Brake pads in the wet?

ocaaaaa

I have some Shimano 105 brakes on my Synapse , looking to change the brake pads for some that work a little better in the wet, any recommendations?

I've done a search and found quite a few people fond of Kool Stop Salmon pads - are these the best to go for?

rhann

personally prefer disc brakes in the wet, don't feel you can beat them I've had most types of brakes but prefer discs to all of them. would like some hydraulic brakes though.

guilliano

Not an easy conversion to make on a road bike though.......

James_London

SwissStop GHP (the green ones). They can be slightly grabby in the dry now and then but a lot better than stock pads in the wet....

They are more expensive than stock pads but tend to last longer I find.

Jamey

Ahh, brake pads... Swissstop Green and Kool Stop Salmon are the two pads/compounds that get recommended all the time but the thing I found was that surprisingly few people had actually tried both of them.

Usually what happens is someone decides to 'give it a go' and buys one or the other which turns out to be quite a bit better than their old pads (because both Swissstop and Kool Stop are superior to pretty much everything else) then they come on the forum and recommend whichever one they opted for and stick with it.

Which is fine, but it doesn't settle the argument about which of those two is 'the best' (subjective term, I know).

So I decided to try both, one after the other. What I found, and this is only my own experience using the V-brake versions of both manufacturer's products, was that both pads offered a similar level of stopping power in both wet and dry conditions but the Kool Stop Salmon pads lasted a good deal longer than the Swissstop Greens. Probably about 33% longer I'd say.

John.T

I have not tried Swisstop but after using Salmon I never found the need to. I have only worn one pair out in about 3 years. And they were on the rear of my winter bike.

ocaaaaa

Definetely need to get some pads which are better in the wet - the cycle home today through West/South West London was crazy, couldn't get any more soaked and my brakes were pretty much useless :shock:

My O2 dongle was floating in a little puddle in my bag - wonder if that will still work, only had it a couple of days

bice

Yeah, while I am in my office waiting for the rain to abate a bit ... before discovering how good Kool stop salmons are in the wet.

Evil Laugh

Awesome, I have the same bike and same problem, was looking at the Swissstop Green but think I'll save some £ and give the others a go now.

Cheers.

weapons

Are Kool Stop salmon good in the dry too?

John.T

weapons wrote:

Are Kool Stop salmon good in the dry too?

Yes.

ScottieP

Another vote for Koolstop salmons - great pads - have had them on my bike since last winter and they've done about 3,000kms now - still going strong.

ocaaaaa

Just ordered some Koop stop salmons let's hope they're better than what I have now !

pabloweaver

Evil Laugh wrote:

Awesome, I have the same bike and same problem, was looking at the Swissstop Green but think I'll save some £ and give the others a go now.

Cheers.

you get a set of 4 pads for the price which brings them into line with others. Tried both , Swissstop and Salmon ...

Swisstop worked better for me, it felt a better compound....but as previous poster said its really so subjective.

Rims, weather, breaking style, set up, road grit , downhill of flat...so many variables to take into consideration that no two bikes & riders are going to exert the same wear at the same rate on blocks ( well thats my humble and not so scientific opinion ! )

NWLondoner

I have found that koolstop salmons take a while to work in the wet.

I.e if you start off in dry conditions they are the dogs, but if it starts to rain then for the next 30-60mins in find I have really appalling braking.

This morning it was only damp on the road but enough for my rims to get wet. I was going down Stanmore Hill and started to hit both brakes at the pedestrian crossing next to Ray Gardens. I ONLY just stopped in time at the lights/junction further down :shock:


I may give Swisstops a go instead.

pst88

I have the Koolstop salmon/black dual compound pads. Anyone know how these compare to full salmon? Any advantages or disadvantages of the dual compound?

Fifer

John.T wrote:

weapons wrote:

Are Kool Stop salmon good in the dry too?

Yes.

Another +1 for these pads.