[summitlt]

I have noticed that for some reason in the winter, my brake pads dont last for anything. The last ride I went on, the pads werent really rubbing, jsut a little bit, but i coudl pick the bike up and spin the wheel and the wheel kept going for 3+ turns. Anyway, I went through the whoel pad, wore them down to the metal in one ride, and my rim had a good amoutn of balck gunk, which was rubber, all over it. Looks like I turned about 7/8 of my pad into powder and glued it to my rim. why is it my pads do this. Ive been through two sets of pads in about 3 rides.

Any ideas?

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[Urbanmonk]

The same thing is happening to my brake pads. When it rains, after about ten miles on the road, my bike picks up a lot of moisture. As I wipe it down, it leaves a lot of brake pad on my wheels. I think it may be the cheap pads. I don't know if there is anything that can be done; maybe better quality pads?
If you find a solution, let me know.

Urbanmonk

[gonesh9]

Same thing has been happening with my bike. The guy at the shop said its because if the rims are dirty, it corrodes the pad quickly. But I cleaned the rims very well before replacing the pads, and it still happened.

[Michel Gagnon]

Good pads help, but only to a point. My tourer has v-brakes and has been used from day one to pull a trailercycle most of the time. With the stock pads that came with the Avid brakes and replacement Shimano pads, I had to replace front pads every 4-5 months in Summer... and every 2-3 weeks in Winter.

Then members of the Touring list (http://www.bikelist.org) recommended Kool Stop Salmon pads, and I decided to try a set. They typically last more than a year with the same kind of urban/semi-urban riding in and around Montréal.

Even more interesting, it's a case of having your cake and eating it too! Kool Stop Salmon pads seem to be more gentle on the rims (others testified so and my evidence leans that way), and braking performance under rain or snow is much better than with standard pads.


Now the real question: why do brake pads (and rims) wear out more in snow and in the rain then on dry ground? It's essentially a matter of road grime. If your rims and pads are perfectly clean, then it's rubber against metal. But if the roads are dirty, then the rims get dirty, pads see a lot of road grime and get dirty too, and you brake on a thin coat of sand. Depending on the compound use, the grit may either stay on top of the pads and fall off, falloff because of the design of the design of the pads, or stay imbedded in the compound. But as long as grit stays on the pads, it becomes a good sandpaper...

Incidentally, the new trend, disk brakes, offers little or no benefit for road riding on a dry day. Their main advantage -- and it's an important one -- is that the disk is so far away from the tire that it remains almost grit-free, so performance in rain, snow or mud is almost the same as performance on a perfect day.

Regards,

[Mtn Mike]

Yep, happens to us all. The reason is that there is simply more crud that accumulates on pads in the winter; more mud, more ice, more road salt. The crud acts as abrassive and the material in the pads wears down. Not only do the pads wear faster, the rims get destroyed quicker too. You know you're riding in winter time when you actually speed up when the V-brakes are applied. I've tried all types of pads for the winter. The Kook Stop Salmons work well, and probably damage the rim less, but they wear down quickly.

Last winter I said forget it, and went to disc brakes. Let me tell you the difference was night and day, especially in the crud season! As far as I'm concerned V-brakes should only be used if: 1)you don't care about actually stopping in the winter. 2)you ride in dry conditions all year round 3) you enjoy replacing pads and rims frequently.

good luck

[Michel Gagnon]

Same thing has been happening with my bike. The guy at the shop said its because if the rims are dirty, it corrodes the pad quickly. But I cleaned the rims very well before replacing the pads, and it still happened.


See post above. As soon as you ride again in the rain, in mud, snow, etc. you'll pick up some more grit and the process will start again.

In extreme cases, if your rims are pitted, their surface is rough and could eat the pads, but in 99% of the cases it's the other way around: pads act like "grit-magnets", keep it around and carry it around, and wear out your rims...

[summitlt]

Well thanks for the answers, winter riding is getting expensive.

Id really like disk brakes, even those $30 promax disks, but my damn fork isnt set up for disks. So i guess ill have to suffer :(

Winter riding is still the best tho!

[Jay_2004]

some how my pads have lasted through everything...mud, snow, rain, snow piles, sand, and hard braking......and i believe they are CHEAP pads...ahah.... :eek: