[omucudisku]

Hello guys !

I'm getting ready for a DH race and I have some problems with the bike.

I sent the bike with a carrier in the country where the race will be, but I removed the brake pads from the front wheel to buy new ones ( I needed as a model ) .

My brother who received the bike, tells me that he toured in the parking lot and he pulled the brake without pads by mistake, and after he realized that it was making noise ( probably the caliper piston on the disc ) he stopped . He has seen that the caliper was bleeding and lost 5-6 drops of mineral oil ( the brakes are hydraulic ) .

I told him to put the pads from the rear wheel to verify that made any damages . The brake does not tighten enough to block the disk brake. He can just hear the pad touching the disk when he totally pulls the brake.

I have to go friday there and I wanted to know if I have to prepare new brakes before I get there. In that place are not so many shops for bikes.

My brother is not familiar with the DH bike with hydraulic brakes and also I am a beginner .

It is possible that he did damages to the caliper / piston ? It is normal that oil bleeds out if you full the brakes without pads and then without the disk (the caliber bleeded when he unmounted the wheel to check for damages) ?

Eventually maybe I just need to bleed the hidraulic sistem and reset the adjustments ?

The brakes are Shimano XT on a Giant Glory from 2008.

Thank you very much !

 

[sundaydoug]

If there's fluid coming from the caliper somewhere you're best bet is to not only give the system a complete bleed, but also clean the brake pads and rotors with a little rubbing alcohol. You could also very lightly sand the braking surface of the rotor with fine-grit sandpaper.

If all of this doesn't work or there's still fluid leaking, there may be more damage to the brake caliper itself.

 

[Electric_City]

It sounds like you need to re-bleed the brakes. You'll want to really clean off the disc and caliper too.

 

[canadmos]

As long as nothing got chewed up on the caliper they should be good. Try to pin point where the fluid leaked from though.

Personally, I wouldn't bother trying to reuse the pads if they got brake fluid on them. Buy new ones if you can find them. Keep those ruined one for emergency spares.