Rear Brake pads and fluid

[tydubs@gmail.co]

Well... I noticed the other day that my rear brake was feeling crunchy and I went and looked and found that my rear pads were completely worn down at only 6500 miles? Wtf

 

 

So I change the brakes, here are new vs old:

 

 

 

 

Easy swap, everything goes as expected, but then it gets worse when I go to check the brake fluid and bleed/top off/etc and find this:

 

What the hell. How could brake fluid be this bad on such a new bike with so few miles? What should I do?

[williestreet]

Was the pic of the brown brake fluid taken before the pad swap or after new pads installed?  If this was taken before the pad swap I will give my opinion on your issue.

 

As your pads wear the level in the reservoir will drop.

The fact that your pads are gone and your fluid level in the reservoir is still very high I would suspect you had the normal too much fluid in the reservoir when new.

 

Many bikes came with a overfilled reservoir when new.  Heat causes the fluid to expand and therefore pushes the pads on the rotor which in turn causes more heat and even more expansion, and again more and more wear.

Many people noticed this and were smart and took a bit out of the reservoir to prevent this issue.  My bike and my friends T7 both had a overfilled reservoirs when new.

 

With worn out pads you should have a very low level in the reservoir. 

Make sure when you are finished to set the reservoir no more than half way.  There is no need to have a full reservoir, a full reservoir allows no room for expansion and can cause increased pad and rotor wear. 

 

 

 

 

[KidX]

Check this video out, might be helpful: 

 

 

[tydubs@gmail.co]

Well shoot, you know that could be it. I'll check it out right now, thank you!

 

Edit : nope nothing to do with this

Edited October 28, 2021 by tydubs@gmail.co

[Hibobb]

Some guys with big feet unintentionally "ride" the rear brake a bit....

[tydubs@gmail.co]

That I don't do, I ride on my toes 90% of the time

[tydubs@gmail.co]

6 minutes ago, williestreet said:

Was the pic of the brown brake fluid taken before the pad swap or after new pads installed?  If this was taken before the pad swap I will give my opinion on your issue.

 

As your pads wear the level in the reservoir will drop.

The fact that your pads are gone and your fluid level in the reservoir is still very high I would suspect you had the normal too much fluid in the reservoir when new.

 

Many bikes came with a overfilled reservoir when new.  Heat causes the fluid to expand and therefore pushes the pads on the rotor which in turn causes more heat and even more expansion, and again more and more wear.

Many people noticed this and were smart and took a bit out of the reservoir to prevent this issue.  My bike and my friends T7 both had a overfilled reservoirs when new.

 

With worn out pads you should have a very low level in the reservoir. 

Make sure when you are finished to set the reservoir no more than half way.  There is no need to have a full reservoir, a full reservoir allows no room for expansion and can cause increased pad and rotor wear. 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, I just finished up bleeding the res, everything is good now. I came to the same conclusion. And yeah filled it to the proper level lol.