burrs on braking surface of old lambda strada rims

[chwupper]

Riding a semi-vintage 3rensho that I put together over the summer: 8 speed chorus/record components, had NOS campy lambda strada rims laced to chorus hubs.

I'm finding that the brake pads/rims are not a happy combination. Slightest bit of grit or sand on pads results in burrs on the braking surface.

My questions: is it just the nature of this rim that it's going to keep getting burrs, or should I bag the pads in favor of something better/softer/newer? Also, should I bother to try to remove the burrs, or will they wear down with normal braking over time?

Thanks for the info.

[pbarry]

Softer pads will help. Older alloy rims/hard brake pads tended to do this. I used to have a weekly to monthly maintenance ritual of picking out the bits of aluminum from my pads, usually when the grinding got too loud.

[oliver1850]

Clean the brake track up with steel wool. Check pads for embedded bits of rim material. You can dig slivers out with pointy objects (heads of music critics are good, according to FZ), or you can file them smooth.

I've had bad scoring problems with some vintage pad/rim combos, even when both were NOS. I think it's more to do with the pad than the rim. Cleaning the top surface off the pads with a file may help the situation, or may not. I would smooth up the brake track as much as possible before trying different pads.

[fogrider]

I don't think old rims that are non anodized are not going to compare with modern alloys. back in the day, I would trash a rear wheel in less than 6,000 miles. I would need my wheels trued every month and break a few spokes a year. softer pads would help, but if you need to really use your brakes, they're just going to wear fast too.

[dvancleve]

I would replace the pads, the Kool-Stop salmon seem to be pretty gentle on rims. I used to have an older set of dual pivot Ultegra calipers with original pads that just chewed up the Mavic rims I had on that bike...

Doug

[Mister Donut]

Like the others said, clean them up (steelwool first then denatured alcohol) and repad.

[Ralph]

I've got a set of wheels with some old Campy rims of that era. Never noticed that problem, but did put new Campy pads on brakes. I would take oliver's advice. Clean up the rims, clean off the pads, before you buy new pads.