Brake Pads

[Dlevy05]

I've currently got a set of 7800 brakes with the stock pads, and was wondering if there are there any pads out there that reduce rim wear. I want to get the most life out of my rims as possible (like most, I assume). Is there any pad that people here know of that's better than others at minimizing rim wear?

[Chief]

I use Kool Stops.

[dave thompson]

I agree with Chief about the KoolStop pads. They seem to be much kinder to rims in addition to offering excellent braking.

[Charles M]

We might wanna ask what kind of rim before we name a product that works best on it?

[Dlevy05]

I didn't know it would make a difference, but it's a set of dt swiss rr1.1's.

And, (while I'm at it) would your answer be any difference in reference to a set of mavic crossmax's (mtb)?

[Ahneida Ride]

Kool Stops ....

Purchase the ones specific to your rim material

[rwsaunders]

I'm going with Kool (Dave T) and the Gang and recommend Kool Stops as well, at least for my metal rims. They do seem to grind less debris into the rims.

[AngryScientist]

i want to say that on an order of magnitude scale, the amount of gunk on the roads you ride, wet grime, silt, dust, sand and grit has way more to do with rim wear than brake pads themselves.

assuming you're talking about machined alu rims, i would ride the DA pads until they are worn. periodically inspect the pads for embedded debris and keep the rims relatively clean.

i personally prefer swiss stop to kool stop, but they're both good. i also think campagnolo stock pads are excellent.

[John M]

i want to say that on an order of magnitude scale, the amount of gunk on the roads you ride, wet grime, silt, dust, sand and grit has way more to do with rim wear than brake pads themselves.

Agree that the gunk wears the rims, but in my ample Seattle wet weather riding experience, Kool Stop salmons are way gentler on the rims than the stock Shimano black pads. The salmons wear more quickly and I burn through a front pair in less than two months in the winter, but brake pads are cheap compared to rebuilding a wheel. In my experience, the Shimano stock pads ate a front rim in a single winter.

[Blue Jays]

Some folks here will seriously wear through a rim in a single season?
This has something to do far more than choice of brakepad material alone.

[tv_vt]

I really like the Swissstop brake pads, too. Excelsports and CC have 'em.

[Peter P.]

i want to say that on an order of magnitude scale, the amount of gunk on the roads you ride, wet grime, silt, dust, sand and grit has way more to do with rim wear than brake pads themselves.

AngryScientist "gets it".

It ain't the pads that cause the rim wear.

While I've worn out my share of rims, they usually last so many years that I don't consider it excessive. Dlevy05, how often do you have to replace your rims?

[Johnnyg]

Try keeping any pad clean with sand paper, and denatured alcohal, also clean rims on a regular basis. Good luck JohnnyG

[false_Aest]

Uhm.

The answer is obvious!

Baguettes wear away the rim too fast. Must be wonderbread or soft rolls.

[Dlevy05]

AngryScientist "gets it".

It ain't the pads that cause the rim wear.

While I've worn out my share of rims, they usually last so many years that I don't consider it excessive. Dlevy05, how often do you have to replace your rims?


I'm on my first road bike, and haven't yet had to replace a rim (due to pad wear). In the many years I've had of XC and DH, I would usually break them before they would "wear out". For the time being, I'm just trying to think ahead and take any possible preventative measures, as my current wheelset was just bought used, with about 60% of it's rim life left.