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had to replace 3 of the 4 brake levers on both of my bikes and the 4th has now gone...
However one of the newer ones has now stopped working properly and I’ve had enough...
not sure wether it’s the lever or the caliper or both?
basically the pad closes up in the rotor and then won’t release, locking the front wheel out and the lever stays pulled to the bar and goes all floppy.
if i push the pads back out the wheel will spin again and then when I pull the lever the same pattern occurs
is it the pistons in the lever, pistons in the caliper, air in the system, lack of fluid or what?
fed up of replacing levers at £45 per pop and the should last longer than a year shouldn’t they.
Could the positions be sticking in the caliper?
does any use and recommend disc brake cleaner as I currently don’t use anything like that, but I do look after my bikes as much as possible.
other than bin the brakes and go back to Hope, which I never had any issues with for 5 years of maintenance free use , what can I do...?
It's the muck from worn anodising / piston in the lever. Effectively it jams the plastic piston and sealing ring - and pushing the piston back after emptying system and removing connector thrn damages the piston.
Simple answer is buy a non servo wave lever (Deore)
Or move to Magura.
Surely they can’t be that rubbish...
Not fit for purpose really are they.
Try a full flush of new oil.
It's the crap in there sticking it all up.
Why are you replacing after a year? They have a 2 year warranty.
I'm convinced this issue is caused my crap getting forced in by either hose washing or bikes on roofracks/towbars getting crap forced into the lever piston by the slipstream. I cover the brake that faces forwards on my towbar mounted bike with a tent peg bag. Mine are XTR Race and have no servos; twice had the front one fail with a stuck down lever piston (3 year warranty quite handy!). Could be bollocks though!
I’m replacing them cause they’re knackerd. warranty or not, I’ve still got to provide proof of purchase, and go through the process of ordering and waiting and getting them fitted, which all takes time and effort.
not good when they’re less than a year old and my first race is in 6 days time
I assume it is the same problem that the previous model of Shimano XT M785 had as your description of the problem sounds the same - the lever pulls in to the bar and stays there with the calliper stuck on. It can be caused by the plastic piston swelling in the master cylinder. I have fixed three XT M785 brakes using the method in the following link - the brakes work perfect after:
https://www.bikehub.co.za/topic/155987-fixworkaround-shimano-xt-m785-brake-lever/
I haven't done any of the newer XT M8000 and it may be slightly different internally but if you can get to the black plastic piston you should be able to fix it.
Thankyou very much for that, however it’s all far too much for my lack of mechanical skills and patience.
I'm going to try and contact the UK Shimano warranty depeartment failing that will probably buy another lever...again
Yeah its a complete pain. I eventually had enough of the XT's failing and got some Magura Trail Sports for about £140 for both the front and rear. They are much better brakes IMO.
I'm not convinced shimano is as good as it used to be.
Same with my Doeres, been through two sets of rear brakes now. Replacing them with V4s without the braided hose, to reduce the weight.
On the worn anodizing thing, pretty sure that occurs with the Deores as well - I have never seen such jet black fluid come out of relatively new brakes!
2 year warranty on Shimano, easiest normally to return them to where you bought them from. Any Madison dealer can warranty them, but you will need to pay for their time/postage.
<div class="bbp-reply-author">damascus
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I’m not convinced shimano is as good as it used to be.
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Sums it up.
hmmm, have loads of xt brakes including m8000 and all
fine. as above warranty is really good so use it. cost vs competition have always lead the way
Had M785s and had no problem in ~2 years of use (around 4000 miles in total)
Then got M8000s and had a caliper leak, and lever leaking twice in under a year.
Warrantied them each time no problem, so not out of pocket, but still annoying.
After the lever went for the second time I gave up and bought some Hope E4s. Performance wise I'm not convinced they are as good as the XT's, but with luck they won't keep breaking.
I agree that they're not as good as they use to be which doesn't really help you.
It was the XT four pots that got me switched over to Shimano brakes. The M800 Saints I had were ace; fitted, bled and just worked really well. My further purchases have been less good; XT 785's had a really sponget feel that not even Madison sorted whilst my Zee's and XTR Trail's had wandering bit points that needed constant bleeding / fixing. My Deore's were reliable though.