, should this be covered under warranty? LBS thinks not.

Cheers.

Grant.

I would call Hayes if I were you. Also, I don't understand why the caliper is not rebuildable. All the parts are available.

 

[waldog]

I would call Hayes if I were you. Also, I don't understand why the caliper is not rebuildable. All the parts are available.

Thanks MikeDee, I actually just got off the phone to them, they said that they would be happy to take a look at them, but that it most likely will not be a warranty covered item. Looks like i will just have to get it fixed myself.

 

[XSL_WiLL]

Just got back from the LBS and the news isn't good, the seals in the caliper have perished allowing the free flow of fluid out of the caliper and in turn has contaminated my pads and the seals arent serviceable. It's now going to cost me over $100 to get a new capliper and pads (LBS being very nice too me). What i wanna know is, should this be covered under warranty? LBS thinks not.

Cheers.

Grant.

I doubt it'll be covered by warranty. But those calipers are fully rebuildable.

 

[blue_neon]

Sorry to here Waldog though . I can't wait for the day untill i chuck the Nines on my XtC3! Still, a positive, there are many replacment parts easily accessable for the Hayes brakes!

 

[CrankyMonkey]

I'm having some humming and squeaking in my disks on my 2 week old bike (with Hayes HFX-9). I was told it's probably the rotor out of tune, I took a look at the rotor and they are warped a bit. I also had to tighten the rotor bolts a day or two after I got the bike which probably warped the rotor. I also read in MBA that if your Hayes brakes don't come with the gold backed pads with the holes you should replace them immediately. Something about the heat dissipation. Not that any of this will fix your problems (hopefully it will help someone else in the future).

I would check out the Avid Juicy 7s, I think you can pick up a full set (front and rear) for around $300 from PricePoint.com. I'm not sure how comfortable you are doing your own work. I looked at the install instructions and they seem pretty doable as a weekend project. It would also give you some familiarity with the system so you can maintain it yourself without having to rely on the LBS. So once thing start to go downhill (no pun intended) you might catch it early.

 

[Psycho Mike]

Interesting...Jet-Mech is so correct: for every horror story there is a positive story too... Myself, after some initial set-up work, my Nines have been performing flawlessly.

In my case, I'm 6', 235lb and am running the HFX-9's on my FS bike. When I first got the bike, I had some warble and pulsing pretty much right from the factory. At first I thought it was just because things weren't "broken in" yet. Well, it persisted after what I thought was a pretty reasonable break in period.

Not being one to let something like that hold me up, I pulled and lightly sanded the pads (yes, the gold backed ones) with some emery cloth, did the same to the rotors while still on the bike (all in a figure 8 pattern) then aligned everything when re-assembling.

I haven't had a peep out of them since and they pull my fat butt to a stop in no time at all. Personally, I think that part of the problem is the speed at which things are assembled....sometime a little more attention to detail is all that is required to make the difference between "sucks" and "rules."

 

[skwiz05]

Sorry to here that a set of 9s isnt keeping someone happy......

I run 9s and Mags on all of my 5 bikes. No problems other than the normal wear and tear (master cyl piston seals worn after two years heavy use) etc.

As to an earlier comment......that mags acually modulate compared to 9s.....well I have this to say: 9s and Mags use IDENTICAL master cylinder pistons, and both use G2 calipers, therefore both displace the same amount of fluid, therefore both work with the same power/modulation.
The only differences are that 9s master cyl sleeve is actually bored in the handle, and Mags have a removeable master cyl sleeve. Leverage ratios for 9s and Mags are also the same.

The one bad point about 9s I find is the reservoir plug, not being very secure, so if you do a bad bleed, then pump them, or leave them in a "hot shed" the plugs can pop out and lose your fluid...

Generally both my 9s and Mags have served me well....

 

[waldog]

New caliper and pads.

Well i got the pride and joy back today with a new caliper and pads. Haven't had a chance to give the brakes a good belting to wear them in yet, hopefully that will happen tomorrow.

I hope that my $120 proves to be money well spent.

 

[AC/BC]

I've had my Hayes HFX 9 XC's for 3.5 years and the only thing ive replaced are the pads (once). I love them.