jtown

My buddy just picked up a used Bianchi Giro and I'm helping him tune it up as much as possible. One of the front brake pads seems to be way off and I can't figure out how to adjust this. I looked on Park tools, but didn't see anything related to this type of adjustment. Any help?

Here's a pic of what I'm talking about.

jtown

NM got this fixed.

godspiral

How did you fix? -- have same problem. How do you toe in brake pads that are off by so much?

NoRacer

The washer that is between the brake arm and the pad holder is rotated to get the pad to be "toe-in". Rotating the washer varies the degree of "toe-in".

ridelugs

there is a park tool made for bending road caliper brake arms.
here it is. https://www.parktool.com/products/det...t=14&item=BT-3

NoRacer

That tool is likely to cause a weakness in the brake arm, especially if you don't know how much stress you can place on the alloy arm.

Here's what Shimano has for the 105 brake caliper that the OP shows:

godspiral

I don't have the special washer. And the brake arms are alloy, so I'm concerned with snapping. I did take a large screw driver and torque it into the right spot, but it just went back to its original point.

I think I will try to bend a washer.

ridelugs

its very hard to break something smooth and cold forged unless you cut it or score it gouge it or force it too quickly. for instance: mafac and spooky brakes are adjusted with a crescent wrench for toe in. i ride both, no problems and the mafacs are 30 years old. on my whitcomb i ride diacompe brakes from a while back and have toed them in with the tool, and they have lasted years, with many long decents to thier credit. not all brakes have built in washers. in fact most caliper brakes do not. at least 80 percent...

jtown

It isn't the washer that makes this possible. It's actually the brake pads themselves. Loosen one up and you can easily play with the toe in and out of the bad because of the way the brake pad is shaped. I guess technically it's both the washer and brake pad pair that make this possible. Bend your brakes? Are you crazy?

swifty

The easiest way to align your brakepads:

- Loosen brakepad bolt.
- Apply brakes so the brake pad presses slightly against the rim.
- align brake pad with rim
- Apply brakes more firmly
- Tighten brake pad bolt.

Done.

This will get you an alignment without toe-in, but as the brakepad surface is prefectly parallel to the rim, performance is optimal. I don't buy the advantage of toed-in brake pads by the way, as toe-in is very short-lived anyway, as the brake pad will wear down to the point whre the surface is parallel to the rim surface very quickly. Noise has never been an issue with the above method of brake pad alignment.

lrzipris

I'm a computer naif, jtown: I'd like to know how you created that red oval on the photo. That impressed me!