Campagnolo red brakepads: surprising wear-pattern, and should I replace them?

[lightweenie]

Hello all,

I am running campagnolo carbon brake pads on record 12s calipers and bora one 50mm tubular wheels. The pads are aligned to the braketrack and the caliper is set so that both pads touch the braketrack simultaneously when braking.

There are no complaints regarding performance, it is great. However I noticed that on the front brake the calipers wear in a different way. The right one wears evenly as one would expect, whereas the left one is worn much more towards the top so that it is maybe 1mm or a bit more from the wear indication line but it is worn less and much thicker towards the bottom. Attached is a picture, although I am not sure if what I describe is really visible…

My questions are the following:

- Is this wear pattern normal or does it indicate that I am doing something wrong with the set-up? Or perhaps that the rim is worn? (Although I don’t think it is)

- Would you replace it? Normally living in the flatland I should be able to get many more kilometers out of it, but I have a long event next month in the mountains with a lot of climbing/descending and am wondering if it is wise to replace them, especially since it could be wet conditions — I have enough spares at home anyways. What do you think?

[Mark McM]

The pad holders on these brakes have orbital moiunts, meaning that they can be angled both on a vertical axis (so they can be toed in and out), but also on an axis parallel to the rim, so that they can be angled to match the plane of the brake track If the top edge of the pads wear faster, than one guess would be that the pad holders were mounted on their orbital mounts angled with the top edge closer to the rim, such that the top edge of the pads contacted first.

If this is the case, then you can try to readjust the pads so that the pad holder is parallel to the brake track. But this might be difficult to do with pads already worn at an angle, so you might have to do the pad adjustment with new pads. Or, if the pad still have life in them, you can swap the pads front and rear.

[parallelfish]

Each arm of a dual pivot brake travels in a different arc. One travels an upward arc as it approaches the rim and the other arm a downward arc. So no, not a symmetrical brake.

https://www.parktool.com/en-us/blog/...-brake-service

[herb5998]

Ensure that both pads are contacting at the same time, there is a unique sound when they contact simultaneously. You can tell if this is an issue if you see the rim get pushed left or right as you close the brake, small adjustments and you should see the rim/tire remain stationary when the brake is applied


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[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by parallelfish

Each arm of a dual pivot brake travels in a different arc. One travels an upward arc as it approaches the rim and the other arm a downward arc. So no, not a symmetrical brake.

While this is true, it can't explain the unexpected wear pattern the OP is reporting. When a brake pad moves in an arc, the wear increases with the distance from the pivot point. But the OP is experiencing more wear on the edge of the pad closest to the pivot point (upper edge of the pad). A more likely explanation is that the pads were set "cocked" to start with, with the upper edge of the pad closer to the rim.

[lightweenie]

Thanks for the replies. I measured and I t is definitely that the pad holder is not on a parallel plane to the brake track. I was not aware that the pads could be adjusted this way. I will try to reset it and potentially put new pads.

I was also not aware of the kind of movement of the brake and that I should align one pad to the bottom and one to the top. I don’t think this affected the issue but it’s cool to know!

[pdmtong]

Originally Posted by lightweenie

Thanks for the replies. I measured and I t is definitely that the pad holder is not on a parallel plane to the brake track. I was not aware that the pads could be adjusted this way. I will try to reset it and potentially put new pads.

I was also not aware of the kind of movement of the brake and that I should align one pad to the bottom and one to the top. I don’t think this affected the issue but it’s cool to know!

I loosen both brake arm bolts and squeeze the lever so the pads contact the rim fully. While holding the lever I make sure the top pad edge is a few mm clear of the rim edge before I tighten the arm bolt. If one side hits the rim first, I rotate loosen the bolt connecting the brake to the frame or fork and rotate the brake so contact is simultaneous.

Is there a better way? If I get squealing, I would do the card trick to toe the pad