Brakes Rubbing on Disc - cannot adjust

[CCebiker]

So I'm hoping someone here can help as I've had no reply from Wisper via email after my first email.

When my bike arrived my husband checked it over because he knows more about bikes than me. He saw that the front brake pads are rubbing on the disc slightly. He tried to adjust it but when he did, he found that all these screws/nuts are unable to be tightened or loosened. One in particular is clearly stuck in with the thread at an angle.

I emailed support saying that this was totally stuck, won't budge to loosen or tighten. They told me to tighten it up and to try the two screws below to adjust the brakes.

"I have just seen your photo of the calliper, the bolt you have started to undo needs to be tightened up again as that is the bleed screw that keeps the brake fluid hose in place, to adjust the breaks undo the two 5mm bolts that hold the calliper in place until you can move it, then move the calliper until there is no rub, then tighten again."

I replied to say that I hadn't loosened anything, that all these are totally stuck. I sent additional photos. I haven't had a reply in 5 days now. This was at the same time as I was asking about the insurance terms and how to lock my bike suitably.

Can anyone advise on what to do? I don't want to wear my brake pads down faster by having them rub (slightly) like this, but I'm also concerned that any future adjustments will be impossible due to these being immovable. My husband is not a weak guy either!


These two cannot be moved, and I think these are the two the guy in the email was referring to.


This is totally stuck and at an angle. It was like this when I got it and I sent this image to customer support.

 

[Woosh]

Don't touch those you circle in red. They are for the hydraulics. The two M6 screws you need are above and below those you circle and that you see sideways.
sometimes it's difficult to adjust the brakes against rubbing when the pads are new, especially on front wheel with fixed fork. The pads will space out a little and clear the rubbing by themselves in a few days.

 

[matthewslack]

Careful! These are brakes you are fiddling with!

Do not even attempt to mess with the bolts in your red rings. Look closely and you will see that they clamp the two caliper halves together. They never need touching once the brake has left the factory.

The 'misaligned' thread is the brake pipe union, and if there was a problem there, you ought to have a fluid leak and no brake. I think that angle is almost certainly just 'as built' and indicates a budget hydraulic caliper. Again, unless there is a leak, don't touch it.

The bolts you use to adjust alignment of pads to disc are the one directly above the top red ring, and the one right at the bottom of the caliper in the same orientation. If you remove pads to give visibility, remembering not to squeeze the lever with pads out, you can visually set caliper parallel to disc and centre it on the disc. Then pads back in and should be fine.

 

[CCebiker]

Thank you both for the information this was super helpful. I'll leave them for now if there's a chance they'll sort themselves out in time otherwise I'll take it to someone to sort cause it gives me the fear.

 

[matthewslack]

Thank you both for the information this was super helpful. I'll leave them for now if there's a chance they'll sort themselves out in time otherwise I'll take it to someone to sort cause it gives me the fear.

Once you've understood the mounting arrangement it is nothing to be fearful of. Just slightly slacken the correct! two bolts so that the caliper can slide left and right, and gently nip them up in stages, to hold it in the right position. It'll try to move as you tighten, but you soon work out how much to nip it up, readjust, nip it a bit more, check, final tighten.

Having it right means no rubbing and less or no noise. Worth it.

 

[AGS]

I always pull on the brake lever when tightening the two correct screws. This centres the caliper around the disc so the pads won’t rub.

 

[Woosh]

Often, the brakes are set properly at the factory but later, the wheel is removed for packing. When the customer puts the front wheel back onto the fork, they may have not centered the wheel properly before tightening the quick release skewer.
The fix is simple on a bike with hydraulic brakes like this. Loosen the skewer, squeeze the front brakes to centre the pads and hold the brakes squeezed while a friend tightens the skewer while the brakes are still squeezed.

 

[saneagle]

Lets put that all into a simple instruction:

1. Check that the axle is in the drop-outs correctly before tightening the quick release. In your photo, it looks ok on the brake side, so just check the other side.
2. Loosen the two screws that hold the caliper to the adapter bracket. they're the ones above and below the ones your ringed in red.
3. Hold the brake on tight to lock the wheel.
4. While keeping the brake on tight, tighten the two screws.

That's it - should take no longer than two minutes.

 

[Wisper Bikes]

So I'm hoping someone here can help as I've had no reply from Wisper via email after my first email.

When my bike arrived my husband checked it over because he knows more about bikes than me. He saw that the front brake pads are rubbing on the disc slightly. He tried to adjust it but when he did, he found that all these screws/nuts are unable to be tightened or loosened. One in particular is clearly stuck in with the thread at an angle.

I emailed support saying that this was totally stuck, won't budge to loosen or tighten. They told me to tighten it up and to try the two screws below to adjust the brakes.

"I have just seen your photo of the calliper, the bolt you have started to undo needs to be tightened up again as that is the bleed screw that keeps the brake fluid hose in place, to adjust the breaks undo the two 5mm bolts that hold the calliper in place until you can move it, then move the calliper until there is no rub, then tighten again."

I replied to say that I hadn't loosened anything, that all these are totally stuck. I sent additional photos. I haven't had a reply in 5 days now. This was at the same time as I was asking about the insurance terms and how to lock my bike suitably.

Can anyone advise on what to do? I don't want to wear my brake pads down faster by having them rub (slightly) like this, but I'm also concerned that any future adjustments will be impossible due to these being immovable. My husband is not a weak guy either!

View attachment 56323
These two cannot be moved, and I think these are the two the guy in the email was referring to.

View attachment 56324
This is totally stuck and at an angle. It was like this when I got it and I sent this image to customer support.

Sorry to read you’ve not had a response from Support. They’ve been flat out preparing for the caravan show next week.

Please email me. I’ll sort this out for you.

david@wisperbikes.com

All the best, David

 

[AndyBike]

You Tube is your friend here.

Telling is one thing, but actually watching the process is quite another, and you can rewind and go back as many times as you want till you fully understand the process, and its quite easy really, just a matter of doing it a couple of times so the mystery of hydraulics becomes more familiar.

For initial alignment. the way of holding the brake on and doing up the bolts isnt really the best way. It can roughly align, but in truth what you find is one piston might move more freely than the other and rather than being totally centered, its probably more one side than the other.
The other problem that way causes, is the caliper itself can twist as you try to tighten the bolts. Holding the lever tight isnt going to prevent that from happening.
You can minimize it slightly by doing up each very slightly. one to the other, back and forth and so on, but even then the final nip can still twist the caliper body

I initially center my caliper using playing cards. Although you can buy a little tool for doing that(like a feeler gauge) playing cards work just as wel as they are the same thickness.
So say you put 3 on each side. and the last card goes in tight, or 4 or however many, this means the caliper body is totally central, and you arent relying on the pistons to work exactly the same.

Should say though my brakes are the high end type, so the pistons move equally, although like the vid i do have to tune them very slightly when i remove the pads to clean and lube the pistons.
On lower end systems you cant really rely on them so work perfectly, so best i think to centralize the system using mechanical means- an alignment tool or in the case of this frugal Scotsman, a pack of cards.

Wee tool thingy - there are different makes, but cost no more than a tenner and are i believe handy to have to save a bit of faff.

Birzman Clam 3pc Set | Birzman Bike Tools | Biketart

Slides onto the rotor between disc brake pads for adjustment and alignment purposes. Specification Material: Stainless steel. Size: 58mm.

www.biketart.com