Avid Elixer 3 pads that work is the rain !

The secret rider

Normally these brakes are OK at best. They work and they are fitted with pads from halfords which were Clarks make or somethig.

Ok so been riding a fair bit this week it the rain .... And they don't work

I will swap these brakes out at some point but for now what would people recommend pad wise for all out power and performance not concerned about them wearing fast

Boromedic

Hi, I have Elixir 1's and never had problems in the wet when I used Superstar brake pads, either the gold sintered ones or the red kevlar race ones. Both were far better than the stock Avid pads. Ultimate performance wise the red's were superior but wore more quickly, with superstars 4 pack deals they're a bargain anyway compared to £10 ish for Clarks. Maybe they need a service/bleeding before fitting new pads and keep an eye out for sticky pistons.

;-)

The secret rider

So these ones ?

Kevlar A3 ?

http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/product_ ... cts_id=225

Any idea on a guide to bleed them LB shop says they are a pain to bleed

Boromedic

Yep they're the ones, like you say select A3 in each field and you're good to go. Plus you get a pack of Haribo with your order, always a bonus!!

As for bleeding I just googled bleed Avid brakes online for advice/instructions, there's a couple of youtube vids around to help aswell as links to Avid manuals in pdf, also Park Tools website was good. Only thing is you'll need a bleed kit which you can buy from most shops, I got mine from Chain Reaction for £25 ish. There are 2 types of kit though, one just has syringes plus a spacer and spares, the other comes with Avid brake fluid as well but is more money. If I had a choice again, I would buy one of the cheaper kits like this : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brake-Bleed-Avi ... B00AYRYVRC
but they don't come with the red Avid spacers which could be a problem if you don't have one. There are syringe only kits around and you can get DOT 5.1 fluid from Halfords for a good price, which maybe cheaper still.

I'll see if I can find links to the info I used.

cooldad

Why do you want to bleed them?

Boromedic

Here's the service manual I used, it's not written that clearly but it's not too bad. The proper Avid kit comes with instructions too though. https://www.sram.com/sites/default/file ... _rev_b.pdf This manual also shows you how to stop sticky calipers (uh errr!)

Here's a vid too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZylrZvICrY

Boromedic

cooldad wrote:

Why do you want to bleed them?

Why not? ;-)

Chunkers1980

Lots of reasons

Boromedic

Chunkers1980 wrote:

Lots of reasons

Hahaha, to bleed or not to bleed, that is the question?!!

To be fair I said he might want to bleed them as I don't know how long he's had the bike/brakes and the OE bleed can be poor (as discussed many times on here). As you know Avids use DOT fluid instead of mineral oil like Shimano (and I hate them for it!!), so they can require more fettling depending on use/issues. S'up to the OP, first time I swapped my pads I bled mine because I thought it would be a good idea, it improved them slightly but never cured the god awful squealing they make when they get moist though ;-)

Chunkers1980

Why would you have expected it to?

Boromedic

Chunkers1980 wrote:

Why would you have expected it to?

I didn't, lol!! Was just saying that's all, never needed a bell in the wet me just touch the brakes and everyone in a mile radius knows you're there. :oops:

The secret rider

Thanks for all the reply

Bikes about 2 months old now ... Probally done over 800km on it now and on 2n set of pads both front and rear brakes feel spongy always have. No hard end point to the lever just flex so to speak.

Maybe a bleed would cure this but perhaps this is just how they feel

Will order them pads up. Thanks

Boromedic

The secret rider wrote:

Thanks for all the reply

Bikes about 2 months old now ... Probally done over 800km on it now and on 2n set of pads both front and rear brakes feel spongy always have. No hard end point to the lever just flex so to speak.

Maybe a bleed would cure this but perhaps this is just how they feel

Will order them pads up. Thanks

No worries, yeah spongy is one word to describe them, the feel and bite was improved with a bleed though not a huge amount. Make sure you bed the pads in well too, I found the reds more sensitive to this than the gold sintered ones.

Neal_

Elixir brakes are well known for letting air into the system and working poorly when it's in there, best guide and vid on bleeding is this one http://www.pinkbike.com/news/tech-tuesd ... -2010.html

Uberbike pads are better than superstar and the same price, race matrix are really good but do die quick in properly minging peaks gritty filth but their sintered work great so can't go wrong with them http://www.uberbikecomponents.com/view- ... Brake-Pads

The secret rider

Neal_ wrote:

Elixir brakes are well known for letting air into the system and working poorly when it's in there, best guide and vid on bleeding is this one http://www.pinkbike.com/news/tech-tuesd ... -2010.html

Uberbike pads are better than superstar and the same price, race matrix are really good but do die quick in properly minging peaks gritty filth but their sintered work great so can't go wrong with them http://www.uberbikecomponents.com/view- ... Brake-Pads

Good advice thanks pads look great. Have you used the race versions ?