Brake blocks that do not leave a residue?

[bernieUK]

Good morning

I have to admit to being fairly new to cycling and so my technical know how is limited and I am also a lazy bugger!

I have standard single gear road bike that I use strictly for commuting. It uses Shimano Tiagra brakes. What annoys the hell out of me is the black muck and glaze that the brake blocks leave on the rims. After a wet ride I normally wipe off what I can and every so often I clean the rims with some fine wire wool/water & then some White Lightening Clean Streak.

Are there brake blocks that do not leave any crap on wheel rims? Is there a easier way of cleaning them?

 

[dodgy]

It's a fact of life, you could convert to disc brakes but it's fairly expensive to avoid a bit of cleaning

Dave.

 

[Mr Pig]

I always use IPA to clean brakes. It doesn't leave any residue at all, which is what you want with brakes. I wouldn't use wire wool, you'll just scuff your rims up.

Unless the rims are really manky though I wouldn't bother. You're just chasing your tail.

 

[Amanda P]

I've heard that there are such things as ceramic coated rims, which you need to use with special brake blocks, and that these don't produce that grey gunk.

Never tried it, don't know anyone that has, just offer the rumour for what it's worth.

 

[Mr Pig]

I've heard that there are such things as ceramic coated rims..

I've heard of them too, but I know nothing about them. Did someone on here not say just the other day that he wore through the coating on his rims? What was that thread about? I can't remember.

 

[Globalti]

Have you ever polished anything like brass or silver with an abrasive polish such as Brasso? Remember that nasty black stain, which appears on the polishing rag? Well the nasty grey gunge, which appears on your wheel rims is the same thing; a fine powder of aluminium paste and rubber produced by the grinding action of the brakes on the soft alloy. It is your rims wearing away and one day they will wear right through and the tyre will burst off the rim bringing a thin strip of metal with it. This will happen very quickly if you allow a piece of grit to get trapped in the brake block as it will gouge a groove all the way round.

Keeping the rims clean and regularly cleaning the blocks will help. Try riding a MTB up here in gritty Lancashire and see how fast your rims wear out - until I bought a bike with discs I was going through a pair of rims every 18 months, I perfected the art of taping a new rim alongside the old and transferring the spokes over one by one.

You can buy wheels with a ceramic coating but eventually this wears through as well, looking rather unsightly as it does so. If you're off-roading you're better off fitting disc brakes, which are fantastic in all weather conditions.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

I find Shiomano brake pads over aggressive to the rims as they do seem to produce copious quantities of grey sludge. I changed to KoolStop salmons for all weather riding. They are a tad softer and so wear more quickly, but then I'd rather replace the pads than the rims.

 

[RedBike]

What annoys the hell out of me is the black muck and glaze that the brake blocks leave on the rims

That black muck isn't your brake blocks it's aluminium (from your rims) mixed with dirt.

Like Gery attirck suggested, a softer pad like KoolStop salmons wont wear your rims as quickly and therefore wont leave the same resiude.

It's a bit of a catch22 though as the pads themselves do wear rather quickly.

 

[Headgardener]

I always use IPA to clean brakes.

Hi all. Seems a waste of a good pint if you ask me.

 

[Amanda P]

No. You can still drink it afterwards.

 

[Mr Pig]

Hi all. Seems a waste of a good pint if you ask me.

There was a kid lived near me when I was young who drank what he thought were whisky dregs out of a barrel in the grounds of Inverhouse distillery. Turned out it was some kind of cleaning fluid! Idiot nearly died.

 

[simon l& and a half]

cleaning your rims with an abrasive isn't sensible. They do wear out.

My suggestion is to anticipate more and use your brakes less. All that black residue is created by energy you put into the bike.

 

[Steve Austin]

Baby wipes work well to clean wheel rims. A cheap pot of them form your local supermarket costs pennies. one wipe every couple of days willl keep your rims clean and working better.

 

[andrew_s]

Ceramic rims are clean, as virtually nothing is worn off them by the brakes.

They are expensive - about £70 each, but will last a lot longer than a normal rim. I've come to the conclusion that it's about break even cost-wise, so long as you don't crunch them on a pothole or something.

They are also more sensitive to the brake blocks used, so you may have to experiment to find something that gives good braking in the wet, but doesn't wear too quickly. If you want to experiment with blocks, it's best to test on the back wheel so that you can still stop if the brakes don't work. I've settled on standard shimano blocks.

 

[Mr Pig]

They are expensive - about £70 each, but will last a lot longer than a normal rim.

In the long run would you not be better springing a little extra and fitting disk brakes?