Which brake pads?

felix.london

Hi. I'm looking to get some new brake pads but there are so many options from so many manufacturers;

Organic, Sintered, Ceramic, Resin, DH, Enduro, Trail?

- alright, those last three are self explanatory but is there any benefit in getting DH pads (that are twice the price) when 90% of my riding is XC (I do do a few Alpine DH runs at the weekend) i.e will they last twice as long as trail pads?

btw - I have Shimano M525 hydraulic brakes on a customized '06 Rockhopper

Any help/advice appreciated.

Cheers.

cooldad

Organic and resin are the same - good in dry weather, but only last a few rides in lousy conditions.
Sintered last well but generally have less stopping power.
Kevlar are supposed to be the best of both worlds but more expensive.
Never heard of 'enduro' or 'trail' pads as such..

Anonymous

I'd argue that sintered actually have MORE stopping power, but can be as noisy as... a.... erm.
As noisy as a noisy thing.
So, Organics may not have quite the same performance, and get worn down very quick (potentially) in the wet, but they are almost always near silent.

mac_man

get them from superstar components - cheap as chips.
Pack of 4 sets is £17 - £25 depending on compound. So less then a couple of quid difference per set comparing organic to kevlar.

jon1993

have a look at my post one exactly the same the other day see if that helps anymore fue more replies on that one

felix.london

Thanks all! Probably 90% of my riding is done in dry conditions and up at this altitude I can't see much riding happening in the winter!

So I guess I go for the Organics although Kevlar sounds so cool it's almost worth the extra just for that!

Thanks for your input.

Northwind

Kevlar ones are very good... Better with heat than sintered, better with grit than organic. But sintered are only a drawback with really horrible abusive braking and there's not many places you can really do that in the UK.

ThePriory1978

I agree that Kevlar have a better brake performance than Organic/Resin but imo its only really noticeable on long decents with large heat build-up as they dont fade half as quick. However on a recent welsh trip it was wet and gritty and altho they performed as admirably as any pads in those conditions i'd worn them down to very very near the metal in 5 hours and had too change them on day two.

Saying that, I use Kevlar whenever i can for increased performance and if its wet switch to Organic/Resin cos they last a tiny-smidgen-fraction longer. I keep clear of Sintered cos the noise irritates me sooo much i dont use the brakes then go too fast and crash.

felix.london

Gone for the Kevlar 4-pack from Superstar Components - £25!

a load of 7-9km descents with 1km of vertical (2500m-1500m) next to my house! - life's tough hey?

Probably a stupid question but how do I know when my current pads have given up the ghost or need to be replaced. Don't want to damage the calipers or rotors and definately don't want them to fail on one of those descents!! :?

kdawg74

just see how much pad is left till you hit the backing plate,which is why the backing plate sits slightly proud of the pad area.
Or just wait for a screeching sound then you will know you have to change pads.

felix.london

Got it. Thanks. I do get some screeching but only in the wet...any ideas?

mac_man

My brakes always squeak in the wet. I believe it's normal... just the wet pad rubbing on the disc - bit like wiper blades on a semi-dry windscreen

felix.london

Yeah - that's what I figured. Thanks.

Do any of you guys ride with spare pads in your pack or is that overkill?

jon1993

Lots of people do, if you go through pads and keep using you trash your disks and that's a bit stupid and expensive mistake to make for the sake of carrying some tiny pads

jon1993

Lots of people do, if you go through pads and keep using you trash your disks and that's a bit stupid and expensive mistake to make for the sake of carrying some tiny pads

jedi_master

Enduro, DH and Trail pads are what Nuke Proof name their pads. They use a semi-metallic compound and from the description it would seem each of the three are slightly different.

I have a set of the Enduro pads but haven't used them yet though.

I keep a spare set of pads in my bag. I don't go through pads quickly but they are there just in case I need them.

felix.london

Yeah - seems to make sense. Thanks. I ordered the kevalr pads from Superstar components and after reading some reviews I just ordered the Semi Metallic/Organic from them too so I can see what the difference is. Just checked my current pads for the first time - they look pretty much done in to my untrained eye.

Hopefully Superstar's delivery to France wont take too long

Also does anyone know where I can buy some 'brake cleaner' - as per Bike Radar's maintenance tutorial?

Sorry, scrap that - just found some on Cycle Surgery.

Cheers.

felix.london

Mucc-Off Disc Brake Cleaner from Cycle Surgery - £5.99

Delivery to France - £18.00 !!

CRC has free delivery to France but no brake cleaner (that I can find)

Does anyone know of another retailer (or product?) to buy this stuff from?

Thanks.

Anonymous

don;t bother with any "brake cleaner", just go buy some Isopropyl alchohol. Or, erm... order something from within France.

Muttly1981

yeehaamcgee wrote:

don;t bother with any "brake cleaner", just go buy some Isopropyl alchohol. Or, erm... order something from within France.

I've found nail varnish remover to work as well as anyother named brand

felix.london

hahaha perfect - I'll raid the mrs' make-up draw! in fact - probably better for my health/happiness to find some Isopropyl alcohol actually...

Re buying kit in France - plenty of LBS near me but they're over priced (I guess for tourists - maybe their prices go down after summer?), their customer service sucks big time and they don't have an awful lot of kit for home maintenance - they're basically geared up to rent out bikes and service them themselves. And navigating an online retailer in my far-from-perfect French is asking for a headache - nettoyant frein à disque (disc brake cleaner according to Google Translate!).

CRC does free delivery throughout Europe so they're my best mates right about now! In fact Kyle Straights should be turning up this morning or Monday so I can do some more DH - learnt my lesson a couple of weeks ago riding DH round here with no knee protection - ouch

Thanks for your help chaps!

andrewjoseph

I use meths to clean my brakes.

Anonymous

How rude, eh, French people using their own language. They just don't think about the english at all.

felix.london

huh?

pots74

yeehaamcgee wrote:

don;t bother with any "brake cleaner", just go buy some Isopropyl alchohol. Or, erm... order something from within France.

Pleased you put this on as i was wondering this myself! Is it easy to get hold of?
Can you get it from your local chemist??

Anonymous

I'm not sure where you'd buy isopropyl alchohol from, maybe chemists, I suppose. We order it from industrial suppliers, since we use it to maintain old tape machines at work.
Cleaning tape heads and the like doesn't require much though, so there's always enough left for brake cleaning duties

antikythera

You can get IPA here. Definitely not the cheapest option, but is its convenient.

Zziplex

How about this stuff:

http://www.wilcodirect.co.uk/index.php? ... ts_id=3388

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/electrical-co ... 588f34684d

I've got some at home, will give it a try later.

Anonymous

No, and NO.
I've used hundreds of different electrical contact cleaners over the years, and not one of them has been suitable for disk brakes.
Get some Isopropyl alcohol.

pots74

yeehaamcgee wrote:

No, and NO.
I've used hundreds of different electrical contact cleaners over the years, and not one of them has been suitable for disk brakes.
Get some Isopropyl alcohol.

Cheers for the reply! can't seem to get it from any of my local chemists? :? I have some acetone which i use for cleaning the wax off my surfboard would this be ok to use??

Anonymous

Well, seeing as I've kept recommending the same thing repeatedly, what conclusion are you beginning to draw about possible substitutes?