Originally Posted by 4evrplan

They just stay clamped and feel and sound kind of gritty when I work them by hand. Because of this, the cable was loose enough that it fell off of the little braze-on cable guide holder thingy. Is the most likely culprit dirt in the springs and on the posts or in the cable guides? I figure it should be easy to take the brakes off and clean them, but how do you clean dirt out of cables guides? WD-40, or would that damage them? What do I lube them with after cleaning? I've got some of that spray on chain lube stuff, would that work? Anyway, if cleaning the brake fixes it, I probably won't mess with the cable.