Hayes Brake Pad & Rotor Alignment Tool

Works great for the stubborn ones

I bought this tool to help me set up my brakes better. I have mostly mechanical discs but three setups are hydraulic. I was tired of the inferior power that you get after changing a tire for the most part. For hydraulic brakes that have a pair of opposing pistons, this tool is amazing and while others indicate you can just use two feeler gauges, don't listen! It is tight in the brake area and having a two bladed feeler gauge (which this is) works amazingly well. I just put the unit in the brakes, bungie the lever such that there is a lot of pressure on it, loosen the bolts so that they are about two turns off of tight. At this point, I can rotate the tire a small amount and the caliper clicks on the bolts back and forth a little. I next tighten the bolts by 1/4 turn at a time until both are tight and remove the bungie and tool and hello stopping power.For mechanicals that only really have one moving element, this tool is almost worthless. Just set the fixed side about .020 - .030, then adjust the cable length such that the caliper arm is at about 75% of full stroke (100% is completely relaxed and 0% would be the cable pulled all the way in by the lever). Next, bungie the lever down hard and do the bolt loosen/tighten thing like it was a hydraulic system and you are good.The difference between Pro and Shmoe is the tools and knowing the best practices for maintenance. You paid for good brakes, now it is on you to keep it dialed. This tool can help.

Bicycle disk brake calipers must be aligned to the rotor. There are slots in the caliper housing to allow it to be shifted side to side and angled. You can use a flashlight and do this by eye, rig up some shims, etc., but this tool sets the gaps and aligns the the caliper to the rotor easily, does not shift or fall out or aggravate you.Unseen in the product photo, there are two shims. You just barely tighten the mounting screws, slide the shims between the pads and the rotor and tighten the mounting bolts down carefully. Done! Works great.The skinny end of the purple part has a wedge edge so that you can insert it between the pads or the pistons, when detached from the bike of course, and spread them apart so they fit over the rotor.Is it worth the price? It does cost too much, but if it saves you aggravation and ensures a good job...good. And it will last forever and you may need to use it several times during the life of your bike and I would think it would work on other brake systems as well. The way I look at it, the cost is effectively half the selling price if you use it twice, and so on.Still, got to take off a star for the cost.

I saw this tool online and thought what a great tool. Every time I have to transport my bicycle to a place I can't ride my bike to. This can always be a hassle on re-aligning the disc with the brake calibers. Having a quick release front wheel is great for those of us on the go, who need to quickly take on and off the front wheel. The pain is getting the disc perfectly aligned when your get the wheel back on. Cause a rubbing brake pad slowing you down, means more effort to ride. Not to mention wearing our your brake pad or rotor.With this tool, you slide it between the pads and rotor, tighten the wheel down on the bike and it's perfect every time with no eyeballing if you got in on straight. Then you slide out the tool spin the wheel, and it spins freely every time with no friction on the brake pads or rotors. When you squeeze the brake and the calibers engage. They stop the wheel and let go, and go back to their positions like they should. I don't know what or how I did without this tool. Yes I can, re-aligning was a pain every time. With this tool it's a piece of cake.I highly recommend this tool for anyone who has to take their wheels on and off that own a disc brake bicycles. What a great product!

My new Ebike had a loose front wheel caliper which required me to re-align the caliper to prevent rubbing. Doing this by eye and trial and error was possible, but very fiddly. With caliper alignment shims, this job is very easy, and this tool will do the job, and more. The shims fold up against the rest of the brake tool, keeping them from getting bent or misaligned. It's compact enough to toss it into your portable tool kit.

Until I bought this tool I could never align my rotors. I'd align it by eye but then as soon as I tightened the bolts, the caliper moved. Frustrating!! This solves that. It's especially useful when changing wheel sets. Note that it won't help you if the rotor is warped. There are other tools that might help you straighten a bent rotor, but if it's too far gone you may need a new rotor. Last thing, I honestly don't recall where I bought this tool. I've had it for a few years now.

I found this tool somewhat useful. Could probably achieve the same effect by placing playing cards (like poker playing cards) on both sides of the rotor. Also, a feeler gauge from an auto parts store would also do the trick.

It’s embarrassing to write this review, but I must. One day I took my front wheel off my gravel bike with sram force hydro brakes, put em back on and had terrible brake rub. Almost un rideable. I spent at least two hours and countless more hours information binging on the internet working on a fix. I tried everything - but didn’t want to buy a silly looking product like this, it’s just a little slip of metal. So I tried the business card trick and the beer can trick and exercised the pistons, the whole routine. It should have worked but didn’t.Finally, Bought this thing as a last ditch effort before I was gonna bring the bike in for a full break overhaul. Put this thing on the rotors, tightened down the calipers and... PERFECT. sweet silence! No rub at all. I don’t get it - I should have been able to figure this out on my own, but nope I just needed the right tool. This is it.Save yourself the saga. If you have noisy hydro brake rub, you need this.