XT Brakes

Cole

Cole

Well-Known Member
I see a lot of people are running them. I was wondering if those that do ran 2 or 4 pistons, or a combo? It's a $120 difference for a set, is it worth it?
I'd just be using them for trail use, not at any parks.
 
Last edited:
We only stock the 4 piston at this point. A combo is a good idea if you are lighter rider looking to save weight, but otherwise i'd say 4 piston all the way.

I will note that their icetech rotors are really good at staying cool. Maybe too good for our flat-ish trials as compared to mtn riding. I have been playing with swiss stop pads and rotors on 2 of my bikes and I really like how they feel.
 
I have 2 piston XTs with 180/160 Icetech rotors on my XC HT and rigid SS. Work great here in flat SJ and plenty of stopping power when I venture to places with more elevation.

On my FS trail bike, 4 piston SLX were on it, but upgraded both 180 rotors to Icetech. No problems.
 
I have 4p XT on my trail bike and 2p XT on my XC bike.
Difference in stopping power is night and day.
 
Have older XT 2 pot brakes with the cooling fins and they don’t stop hard at all and they squeal like a MFer. Like you can probably hear me at the bottom of the mtn.

I just tried brake kleen on the rotors and pads. Did it multi times and even used a clean rag to clean them up with brake kleen until they were dirt / soot free. Well, they are marginally better.

Before I buy new pads do you think a brake bleed will help? I cleaned the pads and rotor really good but I thinj once you get something on them (previous owner) they might be shot. Is mineral oil contamination different from DOT?

Thoughts? TIA
 
THATmanMANNY said:
Have older XT 2 pot brakes with the cooling fins and they don’t stop hard at all and they squeal like a MFer. Like you can probably hear me at the bottom of the mtn.

I just tried brake kleen on the rotors and pads. Did it multi times and even used a clean rag to clean them up with brake kleen until they were dirt / soot free. Well, they are marginally better.

Before I buy new pads do you think a brake bleed will help? I cleaned the pads and rotor really good but I thinj once you get something on them (previous owner) they might be shot. Is mineral oil contamination different from DOT?

Thoughts? TIA
Click to expand...
Pads are contaminated from a leaky calipers, which is a known issue with xt’s. You can clean rotors and do new pads but it will
Eventually squeak again. I replaced the caliper only and it fixed it
 
Most of my bikes are now 4 piston shimanos....I prefer how they feel, they are very easy to service/bleed....easy to find the pads anywhere....as @Jeremy mentioned....you can hack them together...I have had so many sets of brakes over the years...for some of my junk projects, I have xtr masters with xt single piston calipers. They kind of remind me of my spd pedals at this point....there might be something slightly better, but I never think about my brakes when im riding and there is something to be said for that.
 
UtahJoe said:
Most of my bikes are now 4 piston shimanos....I prefer how they feel, they are very easy to service/bleed....easy to find the pads anywhere....as @Jeremy mentioned....you can hack them together...I have had so many sets of brakes over the years...for some of my junk projects, I have xtr masters with xt single piston calipers. They kind of remind me of my spd pedals at this point....there might be something slightly better, but I never think about my brakes when im riding and there is something to be said for that.
Click to expand...
to this point, all shimano levers and calipers are compatible from the same model family, which makes it easier to buy parts.
 
stb222 said:
to this point, all shimano levers and calipers are compatible from the same model family, which makes it easier to buy parts.
Click to expand...
ya, I think i even made a post about how I broke a lever on my 2023 XTs and ended up stealing a lever off my ~2014 set....with a little sanding, its still working fine
 
stb222 said:
Pads are contaminated from a leaky calipers, which is a known issue with xt’s. You can clean rotors and do new pads but it will
Eventually squeak again. I replaced the caliper only and it fixed it
Click to expand...
Is this still an issue with current offerings? Or just older models?
 
It happened to me when I would hang my bike vertically on a hook from the ceiling. If I left the bike up there for a few days / weeks, then the pads were shot/ no bringing them back. After 3 sets of pads I finally heard about this issue and replaced the brakes.
 
Jeremy said:
It happened to me when I would hang my bike vertically on a hook from the ceiling. If I left the bike up there for a few days / weeks, then the pads were shot/ no bringing them back. After 3 sets of pads I finally heard about this issue and replaced the brakes.
Click to expand...
Curious, the pads getting contaminated are the ones in the lower part of the bike while hanging...at the moment I have a few bikes hanging from the ceiling, all with Shimano XT and SLX brakes of various years...
oh-my-george-takei (1).gif
 
I’m thinking fire and new bike

I just survived 6MR with the bike. So it’s 6 mile good enough for now.
I’ve always trusted and preferred shimanos. This is new news to me!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom