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Need to bleed my elixir 5's
Hello as the tittle says im looking for an avid bleeding kit to buy. Ive got elixir 5's and they seem to be quite spongy, loosing power, and almost touch the handle bars under hard breaking. So now is the time for a bleed!
And secondly, i think its quite a common problem with the elixirs but my back brake makes a very weird noise (almost like someones running there metal fingers over the edge of the wavy rotor) and both brakes squeel like pigs (more so back) ! Besides that i cannot complain lol, got awesome power, awesome feel, and good modulation. No problem sending me otb with one finger 
Thanks, also drop some comments if your having or had the same problem with your elixir's
Jono
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Although this doesn't help you I get the same noises. Drives me insane and will probably change to Shimano's or Formula R1's eventually just to try another brand. I have Avid Juicy's on my Trance and never an issue. Also, other bikes with same brakes aren't noisy so I guess its how lucky or unlucky you are. People also describe it as a turkey gobble noise, google that and you will see plenty of fixes.
Now to you spongy feeling. you shouldn't need to bleed them unless you have done something to introduce wear. As your pads wear the lever will get closer to the grip and if you have run out of adjustment then pop the wheel off, very carefully squeeze the brakes to bring the pads in closer and refit the wheel. This will make them feel like new. A couple of points though;
1. This is assuming your pads aren't completely worn out
2. Do it with your bike upright. If upside down you can apparently introduce air into the lines
3. Be careful not to pop your pistons out.
4. Do it carefully and gradually as you don't want the pads to be rubbing
5. Did I mention to be careful not to pop your pistons out
PS. You seem to have a lot of brake issues
if you have a old pad or something thin that is hard put it too use inbetwwen the pads so the pistons don't pop out or tie a rubber band around the lever overnight . Does it happen when you first take off riding or when you been on the trail a while ? When you first start riding cruise around slowly applying the brakes firm might be a option ? I rode home in the drizzle today & my brakes were ok I have Elixir R
The back brake is always making that noise no matter what, thats the only thing that annoys me cos you can really feel it through the bike (still the same performance) i think the squealing goes away once they warm up. The only thing im concerned about is the bleeding situation. Im lead to believe they need a bleed because the pads still have plenty of meat, and ive never blead them before. The bike also stands from time to time generally i ride once or twice a week except the past few weeks / month due to exams and rain
Believe it or not i really havent tampered with these brakes, besides pulling pads to check meat. Unlike my old second hand lx's
hi jonathan, I have hayes brakes on my merida they tend to be a bit noisy when there wet but work awesome, have you had any damage to your brake lines cos they would only need bleeding if they have air in them which shouldn't happen unless damaged or open,,, good luck mate
I was talking to the mechanic at my LBS the other week about the noisy brake issue on elixir's. He said that the only way to cure this properly was to change over to a soft compound non metallic pad. Yes, your pads will wear out quicker but they won't make that annoying sound. It depends on whether you want to spend the cash on newbies early? Otherwise, hang in there until you wear the current ones out.
I've tried and currently have the organic pads and they are still noisy as. A fix that seems to work for one doesn't work for another.
SwissStop makes a disc brake silencing spray which i am told works pretty well without screwing up your brakes. Haven't tried it myself so i can't really say from experience. Check it out here: http://www.swissstop.ch/SwissStopSilencer.aspx
Just wondering were these set up by a shop or by yourself?
um make sure ur wheel is on straight, i know this sounds silly but i had the same problem and i found out the back wheel had tilted slightly in the dropouts and this was causing the noise, straightened it out and noise gone
mind u i have 203mm discs 
Bought the bike second hand, so ive hand nothing to do with set up, i also have the 203mm rotor on the front
I have had noise from my avid back brake that went away after removing and replacing the rear wheel. Didnt see anything wrong with it when it was making the noise so I guess they are just sensitive to disk alignment.
um what bike is it??
mines the Stump Jumper 2011 with 203/185 and mine was the rear wheel alignment.
2009 trance x2, its possible thats the problem.
Could also be caliper alignment on the bike.
Doesn't matter if the rear wheel is on 100% straight, if the caliper has taken a knock and shifted skewly in its position on the mount you'll get disc rubbing.
I had a similar issue and solved it by
1) Removing Rear Wheel
2) Slightly loosening Caliper bolts on frame mount
3) Refitting wheel
4) Squeezing rear brake lever so caliper shifts to exact centre position around the disc, then tightening the bolts on the Caliper again.
Worked for me!
Or you could just try step 2 and step 4 and save some time - what's with removing the wheel??
I took the wheel off to make sure its seated correctly and straight when I put it back on.
Probably unnecessary, but no point adjusting the caliper if they wheel isn't seated properly in the dropouts