acaurora

I don't know if this is a "take the bike to your LBS" kind of question, but here goes anyway:

As I have been breaking in my new bike by riding it nearly every day, I have started to notice a kind of strange sound coming from the front wheel area when I am braking(no pun intended). I am sure that it is the sound of the brakes rubbing on the metal rim as it should be; however the noise is louder than the noise coming from my rear brakes. And what's stranger is that the noise seems to come not from the brake, but rather the whole wheel/fork. It is very hard to isolate where the noise is coming from. If it helps any, here are pictures of my front brake from both sides. I am noticing though, now that I'm looking at these pictures taken from my camera at the same height, that the brakes are not at the same height, one is higher than the other... do I need to get the right (as in, if I'm sitting on the bike facing forward, my right hand side) brake lowered, as it appears that it is making only half contact?

BarracksSi

What does it sound like?

(if this were that Car Talk radio show, I'd have you making weird vocal noises.. lol)

As far as whether they need to be level with each other -- sure, why not. The important thing is that both pads don't touch any part of the tire and don't extend past the bottom of the machined brake track.

acaurora

mmm I am at work right now, but when I get home I'll see if I can somehow record the noise with my phone, haha. (I honestly don't remember what it sounds like now)

BarracksSi

Oh, just describe it -- is it scraping, or going "eeeeeeeee", or humming, etc?

acaurora

Mmmm I would have to say that it sounds more like a scraping... as if the brake pad is rubbing on something that it's not supposed to be. I know that the front brakes are still making contact with the wheel as I can feel the braking when I am riding it. The harder I press on the brake lever the louder it gets, and I think that it does get louder the longer that I am braking as well.

BarracksSi

Double check that they're not rubbing the tire (they don't look like it to me, but it never hurts to be sure).

Then check the braking surface of the pads and make sure that there's nothing embedded in them. You'll need to take the wheel off to get a good look. If there's a small rock or a piece of metal, dig it out of there.

One more thing -- are those Tektro brakes with their stock pads? I'd recommend getting rid of those pieces of crap the first chance you get and put on at least some Kool Stops. My Tektro pads started making heinous noises and getting squishy under repeated hard braking, and they even started harvesting little pieces of aluminum from the wheel. I haven't had those problems with either black or salmon/rust-colored Kool Stops.

acaurora

kk, will do that when I get home today...

As to the brake models, they are the stock brakes, listed on Specialized's website as "
Ultralight dual pivot brakes, Teflon pivots, forged alloy w/ cartridge pads", so I do not know if they are the Tektros that you speak of. But regardless I'll check them out when I get home.

Judging from your responses I think that maybe it's crap stuck in the brake pad... as the rear brakes don't make this noise and they are the same... but anyways I"ll figure it out when I get home and report back. Thanks again

BarracksSi

Odds are they're Tektro, because they seem to populate lots of OEM builds even as unbranded brakes. If you get new pads, get some that are Shimano-compatible -- Tektro uses the same dimensions in their pad holders.

The reason why the front is making more noise is because it has to dissipate more energy. Doing that means it takes more of a beating than the rear brake.

RideCO

I had a similar sound (scraping) from my brakes when I first got this bike, the sound got so annoying I replaced the pads with dura ace pads that were like $10 at the lbs, and they have been quiet as a church mouse since. A bit different brakes than you have but pads are cheap and might be the fix.

Ygduf

Loosed the brake pads, squeeze brakes, adjust pads so they are in a good contact position and re-tighten.

Check that the wheel is true and wipe down the rim/pad surface to clean off any grit/sand/whatever.


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acaurora

Hey everyone,

So I flipped my bike over, took the front wheel off, and took a look at the pads. It would appear that yes, the brake pad that was higher up wasn't making full contact with the machined brake track, as it was showing wear for only about half of the pad, whereas the other side's pad was having wear on the entire surface. Just means I need to readjust that pad. Now... if only I could find a wrench... haha

BarracksSi

I'll bet that realigning the pad won't eliminate the noise you're describing..

acaurora

What makes you say that? o.O ? There's nothing stuck in the pad, or at least that I can see o.O

BarracksSi

Having used and abused that same kind of pad myself -- you can trust me on this.

Now fix it and go ride some more. You'll see (hear) what I mean.

acaurora

Hmmm so I guess I'll be visiting the LBS tomorrow /sigh... >_>

BarracksSi

Just to buy some Allen wrenches, I hope, and maybe for some adjustment tips. It's never too early to start tweaking your bikes yourself.

acaurora

Well I meant that I needed to go to the LBS to find some of these other brake pads you speak of o.O... but I'll try the Allen wrenches first. And while I'm there maybe I can find a good deal on some shoes/pedals... am eager to ditch the stupid straps that comes stock on the bike.

acaurora

Well it's 2 months later, and the scraping is still there. Funny, everyone else in my cycling group that I go with, their bikes never make this kind of scraping noise. I've checked my brake pads and they look fine, and tried cleaning the brake track on the rims. Should I try getting different brake pads? I mean, they work just fine, it's just that, well, the scraping noise is kind of annoying, and it turns into a ringing when I am at very low speeds (i.e., 3 seconds from stopping by braking).

BarracksSi

I just noticed that I didn't say anything before about cleaning the brake track on the wheels.

When I switched away from stock Tektro pads, I also went over the track with a copper cleaning pad and water. The idea was to scrape off any old pad gunk and, hopefully, remove any snags of metal.

Whether it helped or not, I can't say for sure because I changed pads at the same time. Might as well try it, though.

acaurora

A copper cleaning pad eh? /scared

Mmm I guess I will go to the LBS Monday then and try some new pads :O hopefully they will have some Kool Stops...

BarracksSi

Worked fine. Just use the tip of your finger so that you don't dig up the tire or scrape the paint/anodization off the rest of the rim.