What's wrong with my Hayes HFX-9 disc brake?

Okay, so I have a set of HFX-9's on my bike. Over the last couple of weeks I have been having some problems with the front brake. First I noticed that the lever had to be squeezed much harder and further to get the right resistance to stop. I checked the brake pads and they were fine. Then later I noticed that the lever was not returning properly and there was a substantial amount of play in the lever.

I thought nothing of it and just thought the brakes needed to be bled. So I took my bike down to my shop and they too thought it just required bleeding. This was done and there was no change. So now my front brake has been sent off to Hayes and I am stuck without a front brake for over a week .

Any ideas of what the problem is???

 

I had the same problem and the bike shop said the master cylinder in the lever had gone.

Needs to be replaced...

 

Okay, had my brakes looked at. Turns out that the pistons were sticking because my seals were badly swollen. The guy who did the brakes said that the seals had probably swollen because the brake fluid that my LBS uses has a high concentration of silica in it.

Has anyone heard of silica causing this problem? My LBS uses a standard dot 3 or 4 brake fluid they purchase from an automoive shop. The brake fluid is blue in colour.

Anyway I had to replace the pistons and a few other bits and pieces and it turned out to be a pricey thing to fix.

 

Are you sure it's dot 3 or dot 4? Because they are usually yellow/brown. I think dot 5 or 5.1 (can't remember which) has lots of silica, but I thought it was clear in colour. If you change to 5 or 5.1, you have to change the seals or they do exactly what you said they did...

 

It's weird that Hayes brakes are being discussed.I attempted to bleed my hayes brakes today for what seems like the hundreth time.I hate these brakes!I haven't had anything but problems with them.First the shop said it was the caliper, they replaced that and they worked fine for about two weeks.Then it slowly looses pressure.I have carried it back to lbs 3 times and they bleed them and they last about two weeks again.I bought a bleeding kit to do it myself and after alot of struggling have bled them about a million times.
The kit itself is a gigantic piece of sheyat.At this point I am just so frustrated with it all I am ready to sell the whole bike.
Hayes please choose someone other than pot smoking monkeys to do your engineering next time.

 

Yep I have to agree with you there. My Hayes brakes have been nothing but trouble too, it's one thing after the next and always at the most inconvenient times. I am not rough on them and I only use them for XC riding/racing so I'm not exactly putting them under too much stress. I love hydraulic disc brakes and I don't think I would want to use anything else, so I'm thinking of just saving up for a set of avid juicy 5's or 7's.

In regards to the fluid my LBS put in the brakes I have no idea what it is. I have had words with the mechanic regarding it (which I think he took offense to) and he assures me that it is a dot 4. I will find out next time I'm in there the brand and composition of the fluid.