carbon rims in the rain

[Climb01742]

ok. i know the braking suffers a lot vs alu rims in the rain. been there, done that. but here's the rub: i dig how my reynolds rims ride. has anyone found a brake pad that only mildly sucks in the rain vs majorly sucks? merci (rain) buckets.

[zap]

have you tried swiss stop yellow? work ok on bonty xxx and older zipps.

[Lionel]

I find the Bontrager cork OK.

[hokoman]

have you tried swiss stop yellow? work ok on bonty xxx and older zipps.

i was warned by my trek/bontrager dealer (who i worked for over 10 years ago - so i totally trust him), that the swissstop yellow pads on bonty xxx lite wheels are a bad idea. he showed me some pictures or delaminated wheels, and said that he thinks it's a heat build up with the yellow pads and bontrager wheels, and bontrager will not warranty any wheels without the bonty corkpads..... let's just say, i have mine on order.

[happycampyer]

I was going to suggest the SwissStop yellow pads or cork pads as well. Note that there are different versions of the SwissStop pads. For Campy, for example, there are two shapes that I have—one that is solid with little notches on the sides, and the other that had three deep channels cut into it (like a stock Campy brake pad). I wonder of the one with the deep channels would be better at diverting water?

The Reynolds wheels I have came with a set of carbon-specific brake pads made by SwissStop. They were black, but I believe that they are different from the regular black SwissStops. I don't think Reynolds has the same issue with SwissStop pads that Bontrager has.

[Lionel]

I also find switching from Alu to cork rims easier with the Bontrager cork. The swissstop yellow tend to accumulate small pieces of aluminum more than the cork pads.

[don'TreadOnMe]

Climb-0
I've been using the Reynolds black pads for a while now.
They are fantastic.
don'TreadOnMe

[TAW]

i was warned by my trek/bontrager dealer (who i worked for over 10 years ago - so i totally trust him), that the swissstop yellow pads on bonty xxx lite wheels are a bad idea. he showed me some pictures or delaminated wheels, and said that he thinks it's a heat build up with the yellow pads and bontrager wheels, and bontrager will not warranty any wheels without the bonty corkpads..... let's just say, i have mine on order.

That's interesting. I've been using the Swiss stop yellow with Bontrager xxx lite and Zipp 303 without any issues, and the Swiss stop do much better than the Zipp Kool stops. But I may rethink this in light of this. How do the Bontrager cork pads work on other wheels?

Thanks

[zap]

i was warned by my trek/bontrager dealer (who i worked for over 10 years ago - so i totally trust him), that the swissstop yellow pads on bonty xxx lite wheels are a bad idea. he showed me some pictures or delaminated wheels, and said that he thinks it's a heat build up with the yellow pads and bontrager wheels, and bontrager will not warranty any wheels without the bonty corkpads..... let's just say, i have mine on order.

In over two years of use never had a problem but have choices so can easily swap pads.

Bonty cork pads are ok with 5 year old zipp rims. Not as good as Bonty/Bonty.

The pads I will never purchase again are zipp branded pads.

[hokoman]

i don't know where you guys live, but here in northern california, there are hills that require a bit of braking, and i think the overheating problem could partially be blamed on that if not entirely. i was living in south texas when i got my wheels, and there isn't a hill to be seen.... so braking was just the usual stop light. i did notice a small hint of yellow brake pad residue on my xxx wheels, but never thought much about it. i know someone who has ridden their xxx wheels over 20k miles and on only their second set of bontrager pads... and that's living in the bay area too... i was joking with the shop owner that the only reason why he called me was to get more money out of me after he found out from one of the mechanics i was riding with swissstop pads! but he knows i've spent a TON of money there, and he would never try and sell me something he didn't think i needed (as opposed to wanted).

[GBD]

Been using swissstop yellow for about 2 years on Campi carbon wheels. A few weeks ago, I found noticeable wear on the rims.
Is that common? LBS assured me it is and that there is no need to worry.

[jbrainin]

Been using swissstop yellow for about 2 years on Campi carbon wheels. A few weeks ago, I found noticeable wear on the rims.
Is that common? LBS assured me it is and that there is no need to worry.

Campagnolo states that you gotta use their brake pads or you'll likely wreck the sidewall of the rim. I thought that was just to sell brake pads until I read your comment.

To stay on topic for this thread, I've not found any brake pad that makes me comfortable riding Reynolds carbon wheels in the rain. Or Campy carbon. Or LW's either. I usually use the pads specified by the manufacturer and find that they are almost adequate in the rain. Given a choiice, I wouldn't want to do any technical descents with any of those wheels.

[GBD]

The swisstop do not work well in the wet.
Last run was in GA, day before Six Gap, we attempted to stretch our legs a bit the day before the event and got rained on about 45 minutes into the ride.
It seemed like the pads are grinding down the rims, creating a black by-product that made me worried.
I will probably put the Campi specific pads on and see what happens.