Which Superstar disc pads?

ugo.santalucia

After finishing the original pads that came with my Hayes CX 5 disc brakes (which were good but not sold as spares), I went through a set of Swiss top green organic in no time. Great feel and power, but basically you need to adjust them after every ride, if not mid-ride. They also cost a fortune.

I recently bought Superstar Sintered pads, which don't seem to wear at all, but the downside is that they glaze, judder and squeek like crazy, so I am not happy bunny... they are great for commuting in London, but not OK downhill.

So, which way to go? I have seen Superstar also sell the kevlar pads... I have read that they are the best of both worlds, but I have also read they do not advise using them for long descets, which I do plan to do...

Open to other brands too, whatever is good, available and not horrendously priced...

Anyone with extensive disc pads experience?

Fabius

I switched to Uberbikes sintered pads in September on my Formula R1 mtb brakes. I've found that they are better than the superstars equivalent, which I'd used before that. I'll be putting them into the Spyres on my cx bike in due course.

veronese68

I'm on Superstar sintered and have to brake hard occasionally with the rear to keep them clean and stop them glazing. Haven't had a problem on the front as that does most of the braking. They squeal in the wet, but only for a bit. Other pads I've used are the original Avid pads that came with the BB7s, didn't glaze as much but squealed much more in the wet. I've used Shimano standard (resin) pads on MTBs not noticed them squealing or glazing. Glazing may be prevented by being used on rougher surfaces so a bit of dirt is always in there to scrub them. Not done any long fast descents on them.
I could try and swap some Shimano pads into the front of the green bike and see how they perform. But are the CX5 pads the same shape as any of the Shimano ones?

nicklouse

MTBs tend to recommend the Kevlars.

never used any of theirs so cant comment.

ugo.santalucia

Veronese68 wrote:

I could try and swap some Shimano pads into the front of the green bike and see how they perform. But are the CX5 pads the same shape as any of the Shimano ones?

No, they have their own shape...
Descending in the mud is fine but descending on dry they squeak, glaze and lose performance pretty rapidly

ugo.santalucia

nicklouse wrote:

MTBs tend to recommend the Kevlars.

never used any of theirs so cant comment.

I was a ibt perplexed by the sheer number of people who seem to have gone through a set in a day... last thing I want is to find myself half the way through the etape du dales with no brake pads left...

Any experience with RWD pads?

nicklouse

oh it is very easy to go through a set in a day or a half.

dragging the brakes in the wet is the worst thing.

I always have atleast one spare set and tools in the camelback.

dry conditions organics, wet sintered. and yes I would change and label what was what and what went where.

ugo.santalucia

nicklouse wrote:

oh it is very easy to go through a set in a day or a half.

dragging the brakes in the wet is the worst thing.

I always have atleast one spare set and tools in the camelback.

dry conditions organics, wet sintered. and yes I would change and label what was what and what went where.

So seeing I will abandon the mud and do mostly road from late March-April, you would go organic again?

Fabius

I would use organic for single application in reliably dry conditions ie a summer race or fun day at a trail centre. Only set I ever used lasted about 50 miles.

nicklouse

TBH I will step away as I have zero experience of road set ups but here is a very good bit of info

viewtopic.php?f=40073&t=12674934

it was written for MTB brakes a few years back but the reasoning for the organics and sintered is taken a bit further.

wet roads can be a pad killer as well.

and there is no rule saying you must have the same compound front and rear.

70\ʹspenguin

Can't recommend http://www.discobrakes.com enough. Same company who make exotic forks. Kevlar pads are definitely the way to go. Extreme stopping power amd mo masty squeal.

harry-s

Ugo, I've had a set of Swissstop Organics on my road bike for about 4000 miles, and I'd say they're about 60% used. If you're only riding them on the road then they should be ok.

ugo.santalucia

Harry-S wrote:

Ugo, I've had a set of Swissstop Organics on my road bike for about 4000 miles, and I'd say they're about 60% used. If you're only riding them on the road then they should be ok.

I think I killed mine quickly during last year's wet winter

Shuggy76

Kevlar pads have great stopping power, no doubt, but will wear extremely quickly in the wet! I had this problem on the passportes du soleil last year, ran out of pad after a single wet day!

ugo.santalucia

Shuggy76 wrote:

Kevlar pads have great stopping power, no doubt, but will wear extremely quickly in the wet! I had this problem on the passportes du soleil last year, ran out of pad after a single wet day!

Do they wear quicker than organic?

Shuggy76

Maybe not that quickly no, and my use was for mostly downhill riding, so you could say extreme, however the wear rate was an eye opener

apreading

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Shuggy76 wrote:

Kevlar pads have great stopping power, no doubt, but will wear extremely quickly in the wet! I had this problem on the passportes du soleil last year, ran out of pad after a single wet day!

Do they wear quicker than organic?

Kevlar pads are organic - they simply have kevlar reinforcement to reduce wear. They are actually 'kevlar reinforced organic compound brake pads'. And they do this with minimal reduction in performance (in my opinion). I only use kevlar now (from superstar) although if I bought new brakes and they came with something else (usually sintered), I would wear them out before replacing. Give just about all the benefits of organic but last longer. I did have one bad set from Superstar that I fitted for a tour round Tuscany last year - the front ones seemed to brake fine until they got to a certain temp then made a noise and lost all stopping power until I cooled them down before I could use them again - was really worrying on some of the steep descents! Swapped them out for a spare pair that I had brought which worked great without this problem - can only assume that there was some manufacturing fault with that pair or something in the process that contaminated them. Have had many sets that have worked really well though. Any pads will wear quickly in sandy/grimy wet conditions - some people even get through a set of sintered in a day under bad mountain bike conditions. Mine have seen lots of wet abuse and whole winters on the road bike without showing increased wear - they have been really good.

ugo.santalucia

thanks, very good post

meanredspider

I'm always pretty happy with organics. I only use sintered off-road in mud.

ugo.santalucia

meanredspider wrote:

I'm always pretty happy with organics. I only use sintered off-road in mud.

I think I am overthinking it... frequent pad adjustments were not a big deal after all... I might try the kevlar reinforced ones

cycleclinic

Try ebc pads never had a bad experience on those. I run organic pads on my mtb and will switch to etc organic pads on the road disc bike when I remember to order them.

MichaelW

For everyday riding, I use Superstar organic in Shimano cable discs. I change them once/year.

ugo.santalucia

MichaelW wrote:

For everyday riding, I use Superstar organic in Shimano cable discs. I change them once/year.

For everyday riding I am happy with pretty much anything... problem is I have a trip to the alps and have signed up for the Etape du Dales, so I'd like something I can rely on for 8 hours of ups and downs without having to stop and adjust.

cycleclinic

these ugo if you really don't want to adjust the pads often.
http://ebcbrakes.com/product/ebc-gold-pads/

ugo.santalucia

thecycleclinic wrote:

these ugo if you really don't want to adjust the pads often.
http://ebcbrakes.com/product/ebc-gold-pads/

Yeah, but sintered... I am on sintered now and I am not overly impressed with their performance on steep descents and stuff... they just squeak like mad as soon as they heat up and glaze

pippi_langsamer-2

Also have the Uberbike Sintered pads on my hardtail MTB:

http://www.uberbikecomponents.com/view- ... Brake-Pads

They've been fairly battered thru the Winter gloop, and are still going strong! No squealing nor glazing.

I'll be buying again for sure....

cycleclinic

That i sthe comprimise you have to make. Organic wear, sintered can squeal although it does depend on the pad compound/brand. I have not had issue with EBC sintered pads squealing but it does also depend on how much material gets deposited on the rotors and this in turn depends on the rotors used. Some seem better than others.

I have a squealing issue at present. New pads and rotors will be fitted (XT rotors and EBC pads) to cure it.

nicklouse

ugo.santalucia wrote:

thecycleclinic wrote:

these ugo if you really don't want to adjust the pads often.
http://ebcbrakes.com/product/ebc-gold-pads/

Yeah, but sintered... I am on sintered now and I am not overly impressed with their performance on steep descents and stuff... they just squeak like mad as soon as they heat up and glaze

maybe you need bigger rotors. read the link earlier?

ugo.santalucia

nicklouse wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

thecycleclinic wrote:

these ugo if you really don't want to adjust the pads often.
http://ebcbrakes.com/product/ebc-gold-pads/

Yeah, but sintered... I am on sintered now and I am not overly impressed with their performance on steep descents and stuff... they just squeak like mad as soon as they heat up and glaze

maybe you need bigger rotors. read the link earlier?

Recently upgraded the front to 180. It's to do with the sintered pad

ugo.santalucia

To my surprise I found a pair of Swisstop green organic pads in the drawer... fit them last night and all the grabbiness, gobbliness, judderingness and squeekiness of the sintered have disappeared... I guess I'll have to stick to organics and live with the rate of wear, at least at the front.

meanredspider

I think you'll be fine with some good value pads like the SSC ones (once your Swiss Stops have gone). Even when I was commuting up to 150 miles a week in the Highlands, I wasn't conscious of changing the pads very often. I think I used to multi buy the SSC ones.

When I was in Bourg D'Oisans (however it's spelt), the local bike shops only stocked organic pads as, apparently, a French MTBers prefer to wear the pad than the disc. I needed some extra pads because my faulty TRP HyRds weren't compensating for wear so I now have several sets of part-worn (bedded-in on the Alpe ) pads.