Avid Juicy 5

[Jordansrealm]

Okay, so I put a fair amount of miles on my bike every week although a few less than before I bought a road bike. I run Avid Juicy 5's on my Stumpy and well they keep getting worse. I have replaced the pads twice since I have had them for the past year and they seem to be noisy as hell (which I found out is common) and squabble like a turkey (which I found out is common) and now they seem to heat up and fade over time (even when I run 2 laps of the loop).

Looking for some suggestions for maybe a better pad to try or anything really. Would rather not replace the entire system as funds arent permitting for that.

Oh, I am running the standard non-organic pads but I heard the organic pads are noise free but dont last very long?

Thanks

Jordan

[dubjay]

A lot of people say the Juicy noise stems from the rotor design. You might want to try a different set of rotors - or even give SRAM/Avid a call. I've heard that they've done swaps before.

[bjammin]

When's the last time they were bled?

[guero]

the polygon rotors tend to create the "warble". this is supposivley caused by the pad touching the "spoke" of the rotor. my warble eventually went away when i had them on my huckler.

what size rotors are you running jordan? if you are running 6 inchers, you may want to at least upgrade the front one to 7 inches to give you more stopping power. it is a trip that they fade so much on the fullerton loop, i'd hate to imagine them on a long descent such as san juan, where you are descending for nearly 8 or 9 miles! chances are your rotors and pads are glazed. try removing the pads and scuffing them with sand paper, being careful not to let your fingertips touch the surface of the pads. you can do the same thing to the rotors and also you can wipe the rotors down with isopropyl alcohol to remove any contaminents from the rotors.

as far as pads go, try out the EBC red pads. they are a bit softer, but grab much better than some stock pads. since they are softer, they will wear faster.

hope that helps ya eh.

[LBmtb]

Switching rotors helped out my juicy sevens . . .

[Neccros]

Originally Posted by LBmtb

Switching rotors helped out my juicy sevens . . .

I dunno if they make much of a difference, but I hate the new style Avids.... I liked the pre-buyout slotted rotors they used to have.... never had one issue with my older Avid brakes/rotors

[CalEpic]

Another cheap fix is facing the disc tabs on the fork and frame. If they are not aligned perfectly this will accentuate any squeeling. This made a big difference for me.

[Jordansrealm]

Originally Posted by bjammin

When's the last time they were bled?

it has been a while but i am sure thats in order

Originally Posted by guero

the polygon rotors tend to create the "warble". this is supposivley caused by the pad touching the "spoke" of the rotor. my warble eventually went away when i had them on my huckler.

what size rotors are you running jordan? if you are running 6 inchers, you may want to at least upgrade the front one to 7 inches to give you more stopping power. it is a trip that they fade so much on the fullerton loop, i'd hate to imagine them on a long descent such as san juan, where you are descending for nearly 8 or 9 miles! chances are your rotors and pads are glazed. try removing the pads and scuffing them with sand paper, being careful not to let your fingertips touch the surface of the pads. you can do the same thing to the rotors and also you can wipe the rotors down with isopropyl alcohol to remove any contaminents from the rotors.

as far as pads go, try out the EBC red pads. they are a bit softer, but grab much better than some stock pads. since they are softer, they will wear faster.

hope that helps ya eh.

thanks for the info that helps. i am running a 6" rotor. i will try and get them all apart and check everything out. brian also suggested EBC pads so i may just get a set and see if they are better!

[dstepper]

I seem to repost this now and then, works for me. Then returns after a dozen rides. Then with the calipers still on bike and wheel removed, I fold amery cloth over kitchen knive and ruff up the pads to remove the glazing...lasts for about a month and returns. The newer organic Avid pads squeal less than the older ones.

Old Post form MTBR. Talks about Juicy Seven but the setup #2 applies to most brakes.

[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Crucial Avid Juicy Setup Tips.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Good thread everybody! Thanks for all the research and efforts by all those involved, even those who hate Juicy Sevens and love to pound me.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Topic: Most everyone is installing their Juicy Sevens wrong. [/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Avid doesn't help cuz their instructions leave out several important setup issues. One is a manufacturing pre-condition which I'll discuss first. The second in an almost universal setup blunder, even by a lot of LBS's... and they should know better. 'Castle'... pay attention, this will be on the test![/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Avid mistakenly designed the '05 - 160mm rotor rim to be an 1/8" too far from the axle. The 185mm rotor is about 1/16" off depending on the fork or bosses. This causes the pads to rub the top of the rotor arms and produce the famous 'turkey gobble' . It's not necessarily accompanied by a squeal - that's usually a separate setup problem, discussed last. Avid is fixing the rotor designs and that is why the last year's models are selling for $129 or less a wheel. [/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Our objective is to move the calipers outboard from the axle a tiny bit. The easy fix for the 160mm rotor is to slip TWO .04" thick washers (each a little thinner than a dime) on each bolt BETWEEN the supplied adaptor and the inner ball and cone combo. Four washers total. [/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Usually the 185mm rotor takes one washer for each bolt depending on the fork or bosses. Follow Avids instruction for the rest of the setup (plus my extra setup technique below). Don't squeeze the levers with no disc or spacer in the caliper. The hard fix is to grind off an 1/8" or aforesaid bottom of the pad.. some do this, but why bother with each new set of pads you put in ?!? [/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]The second setup issue. When you go to tighten down the loose cone and ball parts, spin the wheel VERY slowly WITH THE CRANKS --- NOT BY ROTATING THE WHEEL BACKWARDS. Slowly apply a little more force to the lever and very gently stop the wheel rotating, making sure you used the cranks for this! This slow rotation of the wheel/rotor in the correct direction the wheel naturally travels helps wiggle out the spaces in the ball and cones and align the parts correctly. Don't go too fast. While keeping the lever moderately engaged, go to each of the two bolts and tighten one a little, then the other and so on back and forth. It's kinda like the early XT linear V-brakes and the toe-in issues regarding squealing. Fractions of a millimeter make all the difference. [/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Okay here's the bad news, if you initially did the setup the wrong way or the way Avid advises and then rode your bike for a month or two, figuring to 'break 'em in and work out the squeals' you probably wore the pads unevenly. If so, toss 'em and start fresh cuz your old ones will make setup harder. Also, that's why your old setup sucked and you had bad modulation and noise. Constant squealing and grabbing tell me (when I'm on the trail) that someone did a bad setup on their Avids. I guarantee you'll love the results if you follow my simple tips. By the way, if it's wet, all disc brake squeal and squawk a little.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]X-factor levers? Who cares. If the Sevens are setup right you don't have to be ham-fisted with the levers; one forefinger will do the trick, even in the most dire circumstance. If you prefer, scratch up the smooth blade area under your fingerpad a little with rough sandpaper.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]You'll love the results if you follow my simple tips. Good modulation and powerful one-finger stops can be yours. Now, go grab some of those dirt cheap '05 Juicy Sevens before everyone figures this out.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Little known fact: Behind the lever blade, up near the brake body, is a small indentation --- your travel coffee mug's handle will hang there quite nicely while riding to the coffee shop.[/FONT][/SIZE]

[Winger]

I have juicy 5's and they squealed like crazy with the factory pads. I'd have to wipe the rotor with a cloth before every ride to keep my sanity.

I replaced the original pads with some Aztec organic pads from Performance, which you can find for $10 when they are on sale. I stock up because I always realize I need new pads at 11pm before a big ride.

Anyhow, the Aztecs seem fine. They never make any noise and last about 600 miles depending on the trails I ride. I haven't noticed any fade. The best part is that I never have to clean or adjust them after I install them.

[SSinGA]

Goodridge sintered pads and Goodridge lines don't hurt either. Hope 2 Piece rotors will also eliminate the squeal, cut the weight by 1/2 and look so cool.

This is only slightly more expensive than D's suggestions, but image is everything when you're a poseur!

[2wheel_lee]

Originally Posted by Neccros

I dunno if they make much of a difference, but I hate the new style Avids.... I liked the pre-buyout slotted rotors they used to have.... never had one issue with my older Avid brakes/rotors

What kind of riding have you been doing to test them?

I have two sets of the new style Juicy 7 brakes. My M3 has 203mm rotors front and rear, and my 6.6 has a 160mm rotor in the rear and a 185mm rotor up front.

Other than a little squeal session every once in a while on the M3 after a fast DH section, the new Juicy brakes and rotors perform very well. I guess I can say that I've finally converted from Hayes (although I still have 5 other bikes with Hayes brakes).

And the difference between the current 7 and 5 is some adjustment that I apparently don't use.

Bleed and clean the rotors and you should be dialed.

[FyrFytrRyn]

ive heard that running a met. and an org. pad in each caliper help, im not sure how. mine squeal, but as long as they stop me, i dont care. also, the squealing helps you go faster! since the squeal is usually embarrassing it keeps you from using the brakes resulting in insane speed increases.