How to Clean Mountain Bike Brakes - Cheap Brake Maintenance Hacks 

Old video but here's a great pro tip - Get a box of dollar store shower caps. they slip right over them. Great for helping keep contaminants off.

Good info. Don't forget to clean your master cylinder and pistons so you don't end up with leaks too.

i've saved oily pads with alcohol and lighter . resurfaced pads and rotors with dremel attachments . being that the oily chain /cassette is like 3 inches away its out-of-touch to think people can afford to replace them if they get oily . And i get it that shops aren't in the business of being performance frugal .

Good detail and nice takeaways- Appreciate the effort - subscribed 👍🏽

Great stuff - so helpful!

Super informative - Great Video!

Great videos

Brake Clean in a can... its specifically designed to.... Clean Brakes!. I have used it on my motorcross bikes from the 90's on, and MTB's for the last 20+ years... In fact as I only really started proper downhill in 2020 (retired from trail riding on the ol YZ) and got a 2nd hand Giant Faith with oil soaked pads (You can hear them in my 1st 3 videos) After those test rides, I got a new shock and just cleaned the pads... Alternating between Brake clean and soaking/shaking in a small jar of Meths... finished with brake clean (wiping & soaking away debris with paper towels throughout). Two and a half years later... same 2nd hand pads (ok so I did replace the rotor with a 2nd hand one from the local tip shop where I got a complete wheel for $5 to do a mullet experiment). Ok also I can barely ride black trails.. but that does mean I'm on the brakes a LOT... no noise... 1 finger braking. (in fact changed to 1 finger for 1st time ever on 1st ride after the clean, never went back) These are heat sync pads (Shimano BRM785) and I'm as cheap as I am Mediocre so I wanted to save them if I could... YES! (Resurfacing... I use sandpaper and running water... The water will do nothing to the pad but washes the dust away... I glue the sand paper to a bit of wood.. but better is a bit of glass (watch those edges) if you want a precision flat surface. (You can use self adhesive sandpaper available at most hardware stores for disk sanders... some even have vent holes but I the prefer water method which also washes the pad so you can see instantly if the surface is good... Again this came from doing pads on things like my YZ250 and with a big enough sheet of sandpaper and an old window I could also sand down the rotors a little (you can make high spots on an MTB rotor doing this as pressing in one point on a thin disk will sand just the point below... a motorbike disk is about 3mm thick so no where near the flex when sanding them...) Very little video of my MX bikes but some pix of the old IT200 trailbike circa 92 on my 1m drop video (very end). Wish I could jump an MTB like I used to jump trailbikes... but then again a smashed wrist put me off doubles on the YZ... sigh.

Great video guys! It is very timely as I was working on my rotors last night. Will definitely revisit my rotors again and use some of the tips yall gave.

Good informative video...I use 3M 400 grit wet sand paper ..on the rotor have great results...to bed in new pads.....

If brakes start squealing again after a short while with new pads and clean rotors then you may have leaking pistons. It can be hard to spot as even a tiny leak creeps around the dust to contaminate the pad. Not cleaning your pistons before pushing them in to change pads can cause this.

I'd love to know the difference between trp and Tektro in brakes and if things like the Tektro Orion's are any good

What about non chlorinated brake cleaner spray?

My TRP DHR-Evo metallic pads run sooo quiet!! Couldn’t be happier with them 😁

It’s the brake pad material that gets embedded onto the rotor during the embedding process that makes the pads grip. Removing that with alcohol requires you to bed the brakes in all over again. Sand your pads all you want, but Leave the rotors alone, unless they become loose Beverly discolored due to uneven bedding in of pad material.

Organic Sintered-Semi Kevlar Ceramic Metallic

Can anybody compare trp to shimano saints ?

What grade steel wool did you use? Could you give a closer up look at dirty vs cleaned pads?

Is it worth having resin pads in the front and metal in the back. To get the best of both worlds.

So how do I get the pistons in my calipers moving freely again?

Question here, can i use trp rotors on shimano calipers? Nearly reaching the limit on my current rotors and 2.3 is a tons instead of shimano 1.8s, Thanks

Some steel wool comes packed in an oily rust inhibitor

Where is the bed-in video you were linking "down below"???

If the brake rotors get wd-40 on them do you have to replace them?

Doesn’t steel wool have oil on it? Seems counterintuitive to “clean” rotors with that stuff.

How about using an ultrasonic cleaning bath?

Do you need to bed brakes in after every time you use IPA to clean the rotors? Wondering if TRP said anything about IPA removing the brake pad material that was transferred to the rotors and therefore losing friction.

I have had nothing but trouble with trp brakes. Also, customer service absolutely blows.

Is car brake cleaner No good?

Why did TRP say people were using WD40 on their brakes?

You can get rid of oil on rotors and pads. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Don't use your oven find a crappy toaster oven and use that instead.

I use harpic🤣🤣

Disk break r to much maintenence, bring back regularly pads on the actual wheel. First time I've had disk break and all I get is breaking issues. Even when buying new pads. Old school pads on the actually wheel lasted me years no problems.

I did everything and my breaks don't work.

My first suggestion.... address your audience, guys/ or gals/girls. As a shop owner myself, if I were to say that in my shop, I would have customers that do not return. Thanks for sharing!

Isopropyl alcohol is nice, but doesn't come close to a proper automotive brake cleaner. Of course it's a harsher chemical and you should wear gloves and not spray it on your bike.

After watching for just a few minutes and seeing trails and the environment destroyed because you think speed is necessary part of off-roading....I turned you off. Respectful riding in wilderness, forests and deserts should be a core belief of all riders. I control my descent speed with no skidding or dragging tires. Proper use of front and rear brakes makes this a reality. I use simple inexpensive Tektro mechanicals, to do the brake work. And they work. What is "powerful" brakes. My cheap brakes have the power to lock my wheels on the most adhesive surface...pavement. More power does nothing. Braking is therefore limited to the traction between the tires and surface. You don't need expensive brakes for this, and there is no such thing as "powerful brakes", only powerful traction.

Just had to use an ebike huh. Couldn’t help yourselves. SMH.