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Caliper pistons applying unevenly?

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3.3K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  burke  
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#1 · (Edited)
Is it normal for a caliper to have pistons pushing further to get to the rotor and have the rotor not aligned with the slots in the caliper? I was tracking down a clunk sound from the front end, steering stem has no play, wheel bearings are good, so I thought I’d look at the pad guide pins and copper plate holding the pads in. While I was cleaning calipers and noticed this, on the bike it looks like the rotor is closer to the left side of the caliper only 1.5mm from contact where as the right side was 3-4mm or so. but noticeable to the eye.
I don’t believe the pistons are seized on either side and brake pad wear looks even. Scared that in a little more time my rotor will hit the caliper wall, at speed.
same issue on both front calipers, with the same side on each.


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Discussion starter · #4 ·
Riderseventy7 - thanks, sounds good. Don’t think I have quite the same issue but the alignment trick sounds like something I’ll do. last time I had the wheels off to replace tires I did the Dave moss method of caliper on, loosely bolted, spin the tire and apply the pads to make sure the pad and rotor surfaces are square. But that means the pistons would have met their previous position with NO further centering. I’ll manually fiddle with it.

riverszzr - thanks for the reassurance. By buttons, do you mean those rivets that hold the semi float rotors? (Black part to brake disk). A buddy and I had a debate if those should be able to rotate freely, never got a final answer - so… should they? Or just de-gunking is good enough?

I’ll give the lever a squeeze with the caliper off to test and clean the pistons before doing the centering procedure above. Just did fluid flush over the winter, and could probably stand to clean the caliper and pistons since it’s been about two years since the last deep cleaning. Probably get in there with a toothbrush and soapy water since I don’t want to use brakleen.
 
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