XT 4 Pot brakes

What’s the deal with the current gen XT 4 por brakes? Do they suffer from the wandering bite point of the previous gen XTR Trail and Saint brakes in my possession? Or has Shimano corrected the issue?

I was having issues with wandering bite point. I bled them following a technique used by a team mech I came across somewhere. Fill the cup and let the brake bleed passively by gravity. I helped things along by pumping the lever to get rid of some bubbles. The brakes have been perfect since.

Unfortunately, I haven't got to use the 4pot brakes yet so can't speak to that.

This is the video here

ttps://youtu.be/piWBVDh1pTE

Yeah I’ve used the Marsh bleed in the past. I probably posted that link here 😂 

On Cura 4s right now. New bike I’m looking at comes with XT 4pots but I’m debating swapping over straight from new. Also lack of supply means there’s little to see and handle in shops.

I've had them since may of 2020 on my enduro, and have roughly 2800km on them. 3 sets of pad, 1 set of rotors and a slight amount of bite point issues until I did the bleed technique above, then rock solid. I used them in the WBP for 40 days, and plenty of trail riding elsewhere with no issues. I weigh between 200 and 220lbs depending on what I'm training for, so nowhere near lightweight.

So the key to the Marsh bleed has got to be something about getting air out of a tricky spot in the caliper then? 

Pretty disappointing that Shimano never offered a definitive solution.

I have had the new xtr 4 pots on my big bike and xt in my singlespeed. The xtr’s cracked a piston, and so I put some Cura4’s on. They are far and away a better brake than the Shimano - I’m a Shimano guy forever and it hurts to reload I could have been on these for a while.

I’ll sell my XT4’s and fit formula.

fwiw, i've been on the new slx 4 pots (which, as far as i know are functionally identical) for 6 months, and they've been perfect. great performance / value ratio.

Posted by: Heinous

I have had the new xtr 4 pots on my big bike and xt in my singlespeed. The xtr’s cracked a piston, and so I put some Cura4’s on. They are far and away a better brake than the Shimano - I’m a Shimano guy forever and it hurts to reload I could have been on these for a while.

I’ll sell my XT4’s and fit formula.

On the next bike likely give Cura 4's a go to satisfy the curiosity.

Shigura's on current bike required one half-ass 15 minute bleed at time of installation, with the caliper still bolted in place. Bite point hasn't moved one iota in the months since.

Ditto the Sram brakes I've had.

Previous 3 sets of Shimano XT's removed caliper and all clips each time bled them and elevated the bike for a perfectly vertical hose. Bite point moved to some degree eventually afterwards every time.

DrewM made me try Cura4s after being fully on Shimano. After swearing off SRAM in the X.0 era. 

Sounds like I’ll just fit Cura4s to the new bike and flog new XT4s

I have XT 4 pots on my recently acquired HD5, they feel good - basically the same as the old saints on my hardtail. 

That said the old saints start to wander and need bled on a fairly regular basis, especially the rear. With how similar they function I worry the XT will be the same, but time will tell.

I have a set of 2 pot xts on one of my bikes. Great power and decent modulation. The only issue is that they get severe fade on long descents. I have 200mm hope floating rotors already. Will 4 pot actually fade less?

I'm running Shigura and my rear is doing to wandering bite point thing, so it's definitely a shimano master cylinder issue. My guess is the shimano fluid gets dirty and when you bleed the brakes, you force fluid up from the caliper and all of that crud goes through the master into the bleed cup. Well the seals on the main piston get gummed and sticky which leads to the wander.

Posted by: RAHrider

I have a set of 2 pot xts on one of my bikes. Great power and decent modulation. The only issue is that they get severe fade on long descents. I have 200mm hope floating rotors already. Will 4 pot actually fade less?

Larger caliper and pad  and more fluid volume should allow the caliper to provide more assistance in heat dissipation, especially with finned pads, which should help with fade.

I've always been a bit biased towards Shimano XT brakes because of how easy they are to maintain and how consistent the stopping power has been! Yeah they never won any awards in regard to modulation however overall I definitely always preferred them for how simple they were. Then they made the XT brakes with 4 piston calipers (basically a saint brake with XT lever) and I was stoked! Stopping power is plentiful and and modulation has definitely improved over the 2 piston XT brakes. Yeah they still arent Magura MT7's when it comes to modulation (those brakes are insane!) however how easy they are to maintain (bleed) definitely puts them up there as my favorite brakes so far!

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