Brake Pad Wear

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I purchased a "mountain" style bike back in November, and athough I rode
most of the winter but not all, my brakes pads needed to be replaced. I live
in Pittsburgh which is hilly, and I go up and down about six somewhat steep
hills on my twenty mile ride, I have had other bikes of similar design, and
the brakes lasted at least 18 months. I notice these brakes are wider than
my others, but the pad is not as thick. I guess it gives me better braking,
but less wear. Are original equipment pads of less quality than replacement
pads? Would it be alright ro replace them with a thicker but narrower pad?

Thanks

Tom

In article <407aca77$0$255$4d5ecec7@reader.city-net.com>, tombates@city-net.com
says...
>
>
>I purchased a "mountain" style bike back in November, and athough I rode
>most of the winter but not all, my brakes pads needed to be replaced. I live
>in Pittsburgh which is hilly, and I go up and down about six somewhat steep
>hills on my twenty mile ride, I have had other bikes of similar design, and
>the brakes lasted at least 18 months. I notice these brakes are wider than
>my others, but the pad is not as thick. I guess it gives me better braking,
>but less wear. Are original equipment pads of less quality than replacement
>pads? Would it be alright ro replace them with a thicker but narrower pad?

Were your riding conditions wetter with the new pads than with the old?
Wet riding conditions eats through pads very, very quickly.
---------------------
Alex

"Alex Rodriguez" <adr5@columbia.edu> wrote in message
news:c5f1lc$4v2$1@newsmaster.cc.columbia.edu...
> In article <407aca77$0$255$4d5ecec7@reader.city-net.com>,
tombates@city-net.com
> says...
> >
> >
> >I purchased a "mountain" style bike back in November, and athough I rode
> >most of the winter but not all, my brakes pads needed to be replaced. I
live
> >in Pittsburgh which is hilly, and I go up and down about six somewhat steep
> >hills on my twenty mile ride, I have had other bikes of similar design, and
> >the brakes lasted at least 18 months. I notice these brakes are wider than
> >my others, but the pad is not as thick. I guess it gives me better braking,
> >but less wear. Are original equipment pads of less quality than replacement
> >pads? Would it be alright ro replace them with a thicker but narrower pad?
>
> Were your riding conditions wetter with the new pads than with the old?
> Wet riding conditions eats through pads very, very quickly.

Worse, they wear through rims. Soft pads also pick up road grit in wet
weather, accelerating rim wear. Check out KoolStop salmon colored pads. They
use a hard compound that gives excellent braking, is long wearing, and doesn't
pick up grit. Harris Cyclery has them.

Peter Cole wrote:
> Check out KoolStop salmon colored pads. They
> use a hard compound that gives excellent braking, is long wearing, and doesn't
> pick up grit. Harris Cyclery has them.

On the down side, they are more prone to brake squeal. Others have made
the same comment so I know my experience isn't unique.

--
Dave
dvt at psu dot edu

In article <c5h4h5$g3e$1@f04n12.cac.psu.edu>, dvt_spam@psu.edu says...
>
>
>Peter Cole wrote:
>> Check out KoolStop salmon colored pads. They
>> use a hard compound that gives excellent braking, is long wearing, and
doesn't
>> pick up grit. Harris Cyclery has them.
>
>On the down side, they are more prone to brake squeal. Others have made
>the same comment so I know my experience isn't unique.

That's not a bug, it's a feature. It warns others that you are slowing down
so that they don't run into you. :)
-------------
Alex

In article <c5hbf6$2i8$5@newsmaster.cc.columbia.edu>, Alex Rodriguez
<adr5@columbia.edu> writes:

>>On the down side, they are more prone to brake squeal. Others have made
>>the same comment so I know my experience isn't unique.
>
>That's not a bug, it's a feature. It warns others that you are slowing down
>so that they don't run into you. :)

A few things no one else has asked the OP. This appears to be winter riding so
has there been salt spread on the streets? During this bad weather riding has
the OP been wiping down his rims and cleaning his pads at least in the evening?
Wouldn't hurt to do a quick wipe when arriving. I'm wondering how his rims look
after all of this wear on one set of pads. Pads are cheaper than rims. Another
thought. He has checked to make sure they were set up correctly and were not
been rubbing on the outset, that would have given them a good grinding to start
out. I don't recall if this was a LBS set up bike or not. As for brake squeal,
both of my MTBs squeak, no matter what pads I've used, but my road bike usually
doesn't. Even with the squeak though the pads on the oldest MTB have lasted
12,000 miles.

dvt <dvt_spam@psu.edu> wrote in message news:<c5h4h5$g3e$1@f04n12.cac.psu.edu>...
> Peter Cole wrote:
> > Check out KoolStop salmon colored pads. They
> > use a hard compound that gives excellent braking, is long wearing, and doesn't
> > pick up grit. Harris Cyclery has them.
>
> On the down side, they are more prone to brake squeal. Others have made
> the same comment so I know my experience isn't unique.

Hi, maybe more prone, but not guarranteed. When I put the first set on
my old road bike with steel wheels, they really squealled. I picked up
a used set of wheels with Mavic MA 40 rims, no squeal.
I recently put a set on my LeMond Tourmalet, it uses the Shimano type
refills, and those are silent too. The wheels are Matrix Auroras. I do
like their stopping abilities, I haven't got enough miles on them, to
comment on wear.
Life is Good!
Jeff

dvt <dvt_spam@psu.edu> wrote:
>
> Peter Cole wrote:
> > Check out KoolStop salmon colored pads. They
> > use a hard compound that gives excellent braking, is long wearing, and doesn't
> > pick up grit. Harris Cyclery has them.
>
> On the down side, they are more prone to brake squeal. Others have made
> the same comment so I know my experience isn't unique.

In my experience, when Kool-Stop Salmon pads squeal stubbornly and
seemingly can't be adjusted to not do so, it's the brakes that are at
fault. Excessive play on mounting studs or too much flex anywhere can
cause intractable squealing with good pads. Pads with lower
coefficient of friction (that is to say, lousy ones) often don't
expose the problems with crappy brakes by making noise.

Chalo Colina

i had a very similar experience that you described

one part of my problem was that one pad was usually in contact with the rim
very lightly, which i figured wouldn't make a big deal, but it turned out
that it did


"mary" <tombates@city-net.com> wrote in message
news:407aca77$0$255$4d5ecec7@reader.city-net.com...
> I purchased a "mountain" style bike back in November, and athough I rode
> most of the winter but not all, my brakes pads needed to be replaced. I
live
> in Pittsburgh which is hilly, and I go up and down about six somewhat
steep
> hills on my twenty mile ride, I have had other bikes of similar design,
and
> the brakes lasted at least 18 months. I notice these brakes are wider than
> my others, but the pad is not as thick. I guess it gives me better
braking,
> but less wear. Are original equipment pads of less quality than
replacement
> pads? Would it be alright ro replace them with a thicker but narrower pad?
>
> Thanks
>
> Tom
>
>

Chalo wrote:

> In my experience, when Kool-Stop Salmon pads squeal stubbornly and
> seemingly can't be adjusted to not do so, it's the brakes that are at
> fault.

All brake pads squeal at some point, but then they wear in again and the
squealing stops. I haven't found Kool-Stops to squeal more than any other.

> Excessive play on mounting studs or too much flex anywhere can
> cause intractable squealing with good pads.

This is true, especially with flex.

> Pads with lower
> coefficient of friction (that is to say, lousy ones) often don't
> expose the problems with crappy brakes by making noise.

Could be.

Matt O.

"Matt O'Toole" <matt@deltanet.com> wrote;

> All brake pads squeal at some point, but then they wear in again and the
> squealing stops. I haven't found Kool-Stops to squeal more than any other.

I find that in the most intransigent squealy-brake cases, what needs
to "wear in" is the rim anodizing. Once it's gone, the noise usually
is too.

Chalo Colina

I use plain rubber some times sold under the invicta brand name they
are two dollars and are much kinder to your rims I ride 12 miles every
day and carry a 280 pound total load it rains here 7 months out of the
year. With this setup I can get a year out of a front rim using mostly
front braking. The worst brake shoes are the cheap plastic ones made
by shimano one reason shimano is so hated by some.