Do I need special brake pads for use with a ceramic rim?

jezcc

I'm getting a set of wheels with mavic open pro rims, with a ceramic braking surface. Do I need special brake pads. A guy I know says I do, but I've not heard that one before.

Nuggs

Yes - you need ceramic-specific pads. IIRC, the higher heat generated on a ceramic braking surface can easily melt standard pads.

Swissstop or Koolstop ceramic pads would be ideal...

jezcc

you got a link of where i can buy them online?

I'm not being lazy, just a n00b

broachboy

Yeah and get plenty of them, or make sure they have plenty of stock for the future , I had Ceramic rims on my handbuilts on my old Marin full sus, the rims used to eat bocks for breakfast :twisted: :shock:

robbarker

I got my ceramic type brake blocks for my Shimano BR600 brakes from SJS. In my experience they wear at the same rate as regular blocks on alloy rims.

broachboy

robbarker wrote:

I got my ceramic type brake blocks for my Shimano BR600 brakes from SJS. In my experience they wear at the same rate as regular blocks on alloy rims.

I am obiviously fatter :oops: , therefore maybe faster :? , less experienced :twisted: , and need to apply more braking while ripping flatout downhill but I can assure you that the blocks used in conjunction with my rims did wear at a some accelerated to normal rims with normal blocks.

Remember I am not talking road use here.

ride_whenever

maybe they are not as abrasively resiliant, hence off road they knackered quickly

robbarker

Should have clarified this is an audax bike, road use.

ride_whenever

of course, as indicated by the road section and the open pro rims, but ceramic rims and the similar pads are used off road too, and the thread has been derrailed :twisted:

Only kidding, in short, yes you need specific pads, from wiggle (.co.uk) kool-stop make good ones, they should last reasonably well in comparison to conventional rims/pads, but as per normal always carry two spare pairs in case of pad death.

broachboy

ride_whenever wrote:

similar pads are used off road too, and the thread has been derrailed

Please forgive me, this was not my intention.

Could I just ask your thoughts on this...... Given X amount of money, the majority of the riders out there would not buy a ceramic coated braking surface rim, they would more than likely plump for a factory built w/set with a machined & welded alloy rim or a carbon rim, with either a carbon braking surface or a carbon rim with an alloy machined / welded braking surface, if on the other hand they went down the handbuilts route the majority would go Open Pro / Reflex 32h on Record or Dura Ace. Now if ceramic coating is a quality addition to a top quality rim, why didn't it catch on in the factory wheelset category ? So with that in mind...

1.Is the method of applying ceramic to the rim to selective & costly.
2. Has the ceramic coating idea got a limited number of fans.
3. Or in testing the actual stopping distance / effectivness, is the improvement only marginal over SUP UB rims?

BTW I did not make a choice to buy my rims, they came on the Marin when I brought it.

dennisn

broachboy wrote:

ride_whenever wrote:

similar pads are used off road too, and the thread has been derrailed

Please forgive me, this was not my intention.

Could I just ask your thoughts on this...... Given X amount of money, the majority of the riders out there would not buy a ceramic coated braking surface rim, they would more than likely plump for a factory built w/set with a machined & welded alloy rim or a carbon rim, with either a carbon braking surface or a carbon rim with an alloy machined / welded braking surface, if on the other hand they went down the handbuilts route the majority would go Open Pro / Reflex 32h on Record or Dura Ace. Now if ceramic coating is a quality addition to a top quality rim, why didn't it catch on in the factory wheelset category ? So with that in mind...

1.Is the method of applying ceramic to the rim to selective & costly.
2. Has the ceramic coating idea got a limited number of fans.
3. Or in testing the actual stopping distance / effectivness, is the improvement only marginal over SUP UB rims?

BTW I did not make a choice to buy my rims, they came on the Marin when I brought it.

I have a set of Mavic Reflex Ceramic tubular rims that I use for anything I want to use them for. They are nice climbing wheels and braking going down the big mountains
has never been a problem. The ceramic pads seem to last as long as standard pads on
regular wheels. You can't use ceramic pads on non ceramic rims and vice versa.
1.) Ceramic rims do cost a bit more.
2.) They weigh a bit more than standard rims and what with everyone always making
such a big deal out of light weight wheels I would imagine that this might keep some
people from buying them.
3.) It has been my experience that they stop you very well. Better than standard, but
by how much, who can say.
I have not had any problems with them other than you need to swap out the pads
when you change to a different set of wheels, but that's no big deal.

Dennis Noward