eduskator

The guy could have probably just patiently waited until his pads broke in properly. That's what I was trying to say.

rsbob 

My bad for not reading up through the posts. Busted!

Iride01 

I don't worry about having a visual gap between the pad and the disc. One piston might be easier for the spring pushing the pads apart to push in and have all the gap on the other side. As long as no pressure is being applied by that pad to the disc it's just as good if it had a visual gap.

Kontact

No visual gap = rub.

Iride01 

No, you just can't see the gap that's there because it's so tiny.

And even if there is rub, it doesn't mean that it's making noise that one will hear while riding or that it is wasting even a fraction of a watt of power.

choddo

true. But if you do have audible brake rub like Paradox, aligning the calipers with a visible gap is a surefire way of eliminating it (assuming a straight rotor)

Kontact

If you have to run your calipers off center to manage asymmetric movement of the pistons, it is likely going to just get worse. Take the 5 minutes to get the sticky side working right and adjust the brakes correctly.

frdfandc

I never use the brake levers to clamp down and tighten things up, which in my 12 years in bike shops, never worked for me. Last time I did this was with BB7's, and even in that instant I used business cards between the pads and rotor, which helped, but ultimately tightening down each caliper bolt a little at a time is the best way to get everything aligned. OP did the correct way of centering brake calipers.