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#1
08-01-2022, 08:14 PM
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What’s your routine for aligning disc brake calipers?
You know the drill. You’ve swapped wheels or changed out some brake pads, you spin your wheel with the bike on the stand and it sounds worse than the 6 train pulling into Astor Place.
The old “loosen the caliper bolts, hold the brake lever down, tighten the bolts” only works about 20% of the time in my experience. Everything else is fiddling and blind luck. Anyone else got a sure fire recipe? Last edited by EB; 08-01-2022 at 08:17 PM. 
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#3
08-01-2022, 08:24 PM
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First I do the loosen caliper, squeeze lever, tighten caliper. Then I see which side it's rubbing on, insert a feeler gauge between the pad and rotor on that side, and repeat the loosen-squeeze-tighten procedure. If it still rubs, adjust the width of the feelers gauge I use and try again.
__________________
Instagram - DannAdore Bicycles
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#4
08-01-2022, 08:24 PM
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Dumb question, first disk bike DT240 hubs, force brakes. Thinking second set of wheels. If I want sure fire switch, should I get same to have good chance of centered brakes, don't want to spend lot of time reworking calipers.
thx
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#5
08-01-2022, 08:30 PM
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Quote:
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#6
08-01-2022, 08:47 PM
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#7
08-01-2022, 09:03 PM
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I do my best VISUAL caliper alignment over a sun-lit sidewalk, looking through the gaps with light shining through to indicate clearance, or lack of clearance.
Those visible gaps can be tapered, indicating that the pads are tilted relative to the disk. And another vital step is to study the way that the rotor twists/flexes when the brake is applied, in what direction, ...and if it's moving laterally in front of or behind the caliper!!! Making minor corrections to the caliper's position and tilt can be tricky. I often loosen one bolt slightly, keeping it tight enough to just hold position while the other bolt is slackened fully, then forcing/moving the loose end of the caliper and perhaps holding it with a finger push while the bolt is then re-tightened. Often/usually it's the hose which causes "positioning bias" as the bolts are tightened after applying the brake, in which case one needs to hold some balancing force against one of the mounting tabs as the bolt is tightened. Get it right and notice how the disc does not move/flex/twist at all as the brake is applied. I don't use alignment shims because it seems like the side force of the hose can be enough to flex the rotor slightly, so the gaps can still end up uneven. And I always set up rim brakes the same way, with no wheel flex movement, for best braking, even though there may end up being a bigger gap on one side of the rim than the other (unless wheel flex is perhaps causing pad rub while sprinting or "honking" out of the saddle). Last edited by dddd; 08-01-2022 at 09:08 PM.
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#8
08-01-2022, 09:10 PM
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It's always more of a pain to do it with QR hubs, but you can use a rotor spacer shim or a business car clamped around the rotor in a pinch. There's a lot more slop with QR hubs every time you remove and replace the wheel.
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#9
08-01-2022, 09:38 PM
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I start with the squeeze and tighten and then adjust a touch from there if it rubs more on one side or the other for hydros. My Klampers just get the squeeze tighten and then micro adjusted.
Sent from my SM-S127DL using Tapatalk
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#10
08-01-2022, 10:03 PM
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Quote:
For me the loosen rotor, squeeze brake & tighten works 30% of the time. I will often use a chunk of business card on the side they rub on and do the same procedure, this normally works. I ordered one of those disc alignment gizmos and it doesn't really help.. I hand straighten/bend whacky rotors. I'd like to order some shims and see if they work with 2 wheel sets
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#11
08-01-2022, 10:15 PM
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Sell the bike and buy a rim brake bike.
 Only half joking; this is a part of a plan for me to end up with fewer bikes. Until then I regularly do all the things mentioned and sometimes one addition - sometimes I center the rotor by sight and sound and then, rather than hold by squeezing the bikes I physically hold it in place with one hand while alternately tightening the bolts as it seems the caliper or the adapter plate is sometimes apt to shift just enough to screw things up when using the squeezed brake approach.
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#12
08-01-2022, 10:20 PM
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Maybe I'm lucky, but across three wheelsets on my gravel bike with Boyd, DTSwiss and Roval hubs, I never have to make a caliper adjustment. I do have to dial out the shifting 3/4 turn to use the DtSwiss wheels.
As for the loosen-clamp the brake-tighten the bolts sequence, it usually works for me. If not, my first look is at rotor trueness, the sunlight sidewalk or phone as a background helps a lot. Last edited by Jaybee; 08-01-2022 at 10:24 PM.
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#15
08-02-2022, 12:23 AM
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I like the little disc brake gap tools for this job. Just loosen the caliper bolts so the caliper body can wiggle, slide the gap tool in, squeeze the lever a few times, and while holding the lever down, re-tighten the bolts, and then slide the tool out. It just puts a business-card-width shim on either side of the rotor, so there's that much wiggle room left after you tighten everything back up.
Works about 95% of the time, and if it doesn't I'll use a bright surface or a white sheet of paper on the floor to visually align the caliper. If I still get ticking or pinging rotors after all that, I'll pop the pads out and use some brake cleaner to get the pads retracting properly again.
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