Cycling UK Forum

Can anybody tell me why my V brakes squeal when applied..I have adjusted them in many different ways...front toed in.. and also block coming flat ..but still they squeal..?

Tried cleaning the rims where the pads touch? White spirit + toothbrush.

Depends on the type and age of your rims. also hardness and design of the pads.
Have the blocks near vertical or angled wear indicator slots?
Any free play on the lever arm mounts?

Remove the blocks and sand a small radius to the edges round the complete contact area, refit ensuring both arms are not running less than parallel with brakes fully applied. You may need to alter the pad spacer washers.

Would also try changing the pads/blocks to off-set mounting pin type, where the trailing edge is shorter than the leading section.

Regards

Thank you for your replies..

If all else fails and they are the shimano parallel push ones then these have a bit of a rep for squealing, or at least they used to - dunno about the newer ones. There was a fix that involved putting a cable tie around the parallel bit of it although I'm afraid that I cn't remember the exact details - if you hunt around the net I'm sure that you will happen across it eventually.

All the above (and many more) tips are useful and may work permanently but at the end of the day some V brakes just squeal and that's it. So you can try them out but don't drive yourself nuts trying to fix something that may be a 'feature' that you can't change. Squealing brakes are a very effective way or warning pedestrians of your approach!

Martin.thank you...wise words..i think you are right..I can't stop them squealing..

When I changed the pads on my v-braked bike to Kool-stop Salmons in the hope of reducing rim wear, they coincidentally became much quieter, which is nice I generally shout at pedestrians if necessary