SRAM Rubbing/Rotor Alignment Woes

[proletariandan]

Update: was able to get it aligned by tightening the bolts down so there was just a little play and then eyeballing it as suggested below, thanks!

So this is a new one - I've been dealing with hydraulic brakes for years now and haven't run into this. Maybe I was just tired and doing something wrong but spent 2 hours banging my head on what should have been an easy rotor replacement.

This is on my Crux with AXS Rival. It was riding fine except for a bent rear rotor I decided to replace because I couldn't get it straight.

When I put the new rotor in (also a 1.8mm), it would not align properly (you know, loosen the caliper bolts, spin wheel, hold brake, tighten bolts back down).

Just to be safe, I cleaned, reset, and relubed the pistons (even though I just did that a month or two ago). Still would not align properly.

I used a rotor spacer (below), which I've used in the past when having trouble aligning calipers. Still no dice.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It actually seems like maybe the pads (which I did not replace and are maybe 1/2 way through their life) are just too close to the rotor now but still nowhere close to evenly spaced between the pads. The old rotor was still at 1.7mm or so. Would the extra .1mm mean that I need to rebleed the system?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks!
Dan

[Dude]

I don't know how bad it's rubbing, if it's pretty close but not perfect you can try riding it down a hill while applying the brakes to help seat everything?

Also the usual culprits, make sure there's no grit/dirt between bolts/washers to keep everything in line.

is there an adjustment at the lever you can make to narrow/widen pad spacing.

[benb]

It's tough but in some cases I've not done the "hold brake and tighten caliper" thing when it's not working.

Sometimes you just want to very carefully eyeball the clearances with the brake not activated and then very carefully tighten down the caliper to get the most even alignment.

My son's bike is an absolute mess on the rear brake with this with SRAM MTB brakes. It has a QR and the brakes pulling on the axle can be an issue and on top of that one of the caliper bolts is very hard to get tight enough because the frame + spokes interfere with getting a good tool in.

I wouldn't expect you would need to rebleed over the rotor thickness... the rotor is not in place for the bleed anyway, although I often cheat and do another lever bleed with the wheel in at the end, that seems to get me the best clearance between the pads/rotor + smallest dead zone at the lever.

[Jdm]

I also have a Crux with Rival.

Can you spin the wheel and manually move the caliper around to get no rubbing sound?

[herb5998]

Do you know when you last bled the system? I'd say start there, especially if your piston/pad distance is too close following a rotor replacement.