The Mysteries of Disc Brake Maintenance

Being the late adopter that I am, I just recently bought a mountain bike with hydraulic disc brakes. My previous mountain bike had linear-pull brakes, which perform great and are easy to adjust. No self-respecting new bike has this antiquated technology though, so now I have a Stumpjumper FSR with Avid Juicy brakes.


From the day I bought it, the rear brake would rub more than it should - if I spun the wheel it would slow down and stop quickly. I fiddled around with it a little by following the information in the manual. I realigned the caliper, adjusted the pad engagement, and so on. It still rubbed. So then over the weekend I messed around with it more, took the brake pads out and pulled the lever. The pistons went out to the point that I could barely get the pads back in, and I had no luck pushing on the pistons directly. I was convinced that I would have to bleed them since it seemed like air had gotten in the system.

Then I read somewhere on the internet about using a screwdriver to push the pads apart. I tried it, and somehow it worked! Now they are far enough apart that they don't rub at all, and they work great.