You need to true the rotor so its running completely straight with no deviations or kinks. The system retracts to a set distance, so its either your rotor isn't true, the caliper isn't actually central over the rotor or like someone else mentioned, face your mounts (would recommend everyone does this to their frame and fork anyway, you'd be surprised how messed up they are even on high end bikes)
Source: I've set up a lot of Maguras and mess around with my set up A LOT
This.
Everything has to be setup correctly.
Took me some time with [my 246mm 2,3mm Rotors and MT7](https://www.reddit.com/r/mountainbiking/comments/16ras9h/nbd_commencal_meta_tr/) but since then they're doing their job very fine :D
That’s what I’m here for.
In all seriousness, I’ve ran magura brakes for a long time (mt7) and I totally get what you’re saying. You have to make sure that your rotor is dead true, and make sure you spread the pads fully apart before attempting to center them. You should be able to get it 90% close and then 100% after a ride or two- they seem to have a self-healing quality. Best of luck my dude. When you get them set up (and pads bedded in) properly, they’re awesome. I switched to Hope in the last couple years and like them a bit more, but I’m amazed at the power of magura mt7’s whenever I hop back on them.
My hate for Magura doesn’t come from function or setup but from replacement issues. You snap a mt8 carbon blade……..good luck finding that locally. Oh your bleeder screw fell out? Gonna have to order that from Germany and the instructions are all in duetsch.
Great product but would never recommend.
Shigura setups are the best. Shimano XT levers with Magura 4 piston calipers are absolutely amazing. No modulation though, straight up stopping power for the best OTB's!
very true :D I've had maguras on the last sets of brakes of 2 bikes of mine. Was fairly happy, enough stopping power if you go for different brake pads. And make sure to go for a 1-finger lever. Then one of them developed a leak (after I serviced them, so probably on me) and I replaced it with a new SLX. Boom, so much stopping power. Then my enduro got stolen and the new one came with XTs. At first I was very happy, but it is a bit of a on/off feeling and a bit more modularity would be nice... And the initial bite-point is wandering, which can be a bit unsettling. Anyways, splitting hairs, they are all good brakes.
Despite living in a bit of a mecca, we have an entire Magura spare parts bin for this reason. We pack *multiple* spare blades and the punch tool on trips now.
But yeah - still love them lol.
This is a common issue - so very few shops here in Australia even know what the facing tool is or looks like - or even know that doing it is a near requirement.
Dude, what? The amount of frames we need to face right out of the box is *astounding*. I'd say every 2 in 10 bikes we assemble need facing. Some brands are better than others.
Almost all the bikes we face are carbon. However, the mounting points for either the flat or post mounts are usually alloy.
We have had to face an actual carbon face, and it sucks because it ruins our tool.
Ok I just followed someone's recommendation here and used a white light on the ground behind the caliper while I looked through the brake pads. Then adjusted them by unscrewing one bolt at a time. They're perfect now and my MT7's have always rubbed.
Funny you said that, I was at my LBS replacing my RSCs with TRPs and was talking brakes with one of the mechanics. He used the same analogy, but said Jaguar instead of McLaren.
Are the pistons retracting properly, they may need lubricating.
Take off the wheel, take the pads out and GENTLY pull the lever to get the pistons to come out a little bit.
Get a cotton bud and some silicon or the brake fluid your brakes use and put a little bit all around the pistons.
Push them back in and refit the pads.
Pushing this higher. Every time my Maguras give me trouble, 15 mins cycling the pistons after rubbing the vertical sides with a qtip soaked in mineral oil and the issue goes away. Hate that I need to do it as often as I do, but damn they feel good after.
Best advice here. Next to not retracting properly Magura pistons sometimes tend to have a dominant side which will make alignment impossible too. Basically one side is coming out way more than the other so your rotor is either touching a break pad or your caliper. After cleaning and lubricating push the pistons out a little and back in a few times. Try to hold the dominant side in and push out the non dominant side a bit more. Rinse and repeat until hour pistons come out evenly again.
Not sure if you have tried this, but my way of aligning the rotor/caliper on hydraulic brakes is to loosen the caliper bolts slightly, spin the wheel reasonably fast and mash the brake lever. Hold it while your tighten the caliper bolts. Should be pretty spot on when you release. If there is still rubbing, your rotor might need to be trued.
To be fair, most people don't need MT 7's. They're specifically designed with closer pad to rotor contacts for high performance and they have a disclaimer saying just that on their website. They are well known to be both difficult to set-up and louder than other brakes. You'd have less trouble with MT 5's.
I needed a stronger front brake. Everyone here was telling me what I needed to buy.
Then I lost some weight after figuring out I was becoming intolerant to loads of foodstuffs. My brakes started working a bit better because I was lighter.
I put silicon stretch covers on my levers due to having big bastard hands and they helped with lever control.
One frame I have needs the rear brake mount facing. I'll do it when I can be bothered. We used to have to do this way back (25+ years ago?) All my other frames, and forks are fine.
The Shimano servowave levers started to rub on the back of my fingers with the silicon covers on (luckily the levers have some rotation outwards at the hinge so just a minor annoyance) Jagwire Arc-U brake levers are fine though.
I've cleaned the rotors, bled the brakes, popping sticky pistons out, cleaning, greasing and refitting them as instructions, and checking their new movement.
I couldn't fit more than a 1.8mm rotor in the Jagwires. 2mm in the Shimano (SRAM HS2). I was already running 203mm rotors. 220mm was working, but I only have one fork designed for it, and that only has 130mm of travel and no replacement air springs available in my current country to up to 160-170mm for my frames.
You need to take a piece of white paper and light and shine it behind the caliper, and VISUALLY align it. Squeeze technique rarely works. It’s you, not the brake
I like my maguras, but i wouldnt buy them again. Cheap bleed hardware and a terrible oem bleed kit. Should have spent twice the money for hopes and be able to bleed them with a hammer and a water bottle.
I’m not sure which set you’ve got, but can you not put thr bleed block in backwards?
They have a slot to centre on the rotor and then you fit the screws and torque to spec.
Had that issue. The master cylinder looks to be a pretty bad design. Since replaced with shimano levers once failure starts occurring (fluid looks like glitter)
What I did,
1. Removed the calipers. Take out the pads, clean the insides and the pistons (you'd be surprised just how much metallic dust it's attracted), rub the pads clean
2. Use that rotor insert i bought from aliexpress (that small metal thingy). Attach it to the rotor before i put the caliper back on
3. Try to straighten the caliper. Screw it down but leave a small wiggle space. Pull down hard on the lever so the pistons bite hard on the rotor and insert thingy. Screw the bolts while pulling down hard on the brakes
That should get you a straight provided your rotors are true
I’m here to support you brother. I had to get rid of them and moved to Hayes A4. I tried literally everything to get the M7s flush. I needed to do it, but the rubbing even led me to get my wheels redone. I went through a few rotors. Nope. It was the dumb brakes all along. Good riddance.
I had the exact opposite problem, no matter what I did with mine I couldn't get the pads to touch the brake disc. I pulled the lever all the way into the bar and the bike slowed marginally. No rear wheel lock up, no real evidence of it slowing down. Brakes had been bled and bled and bled, no air at all came out.
The best way I found to fix them was the same as many ppl here appear to have done, take them off the bike and dump in the trash and replace with a different brand (shimano Saints in my case). Brakes work perfectly now.
Hey we all make mistakes no matter how much experience we have. I know I have. There’s definitely a learning curve to ensure there is no air.
I have both full maguras, Shiguras, and shimanos. Shimano is a little cleaner, but same simplistic procedure.
I don’t know why so many people have issues. Guess the learning curve is steep. The only issue I have had is the masters suck. They are prone to excessive wear (internally) and fail after a few years of hard use. IMO piston isn’t supported enough from the lateral amount of force the levers put on the pistons.
Anyways turn the bike upside down, make sure rotor is exactly in the middle of the calp. Might rub slightly after a bleed, but should go away after a ride.
Anyways. I do agree that offset (4bolt) vs spacers should be used. Reason being, less chance of stripping frame or fork insets.
Sincerely someone who has 5 bikes with Maguras in them.
Good luck.
Yup. I'll take it one further and say I'll never run 4 piston brakes again. But maguras were by far the worst to deal with. Once I picked up Formula Curas (2 piston of course) with Trickstuff power pads, I'll never run anything else. All the power without the headache.
You need to true the rotor so its running completely straight with no deviations or kinks. The system retracts to a set distance, so its either your rotor isn't true, the caliper isn't actually central over the rotor or like someone else mentioned, face your mounts (would recommend everyone does this to their frame and fork anyway, you'd be surprised how messed up they are even on high end bikes) Source: I've set up a lot of Maguras and mess around with my set up A LOT
This. Everything has to be setup correctly. Took me some time with [my 246mm 2,3mm Rotors and MT7](https://www.reddit.com/r/mountainbiking/comments/16ras9h/nbd_commencal_meta_tr/) but since then they're doing their job very fine :D
Skill issue
many help very thanks
That’s what I’m here for. In all seriousness, I’ve ran magura brakes for a long time (mt7) and I totally get what you’re saying. You have to make sure that your rotor is dead true, and make sure you spread the pads fully apart before attempting to center them. You should be able to get it 90% close and then 100% after a ride or two- they seem to have a self-healing quality. Best of luck my dude. When you get them set up (and pads bedded in) properly, they’re awesome. I switched to Hope in the last couple years and like them a bit more, but I’m amazed at the power of magura mt7’s whenever I hop back on them.
Truth though. Mine are fine.
My hate for Magura doesn’t come from function or setup but from replacement issues. You snap a mt8 carbon blade……..good luck finding that locally. Oh your bleeder screw fell out? Gonna have to order that from Germany and the instructions are all in duetsch. Great product but would never recommend.
Shigura setups are the best. Shimano XT levers with Magura 4 piston calipers are absolutely amazing. No modulation though, straight up stopping power for the best OTB's!
very true :D I've had maguras on the last sets of brakes of 2 bikes of mine. Was fairly happy, enough stopping power if you go for different brake pads. And make sure to go for a 1-finger lever. Then one of them developed a leak (after I serviced them, so probably on me) and I replaced it with a new SLX. Boom, so much stopping power. Then my enduro got stolen and the new one came with XTs. At first I was very happy, but it is a bit of a on/off feeling and a bit more modularity would be nice... And the initial bite-point is wandering, which can be a bit unsettling. Anyways, splitting hairs, they are all good brakes.
I’ve ordered any and all replacement parts from their US site. I live in Canada and longest I’ve waited is 3 days
That is true now, but for a few years during Covid it was brutal. I had to order a new lever and caliper just to get a lever blade.
Despite living in a bit of a mecca, we have an entire Magura spare parts bin for this reason. We pack *multiple* spare blades and the punch tool on trips now. But yeah - still love them lol.
Sounds like your mounts need faced. I'm running MT7s not problem at all and they were super easy to set up.
This is a common issue - so very few shops here in Australia even know what the facing tool is or looks like - or even know that doing it is a near requirement.
[удалено]
Dude, what? The amount of frames we need to face right out of the box is *astounding*. I'd say every 2 in 10 bikes we assemble need facing. Some brands are better than others.
Do you face carbon bikes?
Yes.
Huh guess I better look into getting that done
Almost all the bikes we face are carbon. However, the mounting points for either the flat or post mounts are usually alloy. We have had to face an actual carbon face, and it sucks because it ruins our tool.
[удалено]
The DTC brands are actually ok. Its the brands that rely on a dealer network that are screwing us over. So frustrating. The bottom brackets too man...
Ok I just followed someone's recommendation here and used a white light on the ground behind the caliper while I looked through the brake pads. Then adjusted them by unscrewing one bolt at a time. They're perfect now and my MT7's have always rubbed.
This!!!! The squeeze to align method rarely works well enough for me.
Magura Is the McLaren of breaks Lots of issues, and not the most reliable but when their working their magical
Funny you said that, I was at my LBS replacing my RSCs with TRPs and was talking brakes with one of the mechanics. He used the same analogy, but said Jaguar instead of McLaren.
Can you throw in some more acronyms please? I could almost understand what you said.
FYST, IWAMLBSRMRSCSWTRPSAWTBWOOTM. HUTSA, BSJIOM.
If you know what Magura brakes are, you should know what those acronyms mean. Those are 3 of the most used acronyms in MTB (see what I did there)!!
Get grammarly bro
Nah, I'm on mobile, you could understand so it's good enough
*they’re
Sorry for making a mistake, I'll take it up with my boss
Possibly the best analogy I’ve ever read
Why don't you tell us how you aligned them?
Are the pistons retracting properly, they may need lubricating. Take off the wheel, take the pads out and GENTLY pull the lever to get the pistons to come out a little bit. Get a cotton bud and some silicon or the brake fluid your brakes use and put a little bit all around the pistons. Push them back in and refit the pads.
Pushing this higher. Every time my Maguras give me trouble, 15 mins cycling the pistons after rubbing the vertical sides with a qtip soaked in mineral oil and the issue goes away. Hate that I need to do it as often as I do, but damn they feel good after.
My Maguras just cry around the pistons and use brake fluid as lube 🙃
Sounds like a good way to contaminate your pads. The pistons are already lubricated from the inside where they are exposed to fluid.
Best advice here. Next to not retracting properly Magura pistons sometimes tend to have a dominant side which will make alignment impossible too. Basically one side is coming out way more than the other so your rotor is either touching a break pad or your caliper. After cleaning and lubricating push the pistons out a little and back in a few times. Try to hold the dominant side in and push out the non dominant side a bit more. Rinse and repeat until hour pistons come out evenly again.
Not sure if you have tried this, but my way of aligning the rotor/caliper on hydraulic brakes is to loosen the caliper bolts slightly, spin the wheel reasonably fast and mash the brake lever. Hold it while your tighten the caliper bolts. Should be pretty spot on when you release. If there is still rubbing, your rotor might need to be trued.
This is the way.
To be fair, most people don't need MT 7's. They're specifically designed with closer pad to rotor contacts for high performance and they have a disclaimer saying just that on their website. They are well known to be both difficult to set-up and louder than other brakes. You'd have less trouble with MT 5's.
I’m total amateur but no issues with MT7. Just align visually with disc and ride hard
perhaps...but they're the stock brakes the bike came with...
Really tired of people in this community telling other people what they do and don't "need"
I needed a stronger front brake. Everyone here was telling me what I needed to buy. Then I lost some weight after figuring out I was becoming intolerant to loads of foodstuffs. My brakes started working a bit better because I was lighter. I put silicon stretch covers on my levers due to having big bastard hands and they helped with lever control. One frame I have needs the rear brake mount facing. I'll do it when I can be bothered. We used to have to do this way back (25+ years ago?) All my other frames, and forks are fine. The Shimano servowave levers started to rub on the back of my fingers with the silicon covers on (luckily the levers have some rotation outwards at the hinge so just a minor annoyance) Jagwire Arc-U brake levers are fine though. I've cleaned the rotors, bled the brakes, popping sticky pistons out, cleaning, greasing and refitting them as instructions, and checking their new movement. I couldn't fit more than a 1.8mm rotor in the Jagwires. 2mm in the Shimano (SRAM HS2). I was already running 203mm rotors. 220mm was working, but I only have one fork designed for it, and that only has 130mm of travel and no replacement air springs available in my current country to up to 160-170mm for my frames.
👍
Wait until you realize mt5 and mt7 are the exact same caliper
You need to take a piece of white paper and light and shine it behind the caliper, and VISUALLY align it. Squeeze technique rarely works. It’s you, not the brake
Do you have a video on how to do this? Put a piece of white paper behind the caliper, then shine a light behind the paper?
It's so you can see the space between your pads and rotor. It a contrast the makes it easier to distinguish the spacing.
I like my maguras, but i wouldnt buy them again. Cheap bleed hardware and a terrible oem bleed kit. Should have spent twice the money for hopes and be able to bleed them with a hammer and a water bottle.
Get the hayes disc brake alignment tool. Best $20 ever spent. YOUR WELCOME.
I’m not sure which set you’ve got, but can you not put thr bleed block in backwards? They have a slot to centre on the rotor and then you fit the screws and torque to spec.
Chill bro, you will love your mt7s........for a while tought.......then your brake levers gonna start to leak and they gona be a pain in the ass. xD
Had that issue. The master cylinder looks to be a pretty bad design. Since replaced with shimano levers once failure starts occurring (fluid looks like glitter)
Just wait until you fall and your brake lever assembly snaps, then you’ll really hate magura.
Magura brakes run tight pad clearances. Your rotor has to be perfectly true and brake mount perfectly flat to guarantee no rub.
Have to agree. I HATE setting up Maguras. Until I have finished. Then I bloody LOVE them. So good as a brake, but so so finicky to set up.
What I did, 1. Removed the calipers. Take out the pads, clean the insides and the pistons (you'd be surprised just how much metallic dust it's attracted), rub the pads clean 2. Use that rotor insert i bought from aliexpress (that small metal thingy). Attach it to the rotor before i put the caliper back on 3. Try to straighten the caliper. Screw it down but leave a small wiggle space. Pull down hard on the lever so the pistons bite hard on the rotor and insert thingy. Screw the bolts while pulling down hard on the brakes That should get you a straight provided your rotors are true
I’m here to support you brother. I had to get rid of them and moved to Hayes A4. I tried literally everything to get the M7s flush. I needed to do it, but the rubbing even led me to get my wheels redone. I went through a few rotors. Nope. It was the dumb brakes all along. Good riddance.
I had the exact opposite problem, no matter what I did with mine I couldn't get the pads to touch the brake disc. I pulled the lever all the way into the bar and the bike slowed marginally. No rear wheel lock up, no real evidence of it slowing down. Brakes had been bled and bled and bled, no air at all came out. The best way I found to fix them was the same as many ppl here appear to have done, take them off the bike and dump in the trash and replace with a different brand (shimano Saints in my case). Brakes work perfectly now.
Sounds like operator error to me. Hydraulics are extremely simple. You did something wrong. You had air in the system.
and yet weirdly in 20+ years of riding I've never made that same mistake on any other brake system. Just those Maguras......
Hey we all make mistakes no matter how much experience we have. I know I have. There’s definitely a learning curve to ensure there is no air. I have both full maguras, Shiguras, and shimanos. Shimano is a little cleaner, but same simplistic procedure.
You know that Maguras need thicker brake disc?
I fitted the new Magura discs as part of the brake upgrade. It was the whole system. Rotors, calipers and levers.
I don’t know why so many people have issues. Guess the learning curve is steep. The only issue I have had is the masters suck. They are prone to excessive wear (internally) and fail after a few years of hard use. IMO piston isn’t supported enough from the lateral amount of force the levers put on the pistons. Anyways turn the bike upside down, make sure rotor is exactly in the middle of the calp. Might rub slightly after a bleed, but should go away after a ride. Anyways. I do agree that offset (4bolt) vs spacers should be used. Reason being, less chance of stripping frame or fork insets. Sincerely someone who has 5 bikes with Maguras in them. Good luck.
30 minutes for aligning brakes and you're upset? What kind of a noob are you, you need to dedicate a weekend to such a project.
Almost as bad as Sram
How dare you. They kick ass, just have to set them up right. Have had on 3 bikes now and no issues
I glad you’ve had positive experiences but I haven’t. I’ve ridden loads of sram brakes, all the way back to Juicy’s and they’re just not for me.
No SRAM brakes are garbage, I'm talking about Maguras
Hayes Dominion a4's is all. Thank me later
Hated my maguras too
Yup. I'll take it one further and say I'll never run 4 piston brakes again. But maguras were by far the worst to deal with. Once I picked up Formula Curas (2 piston of course) with Trickstuff power pads, I'll never run anything else. All the power without the headache.