Still fairly new to wrenching, especially on brakes. I'm struggling to get my calipers aligned and could use some tips from those more experienced.
The main issue: constant rotor rub. I'll get them aligned and seemingly rub-free, but after a ride the rubbing comes right back. This is happening on two different setups:
- Shimano Deore caliper
- Hope Tech 4 V4 caliper
Both are running Shimano RT-66 rotors 203mm. Since it's happening across two very different brakes, I'm fairly confident the common denominator is me, not the hardware.
What am I missing? Any tricks or techniques for getting these dialed and keeping them that way? Lastly, im interested in giving different rotors a try, especially on my hope setup. I find the RT66 rotors have really terrible QC and many rotors are quite wonky/un-true right out of the package. Any recommendations on solid rotors that are actually true.
RT66 notorious for warpage. It's probably the culprit. Will spin true cold then after a couple of hard stops it's back to rubbing.
If someone would have told me in 2008 that I would be spending an hour a day or more aligning disc calipers in 2026, I would have quit and found a another job.
Any 2.3mm rotor will be a much better performer with the Hopes, I have no recent experience with Shimanos. 2.05mm Daechle HD from Trickstuff work for me very well, too, so that may be good middle road for you.
For big bends I have a set of rotor truing wrenches. For most small bends clean fingers work just fine. The piston massage is also very important to make sure that one pad is not sticking and staying too close to the rotor. For caliper setup, I start with the bolts just loose and gently squeeze the brake while the wheel is turning until it stops. Then with the brake still on I Gently just snug down bolts but don't fully tighten them. Open the brake and spin the wheel to check the alignment. If it needs more adjustment, I loosen one bolt at a time, move the caliper and snug up the bolt again. Repeat until satisfied with the alignment. Then slowly tighten the bolts a little at a time, one then the other until they're ready to ride.
ah well at least thats a bit reassuring knowing its potentially a rotor issue and not something im doing incorrectly. I have watched lots of videos and they always seem to make it look easy - but i follow their process to a T and dont get the same results haha.
Looking at all the other responses here, it seems like i need to just invest in a couple sets of better rotors. Gonna shoot for some 2mm thick ones for my shimano calipers and figure out what 2.3mm rotors will work best w/ my hopes (and wallet).
If you have enough room stick something like a business card between the rotor and each pad before tightening. I bought one of these and it worked great for a while and then bent, only $12 ~ https://hayesbicycle.com/products/feelr-gauge
Hope has 3D files to make tools for maintenance. One of the tools is an alignment tool. I don’t have a printer so I sourced them from Etsy.
Hope tools
As others suggested, apart from better rotors the piston "massage" cleaning helps a lot. Carefully pump them out a little bit, clean and press back in and repeat until they are all coming out together smoothly. It's common for the pistons on one side to be slower or not move at all, and this is a big cause of brake rub. Then I loosely align it by holding the brake and nipping up the bolts, then look down the calliper to check there is a gap on both sides. You can manually "walk" the calliper over by loosening just 1 bolt (leave the other only snug but not tight), carefully tapping the calliper over and then repeat with the other bolt. It should be centred between the pads AND the calliper itself. If the pads aren't working evenly the rotors might have daylight on each side to the pad, but the pads are off to one side. In use the other pad will start to work its way out even further and create the rub again
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