Levo Gen 2 Squeeky brakes - Levo

[Lee Lee]

New levo owner here. My disc brakes are really noisy. Yesterday, prior to a 20 mile ride, I cleaned the discs with some rubbing alcohol. It worked for about half the ride but then they started squeeking again on a particularly long descent. Any advice? I really prefer to be stealth.

 

[Tim1023]

I'm going with the assumption that the pads and discs are aligned properly.

Were your pads a nice golden / metallic colour when you put them in? Take your brake pads out and have a look at them now. Are they black and dusty again? If so, the source of the oil/grease is still there. Maybe absorbed into the pads themselves or on the discs (contaminated pads).

It might be that you need to clean them more thoroughly (sandpaper, alcohol) and maybe even try to decontaminate using a blow torch. Search on these forums, there's been various posts about this topic. Also clean your discs.

You could go a step further and sand & clean the discs too, then bed the brakes in. Again various posts available.

If that fails, try new pads (with freshly cleaned discs). If that fixes it, then your pads were still contaminated and you need to work out the source of contamination to stop it coming back again. Pads aren't too expensive and you should always have spares anyway.

I had a similar problem recently and I think the issue was down to me carelessly spraying water on the drive train, which was transferring muck onto the disc. It's been better for a few rides now.

 

[Lee Lee]

Thanks so much. I'll try your suggestions. Went for another long ride today and the brakes were much quieter. Cleaning the discs with alcohol seems to be helping a lot.