Annoying "SQUEEL" coming from front Direct Pull-Rim-V-Brakes...SOLVED!

[Tommycat]

Welcome troubleshooters!

Under light to medium presssure my front rim brakes produce an awful squeel! No horn or bell needed here, just a slight sqeeze of the brake lever and ARRRRRRRRG. This is a new bike. The back brakes are absolutly quiet. Both work well to stop the bike.

What I've tried...

Cleaning the rim. Scrubbing the rim. Using alcohol on the rim. Sanding the rim connection joint smooth. Adjusting the pads. Toeing in the pads. Switching the pads from one side to the other. Increasing the spoke tension.

Interestingly enough the last one seemed to help the most...increasing the spoke tension. With out a spoke tensioning gage, how do you know when they are tight enough? My back Pie spokes will ping out a nice high note. But the front ones seem dead and lifeless...tho to squeeze a couple together has good resistance.

Opinions welcomed and encouraged.



Regards,

T.C.

[artdrectr]

Some ideas that have worked
1. Toe-in: try different amount?
2. Check for any (tiny) looseness in axle, tighten axle cup.
3. A few dabs of a bit of wet cleaning powder (Comet) on both sides of wheel rim with a wet towel.

[Tommycat]

Hi Art,

1) Tried several positions...no improvement at all.
2) Interesting, when I first went over the mechanicals. It was too tight, not allowing the wheel to spin properly. Perhaps I loosed it up too much? Will double check!
3) As in clean the rims with it...or leave it on there? Me thinks clean. I've even used steel wool...Too clean?

Thank you for your response,

T.C.

[Joe Remi]

Your Huffy is running REALLY lousy cheap brakes, especially for a bike with a motor. A good set of house brand v-brakes from Performance or Nashbar should solve the squeal and actually stop your bike.

[Tommycat]

Hi Joe,

Your Huffy is running REALLY lousy cheap brakes, especially for a bike with a motor.

No argument there Joe. :-)

A good set of house brand v-brakes from Performance or Nashbar should solve the squeal and actually stop your bike.

I was thinking about Kool-Stop Salmon Red Pads as I've seen recommended by others. I see they're made by Performance, so that looks like the way to go.

Thank you for the response,

T.C.

[Tommycat]

Update:

Tightened slack front axle bearing assembly. Tightened and trued spokes. Found and corrected one side rim pad post positioning cones that where in the wrong order. Cleaned rims and pads with Soft Scrub cleaner. (sorry no Comet available) Removed some play from caliper arm mounting. But the back seems to have the same amount... :-(








Adjusted pad positioning...toe-in.





Test ride... Braking is EXCELLENT!. Super grab and stopping power...BUT. Still sounds like a goose at low RPMs. :-O Do I need to let them wear in a bit? Or get new pads on order? Did I miss any thing?



Regards,

T.C.

[Tommycat]

After getting my Kool-Stop brake pads, it's time to put this issue to rest!


These have to get the job done!





Hummmm.... They don't appear to be "performance" brand pads...Opps?





If you look close at the picture, the tail end of the pads seem to droop down. This interfered with a proper toe-in alignment so ended up sanding them perfectly flat. EDIT: After reading the instructions...:-O These are to assure correct toe-in.

So after install and proper alignment... this was the fruits of my labor!

Arrrrrrrrgggggg.

So another attempt at cleaning. This time with car rubbing compound and steel wool. No Joy. What's a cat to do? It just seemed to be too clean if you know what I mean, perhaps grabbing to well.

As a LAST ditch effort sprinkled the rim with baby powder, yep you got it. Nothing could be any worse. And it WORKED! Slight degradation of stopping power. Not the nose bleed over the handlebars as before. But well within acceptable levels. Will see how long this lasts!

One happy cat,

T.C.