Will rubber brake pads harm carbon rims?

[ghisallo-bda]

I live in a place that is not that hilly and I never have to do much in the way of braking except at a stop sign at the bottom of a hill. Now I have some carbon rims that I ride with from time to time. Do I need to go through the hassle of putting special carbon specific pads on my bike? Will the regular shimano (DA10) pads hurt the rims at all in the few seconds I apply the brakes?

I know that the main reason special pads are used for carbon rims is to buffer the heat that will melt ordinary rubber pads during extended braking periods. Are there any other reasons? Will the carbon specific pads do any harm to alu rims?


I see that zipp makes a pad that they say will work equally well on carbon and alu rims - maybe that's my solution. Maybe the regular rubber?

I basically want a pad that I can leave on and not have to change back and forth when I change wheels.

Thanks for the help.

[Too Tall]

Than change to a carbon specific pad and use that for both carbon and aluminum. The performance esp. as you described will be good. The problem , in your case, using regular pads with carbon rims will be poor modulation and I'm sure at some point you'll get pad melt onto the rim and make matters worse. Cool Stop has a good carbon specific pad.

Forgot to say I do have direct experience using carbon pads on alum. rims.