Help Im A Noob

so i was messing around trying to do some lurches and stuff yesterday and then i remembered a trick when the person on the mt bike stoped with thier front brakes when going pretty fast then they had just the right amount of balance to not go over thier handlebars and they whiped thier rear tire around to the front. i was gonna try this a few times it really didnt seem that though, although it would be hard to get a full 180. but my disk brake in the front was really weak for some reason and it took about a foot befor they stoped.
so i took it all apart and looked for something to clean the pads with and my mom said that this other spray stuff we had would work just as good as rubbing alocohol so i used that on the pads and i also whiped the disk with it too. now they sqeak like crazzzzzzzzzzzzy loud and they bearly even stop! how can i fix this without buying new pads or disk!?!

LowCel 

Get some alchohol and try to clean whatever it is off. If that doesn't work you can try some brake cleaner from an auto parts store, just don't get it on anything besides your pads and rotor.

francismacomber

Soak your disks in acetone... you can actually see the contaminants coming out of them. Wear gloves and do it outside, though, the stuff is nasty! Make sure your rotor is clean before you reassemble. Once it's back together, get them good and hot to break them back in. Like new (hopefully).

valbowski1980

Denatured alcohol is the way to go for cleaning your disks. Also, soap and water work well.

The pads though..... maybe take a lighter to them to burn off the alcohol. If that doesn't work, take some sand paper (fine) to the surfaces.

Jason222

I've used both the spray disc brake cleaners and rubbing alcohol, and in my experience, rubbing alcohol works MUCH better. Take the rotor off and soak it in rubbing alcohol and do the same with the pads.

Drunken Chicken

Burn the alcohol off? Are we looking to burn it off in an oven or can a lighter be used (I was under the impression that alcohol was really flammable).

Help Im A Noob

sandpaper is safe?


-for the pads that is

blue_neon

Yes, all it does is eventually take off layers.

nickbubblehead

Thanks for the this thread. My rear Avid Elixir disk was squeeking at low speeds. Purchase a universal solvent from the home depot wanabe store here in Morocco. Not sure what the stuff was actually called but it worked great. No noise at all from the rotors.

pablosnazzy

what was "this other spray stuff" you mentioned? depending on what it was, like, if it was something along the lines of bike Lust" it will ruin and destroy your brake pads. you really shouldn't just be spraying things willy nilly on your brakes and rotors and such.