Spongy rubbish hydrolic brakes

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syncromorph

New Member
I have a specialized rockhopper moutain bike with shimano br-m355 hydraulic disc brakes.

The brakes were not working very well. I replaced the pads as they had worn down but it didn’t make any difference. The breaks were screeching extremely badly if i had to brake going down hill and not really very powerful, spongy. So i looked up online what to do and it was recommended that i bleed the brakes. So I bought a bleed kit and followed the instructions, everything seemed to go smoothly. I adjusted the pads so they were symetrical and flush when pressed but not when released and some other things that were recommended.

But even though i bled it thoroughly and there was no bubbles , the brakes are still the same , spongy and screechy . I bled them three times to be sure following instructions to the letter. The discs don’t look scraped or bent in anyway. I used a 100% compatible kit with compatible fluid.

What else can I do? Should i just replace with cable brakes?
 

DaveReading

Don't suffer fools gladly (must try harder!)
Location
Reading, obvs
Try new seals first.
 

wonderloaf

Veteran
When the brakes on my road bike feel a bit spongy I just use something to pull and hold the brake lever back as far as possible towards the handlebar and leave it overnight, this seems to firm up the lever. I use an old pedal strap but you could use tape, velcro, cable tie etc to achieve the same effect, doesn't cost anything and you never know it might work!
 

T4tomo

Legendary Member
When the brakes on my road bike feel a bit spongy I just use something to pull and hold the brake lever back as far as possible towards the handlebar and leave it overnight, this seems to firm up the lever. I use an old pedal strap but you could use tape, velcro, cable tie etc to achieve the same effect, doesn't cost anything and you never know it might work!

this or
...cantilevers :laugh:

also clean the discs off, its likely they have some contamination on them
 
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