Disc Brake pads

purpledobra

Hi all, eventually plumped for the subway ltd edition cos of the disc brakes but reckon like all 'stock' brakes and pads they won't be the best quality. Don't want to splash just yet on upgrade so was going to just get new better pads but not sure what the differences are between semi metallic, kevlar, or sintered pads. Could someone explain to me? Does one last longer, performance differences? Seen some on discobrakes, for less than a tenner a pad. Are these pads going to be any improvement at all on stock pads?

As a pre-empt would I be able to stick say avid brakes without having to change the levers, rotor etc, or should I stick to Shimano upgrade?

Ta in advance.

bails87

Are they hydraulic brakes?

If so then you buy the brake as a 'set', the lever-hose-caliper is one 'part' really, inasmuch as it's all designed to work together. I don't think a lever would work with non-matched calipers. If cable then you can change levers/calipers.

Try Superstar Components for pads, they're well liked on the MTB side of the forum.

Sintered are long life pads, but they lack a bit of bite and don't cope with heat quite as well compared to Organic (these might be what you're referring to as semi-metallic, I'm not sure). It's the kind of thing you might notice if you're MTBing in the alps, but unlikely to be a problem on a commute! The tradeoff is that Organic don't last as long. Kevlar, as sold by Superstar are meant to be a 'best of both', with long life, but better grab.

I use Sintered on my MTB, cooked the brakes last weekend on a couple of descents (to the point where you can smell them burning and feel the heat coming off them even with your hand above the tyre) and they coped with that fine.

So basically, go with sintered unless you're doing some extreme MTBing! you probably won't notice any difference between the stock and the replacements. If anything, some would claim that the official Shimano pads (expensive) that will be in there now are better than the Superstar/Discobrakes (cheap) replacements.

As for rotors, as long as they're the right size, they're pretty interchangable between brands, although Hope's floating rotors don't work with some brakes because they catch on the pad removal tabs, but I doubt you'll be using those.

warpcow

It's very unlikely that any new pad would be much better than the originals (assuming you change sintered for sintered, organic for organic, etc). Just replace when the current ones wear out.

+1 for Superstar's pads being good. I've had them in my Avid and Formula brakes and not noticed any difference in quality.

Eskimo427

+1 for Superstar Components.

What you could also try doing what works me and have a sintered on the back and a kevlar\organic on the front. If you do a lot of riding in dusty\dirty conditions you may find the rear will wear out quicker than the front due to the dirt.

apreading

I got 1 set of (green) organic EBCs from ebay a year ago, put them on my front and they cured all of the noises that the brakes used to make and were brilliant.

A few months ago I got some superstar sintered ones but I think there may have been a bad batch at the time - couldnt get them in my juicy 3s. Got some EBC from ebay and the quality of construction looks so much better - the moulding of the metal backing that the pads are fixed to looks really poor on the superstars, and the spring on the superstars doesnt grip the pad so they slide around. More importantly the EBC ones fit and work.

The organic ones are so much quieter and do perform better though.

Not sure about going back to Superstar but might try the Kevlar ones as this could be the best compromise for me but I dont think EBC do them. For now I think my next will be some more EBC organic.