I'm at my wits end with my SRAM Guide R brakes

tonyride

tonyride

Don't piss off the red guy
I have SRAM Guide R 4-pot brakes on one of my bikes and they were great out of the box (came with the bike). All was good until after a good amount of use and I needed to service them. When they started to feel squishy I thought they needed a bleed so I bought a bleed kit specially for the new "bleeding edge" system that SRAM uses with fresh DOT fluid. After I was done with the bleeds I realized that the squishiness was due to worn brake pads, not because they needed to be bled. So I replaced the pads and rebled them because now the rotors don't fit between the pads. Everything felt normal so I put the bike in the garage and it sat there for a couple of months while I was riding my other bikes. When I got back on the bike the brakes felt squishy again so I bled them again. BTW, I don't store it hanging upside down or even vertically. I hang it on the wall but leveled. Fast forward to yesterday I decided to take it out for a ride and the brakes felt normal at first but got really squishy again. First it was just the rear brake and then the front started to feel that way. I don't have problems with Shimano brakes when I bleed them. I don't know what to do at this point. I'm either going to keep them (because they feel great when working properly) and take it to a shop and have the professionals do it or just rip them out and replace them with Shimanos.
 
Sounds like air is getting in somehow. When you bleed them are you seeing a lot of bubbles ?

I have the same brakes on a bike that also sits and they’ve been pretty reliable.
 
jShort said:
Sounds like air is getting in somehow. When you bleed them are you seeing a lot of bubbles ?

I have the same brakes on a bike that also sits and they’ve been pretty reliable.
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When I bleed them I do see air bubbles coming out. I keep at it until I don't see anymore bubbles. Maybe I'll give it another go and see how that goes. If I fail again then I'm throwing in the towel and decide on one of the two options mentioned.
 
tonyride said:
When I bleed them I do see air bubbles coming out. I keep at it until I don't see anymore bubbles. Maybe I'll give it another go and see how that goes. If I fail again then I'm throwing in the towel and decide on one of the two options mentioned.
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I’m not a mechanic so I can’t tell you, but look around and see if air getting in is a known issue and maybe it’s an easy fix.
 
I just bled my rear guide RSC after replacing a brake hose. I was getting the same spongy feel and noticed one of the rear pads was moved out more than the other. One pad was retracting into the caliper more. Equaled them out and it's been fine.
 
New brake fluid ?
Correct fluid ?
I'd start by completely flushing old stuff and start fresh .
 
Sram - Great drivetrains, their brakes however, when they work, they're great, when they rub and/or go squishy it's a PITA to get them solid again.
 
tonyride said:
I have SRAM Guide R 4-pot brakes on one of my bikes and they were great out of the box (came with the bike). All was good until after a good amount of use and I needed to service them. When they started to feel squishy I thought they needed a bleed so I bought a bleed kit specially for the new "bleeding edge" system that SRAM uses with fresh DOT fluid. After I was done with the bleeds I realized that the squishiness was due to worn brake pads, not because they needed to be bled. So I replaced the pads and rebled them because now the rotors don't fit between the pads. Everything felt normal so I put the bike in the garage and it sat there for a couple of months while I was riding my other bikes. When I got back on the bike the brakes felt squishy again so I bled them again. BTW, I don't store it hanging upside down or even vertically. I hang it on the wall but leveled. Fast forward to yesterday I decided to take it out for a ride and the brakes felt normal at first but got really squishy again. First it was just the rear brake and then the front started to feel that way. I don't have problems with Shimano brakes when I bleed them. I don't know what to do at this point. I'm either going to keep them (because they feel great when working properly) and take it to a shop and have the professionals do it or just rip them out and replace them with Shimanos.
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Squishiness usually means air is somewhere in the system. Some brake designs make it really tricky to get a good bleed. I'd take it to a reputable shop and have them do a full proper bleed with new fluid.
 
Sounds silly, but sometimes you have to tilt the brake lever a certain angle to get a good bleed. I had to do that with my Hayes (I know, apples to oranges) brakes. I removed the lever and mounted to an old bar and clamped that into a work stand to get a good angle. If you’re leaving the lever on the bike that could be the reason you’re not getting a good bleed. Food for thought.
 
Frank said:
Sounds silly, but sometimes you have to tilt the brake lever a certain angle to get a good bleed. I had to do that with my Hayes (I know, apples to oranges) brakes. I removed the lever and mounted to an old bar and clamped that into a work stand to get a good angle. If you’re leaving the lever on the bike that could be the reason you’re not getting a good bleed. Food for thought.
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Good point, I do leave the lever on the bar.
 
SRAM Brakes? You know what to do….
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Every brake seems to have its own unique challenges for bleeding and sometimes it takes multiple rounds of experimentation to get things working. I've mostly followed this procedure and had good luck:



A lot of it just being really patient and focusing on the details, but some brakes are a pain.
 
I had the same problem on my Mukluk rear brake.
Tried to bleed 3 times with no change. Brought the bike to Hilltop in Summit and they fixed er up real nice!
Luckily Jim didn't touch it.
Dennis said he replaced the pads and adjusted the caliper & lever. Works perfect now. That's all I need to know...
 
Sven Migot said:
I had the same problem on my Mukluk rear brake.
Tried to bleed 3 times with no change. Brought the bike to Hilltop in Summit and they fixed er up real nice!
Luckily Jim didn't touch it.
Dennis said he replaced the pads and adjusted the caliper & lever. Works perfect now. That's all I need to know...
Click to expand...

I only work on eBikes now.
 
sram brakes do need to be bled with the lever end spun horizontal on the bar, i also open up the lever to its widest (farthest from the bar point) before i do the lever bleed, i also have a bike with guide rs that gets riden much less frequently and i dont have any problems like this (and it hangs on the wall handlebars down).

are you degassing the fluid before you do the bleed? not sure if its necessary but i do it on all of mine, i also dont use SRAM dot fluid, i go to autozone and buy the smallest bottle they have, and get quite a few bleeds out of it.
 
Frank said:
Also….. DOT brake fluid absorbs moisture. So if you are using an open/older bottle of fluid it could be contaminated. Go buy a brand new bottle and rebleed.
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Yeah, this has screwed me before. I would just leave the lid off the bottle till I was done, now I try to cap it as soon as I fill my syringe.

I have Guides on both of my bikes and haven't really had any issues, but they do seem to require a lot of maintenance. I blame the mountain creek moon dust but most of the time I have noticeable problems it ends up being sticky calipers. Also, sintered pads. I wear through orangic pads so fast it feels like I have to readjust or bleed after every other ride. I didn't think about my last bike coming stock with organic pads and just thought the brakes sucked. After switching pads I rarely have to touch them besides normal maintenance.

All of that said.... I do want to try something new. Probably gonna go TRP on the enduro bike.
 
shrpshtr325 said:
sram brakes do need to be bled with the lever end spun horizontal on the bar, i also open up the lever to its widest (farthest from the bar point) before i do the lever bleed, i also have a bike with guide rs that gets riden much less frequently and i dont have any problems like this (and it hangs on the wall handlebars down).

are you degassing the fluid before you do the bleed? not sure if its necessary but i do it on all of mine, i also dont use SRAM dot fluid, i go to autozone and buy the smallest bottle they have, and get quite a few bleeds out of it.
Click to expand...

I use the race fluid from the car in mine. It's the most spendy way to do it, but I also haven't had Sram Brake issues in like 15 years.
 
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