Braking noise

Hello, so maybe a simple solution but suddenly as of today by brake pads hitting the rim screech so bad its driving me mad, nothing has changed in terms of the bicycle since yesterday so why now?..... Any solutions would be good, thanks...
H

Check the toe-in on your break pads. Tighten the bolts on your brakes.

and/or

Give your rims a good wipe down with vodka.

or

Go brakeless.

Don't waste vodka on bikes.. heathen! Rough up the pad and use a kitchen scourer to take any coating of crap off the rim and check that everything's toight.

And brakless is for girliemen.

I'll plump for wiping the rims down with alcohol too, seeing as the screeching started overnight.

Would red wine work?

If you must (and I never have) then what about metho? or isopropyl alcohol if you already have some?

Anyway, you need to clean both pads and rim and I just use a metal file to buff the pads and detergent for the rims. Check that your pads aren't worn down to the metal either or that there's no bits of rim stuck in the pads. Shimano pads are a bit shit for digging apart rims.

Would red wine work?

Yes. You give me red wine and I'll stop your brakes squeaking.

If you must (and I never have) then what about metho? or isopropyl alcohol if you already have some?

Anyway, you need to clean both pads and rim and I just use a metal file to buff the pads and detergent for the rims. Check that your pads aren't worn down to the metal either or that there's no bits of rim stuck in the pads. Shimano pads are a bit shit for digging apart rims.

WTF Hippo? When did you become Captain Sensible?

I've always been helpful with a good dose of "use your fucking brain" thrown in. I'm so sick of UTFSing people I've spazzed out and posted the same shit about squealing brakes I've posted about 20 times on this forum and others.

I'm a broken record.

Emphasis on broken.

From 2004 for fuck's sake..
Cycling Forums - View Single Post - Brakes on a road bike...

Ha.. the broken record post.. double posted!!!

Check the toe-in on your break pads. Tighten the bolts on your brakes.

and/or

Give your rims a good wipe down with vodka.

or

Go brakeless.

this is the answer. and you don't need a caliper to do it.

the front end (like the end farther towards the front of the bike) of your pads should be about 1-2mm closer to the rim than the back of the pads. If your pads don't have kind of bushings which to allow angular adjustment, then just take off the pads, sit a crescent wrench on the arms of the caliper and bend then slightly to achieve the same effect. the purpose of this is to prevent the squealing noise.

edit:
here's a link. didn't read it, so it might suck.
http://www.jimlangley.net/wrench/brake1.htm

some not so good, not so stiff callipers tend to vibrate (causing the noise) worse than the stiffer better callipers.

One day there were two men in a garage muttering. They were muttering at a bike because they couldn't get the brakes to work properly.

They had tried everything, but the levers wouldn't pull enough cable to get the pads far enough away from the rim to stop it rubbing.

"What a conundrum," said the first.

"Indeed," said the second. "Very strange."

Eventually this made them mad. They tried truing the wheel, but it wasn't buckled. They tried lining up the pads, but they were straight. Nothing seemed to work. Nothing.

Every time they spun the wheel there was a rhythmic "tick, tick, tick". Something was wrong. They tried for hours to fix it, but it was still there: "tick, tick, tick".

"Bother!" said the first. "Drat!" said the second.

They gave up and went indoors to order some new levers. Because it couldn't be their fault. It was the levers.

When they came, they were fitted, but the same problem was there.

"Crikey!" said the first.

"Blow it!" said the second.

Then, after many more hours of scratching their heads and rubbing their chins, one of them realised that the rear brake cable, which was yet to be bolted to the rear brake, was resting against the frame. Every time they spun the wheel it wobbled around, and made a rhythmic "tick. tick, tick" noise.

"Oh dear", said the first. "How foolish we have been."

"You fucking idiot," said the second. "What a fucking waste of fucking time. FUCK!"

Ive recently worn through a set of front brakes, so fitted some new pads and have an incredibly loud squeak every time i brake.

I have cleaned the rim thoroughly with de-greaser, have checked the alignment of the pads with the rim - they are square with the braking surface and aligned witht he curve of the rim.

I have adjusted them with a bit of toe-in - done by using a small bit of card folded double at the back of the pads, same thickness used each side.

Have searched the net, read sheldon's articles about brake symptoms.

...but still have the loudest squeaking brakes in the world.

Anyone got any ideas of what i can do? Aside from greasing the braking surfaces of course...

I have the same. Keep meaning to do something about it, but quite enjoy being able to scare jaywalkers with a quick dab of the brake lever.

Ha! Just been merged and seen my ranty rant from last year. Blimey, I must've been annoyed. Same bike as is squeaking now as well.

As long as they work I dont worry about the noise. Some times new brakes need to bed in properly and get an even coating of pad material on the rim. But that clearly doesn't apply on Sparkies bike!

Meh, I squeak and I'm proud. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Squeak if you want to go faster. Squeak for yourself.

toe in the pads i.e make one end ( i believe it to be the rear of the pad ) slightly further away from the rim than the front cue no squealing ...... unless it was the front that should be slightly further away !

So the helpful man at brixton cycles said i didnt have enough toe-in. He just whipped his alen keys out and redid it on the spot, 30 seconds flat. Still a tiny squeak, but then he said that the pads will wear in and stop squeaking.

He also said cleaning the rims with degreaser probably didnt help, better to use a dry rag.

getting it toed in is usually enough. Tip - use a matchstick between rim and trailing end of brake pad to get spacing. TIghten up with brake pad pressed against rim at front and against matchstick against the rim at rear. You can use something a bit thinner too - e.g. rubber band, bit of inner tube, etc.