Brake Maintenance Guide

Maintaining your SRAM brakes

Keep your brakes happy and working like new with regular maintenance. Your service intervals will vary based on riding conditions, how much you ride, and what type of brake you have.

Bleeding your brakes | Checking pads and rotors for wear | Maximizing and maintaining your brakes

Bleeding your brakes

To ensure optimum braking performance, brake bleeds push fluid through your hydraulic brake system to ensure all air bubbles and moisture are purged while the fluid is refreshed. For DOT fluid brakes, you should perform a bleed at least once a year. Mineral oil brakes take longer to absorb moisture and only require bleeds once every two years. If you ride frequently or on aggressive terrain that requires heavy braking, bleeds may be needed more frequently.

Tech tip: Every time you install new brake pads and rotors, bed-in must be repeated. Skipping bed-in will reduce your system’s power and increase the chance of brake noise.

Checking pads and rotors for wear

We recommend inspecting your brake pads for wear every month. It’s an easy habit to get into when removing your wheels. If you tend to ride in extremely wet or muddy conditions, check more frequently. When the thickness of the backing plate and pad material is 3 mm or less, it’s time to replace.

While you’re measuring your pads, why not do the same for your rotors? Change your rotors when the thickness is less than the minimum stated on the rotor: 1.55 mm for 1.85 mm rotors and 1.7 mm for 2 mm thick rotors.

Tech tip: If you switch brake pad compounds, be sure to use new rotors. For example, if you change your pads from sintered to organic but keep your rotors, you'll introduce a new layer of pad material to the brake track. This can create noise and reduce brake performance.

For CenterLine, CenterLine X, Paceline, Paceline X, or any 1.85 mm rotor: use the 1.55 mm slot.
For HS2 rotors, or any 2mm rotor: use the 1.7mm slot.
All pads use the Pad slot.

Maximizing and maintaining your brakes

When your brakes aren’t working or sounding exactly the way you want, familiarize yourself with some simple best practices for brake maintenance:

Cleaning

Noisy brakes? If your new brakes have been bedded in but you’re still experiencing unwanted brake noise, your rotors could be contaminated. Try cleaning your rotors with isopropyl alcohol and a clean rag before resorting to replacement.

Piston massage

Do your brakes feel a bit spongy or are your levers moving too far before the brakes engage? As your pads wear down, your caliper pistons may need a little extra massage to get moving properly. Don’t we all? Follow these steps to get your pistons moving happily again:

Trailside pad advance

Are your levers hitting the bar when you brake? If there’s no visible fluid leaking from your lever, your caliper pistons probably just need a little push. Pull over to the side of the trail, adjust your reach all the way out, pull hard on the lever five times, and readjust the reach to your desired position.

HOW TO: TRAILSIDE PAD ADVANCE

Tech tip: Do not lubricate the pistons. Lubricants reduce the friction between the pistons and the square seals that pull them back into the caliper for consistent pad retraction.

If troubleshooting doesn’t get your brakes feeling like new, it’s probably time for some service. Head to sram.com/service to find the service manual for your brake.

BRAKES SERVICE PAGE