I don’t own any piston spreaders. Screw type spreaders always look too slow to me. Anyone have experience or thoughts on plier type versions?
They may look slow but they are not.
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The screw type spreaders work great and only take a few seconds. I only have experience with the screw type and see no reason to try anything else.
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Thirded. Sure, sometimes it would be nice if they were a bit less fiddly, but it’s nothing an electric screwdriver can’t sort (probably).
The Hazet things look great, but they’re BIG by comparison, and I can imagine them having access challenges that are just as fiddly.
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Fourth-ed. I like the screw type piston spreaders because it lets you get a feel of what the pistons are doing. Spread the pistons too quickly and you might miss them acting up, misbehaving, and/or catching onto something due to misalignments, etc.
In my view, some things should not be rushed…
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Almost forgot about these - I’ll probably get one when the local distributor finally gets stock:
That does look very interesting
For speed, the twin plastic wedges you can find on Etsy or Temu and pretty much anywhere else for $5 is probably the quickest but probably not very versatile.
If you’re looking for the Birzman spreader, it’s also sold as a Tektro product.
I have been looking at that Birzman. I have used the screw type adjusters and they are nice and smooth. However, I started using the inexpensive opposing plastic wedges more and more frequently. I guess because they are quick and easy to use. I have used them on road, gravel and MTB’s.
I like to be able to ‘feel’ the pistons as you gently persuade them back home. The feel might be a bit suppressed, but you can feel binding or resistance upon setting them. A set was gifted to me several years ago and I just never used them, but I finally tried them on a few calipers and was pleasantly pleased. They have become my go-to on full bleeds.
I plan to cover this topic (again) once I finish a few more pressing reviews (intended).
Short answer: I’d suggest avoiding the Hazet. It can act as a long lever for pushing pistons in diagonally. It’s not that stiff and so you can see it flexing on tight pistons. And it’s expensive for the task.
Related, my review of the Birzman can be seen here: Threaded #54: New Tools for Days
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I believe those were invented by EC member Chris Heerschap, and widely copied since then. Here are the originals, also available on his Printables profile.
https://www.etsy.com/de/listing/1554333966/fahrrad-scheibenbremskolben-spreizer?ref=share_v4_lx
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Thanks for all the feedback.
On a related, but different task (and tool?): I sometimes struggle to hold a pad in place as I pump the levers in an effort to balance piston engagement. Is there a tool for that? I usually just stab a flat blade against one pad or push the rotor against the pad I want to hold in place. It works, but it feels like more faff than than it should be.
@Chris_Heerschap has a product for that too, works really well! (CMH Design on Etsy or printables).
This is the link to Chris’ brake maintenance blocks.