My mountain bike squeals like hell when the brakes are applied,in fact it sounds like a 50 ton lorry doing an emergengy stop. Am I using cheapo/crappo brake blocks? maybe there's something I could spray onto the rim etc. It's driving me round the bend. Please, any ideas/solutions.

try rubbing sand paper on the pads

try replacing the brake blocks!!

Try a spraying the rims with a drop of WD40 :D


Noooo! Don't do that. Actually, it just sounds like they are getting a bit old and hard and need replacing.

The brake blocks haven't been on that long, but I suppose it might be worth swapping them anyway. Cheers folks

The angle that your brake blocks hit the rim needs adjusting. This is called 'towing in'. Just adjust them so the leading/front edge hits the rim just before the rest of the pad does ;) .

If that doesn't work you can pour a can of fizzy pop over the rims and the pads. Let it dry and get some ear plugs because they will squeal like a banshee until it has worn off but that should solve the problem :thumbsup: .

Loosen the block from the brake, put a piece of cardboard from a cereal box or similar between the block and rim on the leading edge of the block, apply the brake and tighten the bolt back up. Out of curiosity, what kind of brakes are they? Cantilevers tend to squeal a lot more than V brakes. Might be a good idea to invest in some better quality pads.

Vidster's right - adjust your toe-in so the leading edge of the block hits the rims slightly earlier that the trailing edge.
Whilst you're messing with the brakes, nip out and buy some nice new pads. As you say, it's probably worth swapping them anyway :thumbsup:

Many thanks folks, I 've put some new pads on and set them up as suggested. It seems to have done the trick! Steep downhill journies should be a lot more pleasant now and won't scare the s**t out of passing pedestians. Cheers.