Which brake pads?

markfogel

I recently ruined by brake by flying downhill with worn out pads, by the time I was at the bottom I had a seized piston and damaged rotor. I ordered a replacement Avid DB3 (same as the original) and it came with soft resin pads which only lasted half a day at Bike Park Wales. I had sintered Aztec pads previously which lasted longer but were a bit noisy and had much less feedback or feel.
Just wondering what you guys use/recommend?

Thanks,
Mark

Poitr

I buy the cheapest semi-metallic pads I can find on Ebay. So far they have been as good as anything else I've used. The ones I currently have in the back were 2 pair for £2.50 from China.

rockmonkeysc

I use Superstar, Uberbike or Nukeproof sintered pads. Which ever is cheapest.
Kevlar pads are hopeless. I have killed a set in an hour at Val D'isare.

poah

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I use Superstar, Uberbike or Nukeproof sintered pads. Which ever is cheapest.
Kevlar pads are hopeless. I have killed a set in an hour at Val D'isare.

stop draging the brakes then :P

rockmonkeysc

I don't! There's a lot of heavy braking in Val Black, 45mph straights in to tight turns.

bigmitch41

Uberbike finned for me at the moment

rockmonkeysc

Finned are a bit pointless for UK riding. You never get descents long enough for heat to be a problem.

swod1

Überbike semi metallic, I'm using at the moment, not a fan of full metal pads after using sintered pads for a year in my xt brakes I didn't like the brake feel in the wet.

Going to try the race matrix pads at some point, must be decent if the syndicate team use them.

poah

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Finned are a bit pointless for UK riding. You never get descents long enough for heat to be a problem.

you're pointless

rockmonkeysc

POAH wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Finned are a bit pointless for UK riding. You never get descents long enough for heat to be a problem.

you're pointless

Now there's a well reasoned argument against my point.

The Rookie

Much as I hate to agree with RMSC, I agree with RMSC, part from a few downhill courses we don't get anything like the descent that risks overheating a pad such that you need finned in the UK.

rockmonkeysc

The longest descent I have found in the UK was 4km in the Howgill Fells but that didn't have much gradient so required little braking. Fort Bill world cup track doesn't even overheat standard pads.

FishFish

OK but you do set up your bike in the UK for what you intend to do and I go to Tenerife from time to time which means I have brakes and pads set up to a standard beyond what I'd need in the UK. I don't have the ballls for the Fort William series downhill (or even some of the pubs!). And no one is pointless on this forum.

FishFish

RockmonkeySC wrote:

POAH wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Finned are a bit pointless for UK riding. You never get descents long enough for heat to be a problem.

you're pointless

Now there's a well reasoned argument against my point.

Actually it is not a well reasoned argument it is the emanation of a bell head.

bigmitch41

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Finned are a bit pointless for UK riding. You never get descents long enough for heat to be a problem.

They work for me, just stick with the standard pads mate.

step83

Went back to sintered after using superstar kevlar, initial bite was good but seems once you get them wet they just become hopeless.

rockmonkeysc

Step83 wrote:

Went back to sintered after using superstar kevlar, initial bite was good but seems once you get them wet they just become hopeless.

Never noticed that

markfogel

One more question, does the design of the rotor affect pad wear? for example a rotor with small holes vs a rotor with big holes? Just wondering if the first example below would cause excessive pad wear due the big sharp edges...

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Aztec-Stainless ... AuOa8P8HAQ

vs

http://www.woollyhatshop.com/shimano-rt ... AjXW8P8HAQ


I am going to order metal and race matrix from Uber as these seem to be best priced at the moment as will be going back to Bike Park Wales this Sunday.


Thanks!

petriodet

i've try the sintered and the kevlar and both fell below my expectations, the sintered felt hard and i didn't like the feel and the kevlar had great feel and stopping power but didn't last long, i'm on the race compound at the moment and seem to be holding up great at the moment, the only thing is they seemed to take a long time to bed in.

FishFish

when I install new pads I file them to make the surface rough to assist bedding in. I think it helps - anyone else do this?

rockmonkeysc

No, the bedding in process is the surface of the pads wearing to match the grooves in the disc. Filing won't help that.
I quite often fit new pads before a downhill race. It never takes more than one run to bed them in.
You need heavy braking to bed in pads, not sustained gentle braking.

The Rookie

Agreed, the correct way to bed in brakes is short sharp hard applications, you don't want to get the pad too hot during bedding in which dragging the brakes is almost guaranteed to do, fresh pads glaze very easily.

cooldad

I just fit them and ride.

The Rookie

You don't ride fast enough to drag your pads (you'd come to a complete stop), so it would certainly work for you!

For info the Shimano procedure is 20 stops in relatively quick succession from a comfortably fast pace.

Chunkers1980

......in a safe environment

mattyfez

Yeh similar to car brake bedding.. Get some temperature in them by riding normaly and braking more than nessesary (probably not relevant on a bike, but on a car if you do an emergency stop on a disk/pad that's been sat overnight and is - 1c, you can thermally shock the metal leading to failure due to the rapid change in temperature) and then do a series of 'emergency stops' from fairly quick to almost a standstill, get back up to speed, rinse and repeat.

mark_fogel

FishFish wrote:

when I install new pads I file them to make the surface rough to assist bedding in. I think it helps - anyone else do this?

I just put them in and do a few hard stops usually that's enough for me. Just installed aztec sintered pads on 180mm rotor.. Oh the noise.... Never heard so much squeal from anything before.. Not really sure if it's the pads or the rotor!

swod1

mark_fogel wrote:

I just put them in and do a few hard stops usually that's enough for me. Just installed aztec sintered pads on 180mm rotor.. Oh the noise.... Never heard so much squeal from anything before.. Not really sure if it's the pads or the rotor!

Must have been something on the disc as normally get noise on metal pads in the wet, in the dry you can just hear the abrasive sound metal on metal.

One time a mate put new pads in and must not have reset the Pistons as when the wheel spun sounded like he had a voilin on his bike.

rockmonkeysc

My brakes sounded like a rutting moose this morning until they bedded in.

The Rookie

When I had Avids and a lightweight disc with metal pads they would scream like a Banshee on every minor application of brakes (so everyone knew when I was being a cissy!), It was clearly a resonance as it never changed pitch, I don't think the lack of stiffness in the silly CPS mounting helped, switching out to organic pads made it a lot better, fixed when I swapped to A shimano IS mount calliper which is mounted much more stiffly.