Contaminated Brake Pads

[Gionnirocket]

Thought I'd share the experience of a recent mishap....
After doing some front end work on my bike I found that the front disc brakes were working at less than 50% stopping capacity than before. I'm not sure what I may have contaminated them with as I did use WD-40, Dry Teflon Spray Lubricant and some Grease in my work and I thought I was careful with the use of all. So I popped the pads out to inspect and there wasn't anything apparent. So I cleaned the rotor with some rubbing alcohol and then the pads with some Simple green and then a light sand with some wet emery cloth. This brought them back a little but no where near full capacity. So that evening I soaked the pads overnight in a concentrated solution of Simple Green and a few drops of Dawn dish washing liquid. The following morning I gave them a good rinse in hot water and voila.. back to full stopping power.
I already had replacement pads on order that should be here by the end of next week.. but I'm glad I found a way to rescue these as they were practically new and I was back safely on the road with minimal downtime.

 

[Dallant]

Thanks for the tip.

 

[fooferdoggie]

ya it sucks when it happens I got some mineral oil on mine somehow when putting the pads back in after bleeding them. this spray is great it will even blast the rotors back to where you have to bed the pads back in. ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00

 

[Gionnirocket]

ya it sucks when it happens I got some mineral oil on mine somehow when putting the pads back in after bleeding them. this spray is great it will even blast the rotors back to where you have to bed the pads back in. ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00

I figured if you can grease them by accident, you should be able to degrease them purposely... Good to see there's stuff out there for stubborn situations though it may be more expensive than a new set of pads. My plan is to wrap a plastic bag around them in the future.

 

[fooferdoggie]

I figured if you can grease them by accident, you should be able to degrease them purposely... Good to see there's stuff out there for stubborn situations though it may be more expensive than a new set of pads. My plan is to wrap a plastic bag around them in the future.

you want to remove them. me I am such a fumble butt and slob nothing much helps.

 

[Deacon Blues]

Since I do my own brake maintenance on my vehicles I usually have a can or two of automotive brake cleaner, which works great for cleaning my bike's brake pads/parts.

 

[Gionnirocket]

Yeah I figured automotive products would be available as well... But I hate having a cabinet full of chemicals and sprays for specific purposes if it's not something that I would use regularly.. and I try to get the most out of the stuff I already buy.

 

[bob armani]

Hey join the club. I had the same exact issue while using a spray can of FL Teflon spray for chains. I looked up a YT video with comprehensive instructions on how to degrease bike brake pads. Took some time, however it did the trick. I now have plastic available anytime I am using any type of sprays near the rotor or pads. They came out quite easy being they are held in place by magnets on each side.

 

[Dallant]

I never spray my chains. Just use a dropper with my Finish Line dry lube.

 

[Gionnirocket]

I never spray my chains. Just use a dropper with my Finish Line dry lube.

I avoid sprays whenever possible... They're typically more expensive, wasteful, messy, and easily inhaled. I've always dripped dropped lubed my chain. Whenever I do use a spray I usually wrap whatever I'm spraying with a rag.
I'm thinking it was the WD 40 which I did wrap during spaying.. but did not while I was tapping the bearing cup from the frame and some may have flown as it released.... c'est la vie

 

[fooferdoggie]

cya spraying lube on the chain is just not practical.

 

[bob armani]

I never spray my chains. Just use a dropper with my Finish Line dry lube.

Good call. Sometimes I get lazy on the fly and just spray and go. I also used an old (empty) bottle of Tri-Flo as a dropper and that also worked okay.