Brake levers too firm...

[MadisonDan]

Brakes are SRAM Level TL.

Last night I replaced worn brake pads, both front and rear.

Initially, I just swapped out the pads and tried to put the wheel back on. They were too close together, so I removed the pads and pushed the pistons back out with a tire lever. Reinstalled the pads and put the wheels back on.

There’s a little pad rub on the rotors, which I’m not as concerned about, however, now I barely pull on the levers before the pads fully engage.

I’ve replaced the pads before, and pushed the pistons back out with no problems in the past.

I do not have a bleed kit.
I will not light it on fire.
I am not buying a new bike (yet).

What went wrong?
How do I fix it?

 

[Santapez]

Not saying it's exactly what you have...

But I've had this happen when I did a quick bleed with old pads in and not using a bleed block. So there was a little extra fluid in the lines. Putting in new brake pads and pushing the pistons in a bit lead to an overfilled system.

I just cracked the bleeder on the lever (bike tilted so bleed screw was fully vertical), excess came out (couple drops), re-tightened the bleeder, no issues after.

 

[Soundguy]

^^ this. Try losing a little fluid without getting air in the system. If you screw it up you’ll need a bleed tho.

 

[jmanic]

I just cracked the bleeder on the lever (bike tilted so bleed screw was fully vertical), excess came out (couple drops), lit the excess on fire, re-tightened the bleeder, no issues after.

FTFY

 

[RobW]

Who cares about your no Fire, new bike Policy... but fire and new bike will /thread

 

[MadisonDan]

Who cares about your no Fire, new bike Policy... but fire and new bike will /thread

New bike in December I hope.

 

[jackx]

Wondering if your brakes have a contact adjustment that needs to be reduced to accommodate new pads, but perhaps not since you might have already considered that.

 

[MadisonDan]

Wondering if your brakes have a contact adjustment that needs to be reduced to accommodate new pads, but perhaps not since you might have already considered that.

Don’t think so. Will double check.

 

[Patrick]

They don’t.

replace with hopes.

 

[Dingo]

Replace with shimano so they have some bite

 

[shrpshtr325]

im also thinking its the bleed with worn pads scenario discussed above, @MadisonDan are those bleeding edge brakes? if so i have the bleed kit and you can swing by ill try a quick bleed on em if you want, LMK

 

[MadisonDan]

I tried the @Santapez method from above. It worked enough. I’ll give it a go and see what happens.

 

[MadisonDan]

im also thinking its the bleed with worn pads scenario discussed above, @MadisonDan are those bleeding edge brakes? if so i have the bleed kit and you can swing by ill try a quick bleed on em if you want, LMK

Thanks. I think I’m ok.... for now.