Cheap brake pads could shorten the life of your wheels...don't do it!!

[Lloss]

I have always used Campagnolo or Swiss Stop in over 50 years of cycling and never had a problem,the same with cars cheap pads. equals scored discs

 

[Blue Hills]

In winter I do non-urgent braking more with my front brake because the rim is always cleaner.

Unless I'm mistaken, when cleaning my rims (which I do pretty religiously) I usually find more ingrained filth on the front. I had assumed that this was it got first dibs at the road muck whereas the rear is more sheltered.

Am I going mad or does anyone else find this?

 

[Globalti]

You're going mad.

 

[beeblemaster]

While there is a thread discussing various pads... may I ask if you guys find that with your front calipers, your right hand (drive side) pads always wear faster than your left?

On both of my road bikes my right pads do this and I end up chucking perfectly good half used left pads away when it comes to replacing them. I'm convinced my calipers are centred correctly (Tektro long drop calipers).

Could it be the pad compound? I always use disco brakes as mentioned above. They're cheap but braking performance is really good and I don't experience concerns highlighted in this thread... other than the way the pads are wearing unevenly.

Thanks.

 

[DWiggy]

While there is a thread discussing various pads... may I ask if you guys find that with your front calipers, your right hand (drive side) pads always wear faster than your left?

On both of my road bikes my right pads do this and I end up chucking perfectly good half used left pads away when it comes to replacing them. I'm convinced my calipers are centred correctly (Tektro long drop calipers).

Could it be the pad compound? I always use disco brakes as mentioned above. They're cheap but braking performance is really good and I don't experience concerns highlighted in this thread... other than the way the pads are wearing unevenly.

Thanks.

Mine wear out quite even although not exactly, do you make sure they are centred so that they done pull the wheel over?

 

[beeblemaster]

Mine wear out quite even although not exactly, do you make sure they are centred so that they done pull the wheel over?

Thanks for that. Yeah I check the centering at the mounting and tend to the adjusting grub screw if needed, it looks fine to me when pulling the cable. It seems odd I'm having the same on both bikes but the common things are both are Tektros albeit different models and both use the disco pads. The rears appear to be even enough.

 

[airbrake]

I would have to pick out metal shards stuck in the pads!!, this never happened with the Swiss stops not once did I notice metal stuck in the pads so I have a suspicion that the cheap compound used on the Lifeline pads may contain metal as a braking aid.

I noticed this same issue on many bikes I worked on from the 1980's - and this practice is still taking place on certain pads. The affected pads make a scraping sound and the rims quickly become scored. When you look at the pad material you find metal embedded (it's not from the wheels) and some of the pieces are very deep into the pad - what appears to be a tiny speck of metal on the surface of the pad often runs deep when exposed with a stanley knife.

Ironically, these pads tend to be the worst regarding stopping power... I recently bought 2 X sets of Avid V-Brake pads,and presuming them to be of 'decent quality' I installed them without looking closely at the pad surfaces. On first ride,the front brake made the characteristic scraping sound and when I returned I noticed the (brand new) rim had 2 concentric scores on one side. I took all the pads off and noticed metal particles randomly scatted throughout. When I dug into the left front pad it exposed some longer pieces of metal near the surface which had caused the damage. The bike was ridden in the dry on clean roads.

Far from improving our bike's braking performance, these pads are ruining it ! Sorry about being late to the discussion but hopefully this might alert some riders to what can happen - protect your lovely wheels !

 

[Ajax Bay]

When you look at the pad material you find metal embedded (it's not from the wheels) and some of the pieces are very deep into the pad - what appears to be a tiny speck of metal on the surface of the pad often runs deep when exposed with a stanley knife. . . .
Far from improving our bike's braking performance, these pads are ruining it ! Sorry about being late to the discussion

Late: 21 months late! The now departed @Citius stated the fact in his typically brief way.

The metal shards are coming from your rims - it's not in the pads already.

the pads don't have metal in them, that's all I'm saying.

@airbrake , the metal you find embedded in your pad material IS from your wheel (rims).

 

[Blue Hills]

I use discobrakes cheapo pads - maybe the cheapest going. Yes a few shards now and again - just clean your rims/clean and inspect the pads frequently - no great problem I find.

 

[airbrake]

Late: 21 months late! The now departed @Citius stated the fact in his typically brief way.


@airbrake , the metal you find embedded in your pad material IS from your wheel (rims).

Sorry, but no facts were provided by Citius, merely an opinion - which he was quite entitled to of course. Think about it - how do individual specks of metal find their way deep into a new brake pad ? Answer - the pads were moulded with abrasive particles in the mix. Some brake pads are almost entirely silent in operation - these do not have metal particles embedded. As the miles pass by, they do not become noisy - because they are not picking up metal from anywhere - least of all the wheel rims.

I have a set of V brake pads on my MTB that have now seen a couple of year's use. They were quiet in operation from day one and I've just come back from a ride and they are still virtually silent in operation. The rims have no scoring and the pads have no metal particles in them. If there were any substance to the claim that metal from the rims is being pushed into the pads it would be there - but there's nothing. By contrast, the pads on my other bike were noisy from the start and produced two fairly deep scores in a brand new rim - visible after around 150 miles. As I say, the metal particles were found to be scattered throughout the 4 pads.

Swissstop quote :
"Complete absence of abrasive materials which could damage rims"

 

[roadrash]

I think I can hear @Yellow Saddle rapidly approaching this thread

 

[Drago]

@Yellow Saddle (he's like Beetlejuice, needs calling three times)

 

[Yellow Saddle]

You rang m'lord?

Sorry, but no facts were provided by Citius, merely an opinion - which he was quite entitled to of course. Think about it - how do individual specks of metal find their way deep into a new brake pad ? Answer - the pads were moulded with abrasive particles in the mix. Some brake pads are almost entirely silent in operation - these do not have metal particles embedded. As the miles pass by, they do not become noisy - because they are not picking up metal from anywhere - least of all the wheel rims.

I have a set of V brake pads on my MTB that have now seen a couple of year's use. They were quiet in operation from day one and I've just come back from a ride and they are still virtually silent in operation. The rims have no scoring and the pads have no metal particles in them. If there were any substance to the claim that metal from the rims is being pushed into the pads it would be there - but there's nothing. By contrast, the pads on my other bike were noisy from the start and produced two fairly deep scores in a brand new rim - visible after around 150 miles. As I say, the metal particles were found to be scattered throughout the 4 pads.

Swissstop quote :
"Complete absence of abrasive materials which could damage rims"

Citius was right and he did not just express his opinion, but stated the facts. The concept that some pads have built-in metal is, well, just not true

Brake pads don't have embedded metal in them, no matter how cheap and how rubbish. Some pick up metal from the rim and that metal embeds in the pad. We've discussed the topic here often. Search for Koolstop.

 

[dodgy]

Buy a new set of the cheap pads. Cut them up while they're still brand new. You will not find metal.
End.

 

[airbrake]

You rang m'lord?



Citius was right and he did not just express his opinion, but stated the facts. The concept that some pads have built-in metal is, well, just not true

Brake pads don't have embedded metal in them, no matter how cheap and how rubbish. Some pick up metal from the rim and that metal embeds in the pad. We've discussed the topic here often. Search for Koolstop.

I'm familiar with shiny aluminium from the rims being attached to the surface of the brake pads. What I found was dull, grey particles embedded deep within the material - it looks like zinc or similar.