RoadTire 

One of my boys has noticed less-than-stunning braking with his 2 year old pads, but doesn't want to use Coolstop Salmons thinking lots of rim wear. He's just replaced his wheels, and the brakes are Tektro R538 long reach that came on his 3 or 4 year old Synapse 5. He had to brake hard, didn't get the stopping power he wanted, and also now the brakes are squealing or chattering a bit. He put a little toe-in but that didn't help.

He's thinking Ultregra pads, but I really don't have a clue. Suggestions for awesome stopping power pads that won't destroy his rims?

bikepro

Why do you think the Salmons cause rim wear? I've found the opposite to be true. They use a softer compound. I had a Dura Ace wheel set that used scandium rims. My Dura Ace pads were pulling aluminum slivers out of the braking surface. I switched to Salmons and the problem was eliminated.

Slackerprince

Kind of wondering why your boy isn't a member here asking his own questions.

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RoadTire 

Ha! At least they (I have twin boys) still asking me for advice on something, and I'm not about to discourage that. I taught them everything I know about fishing and hunting, and now they are better that I.

Slackerprince

Yeah, good of you to help him out.
I wouldn't want my kid messin' with the 41 until he's ready.
I have a Synapse, and I'm using KoolStop blacks, but have some Salmons in the drawer for the next time I change-out my tires.
Not sure where you're getting the wheel wear concern from, though.


S

RoadTire 

Not sure either of the concern about rim wear of the Salmons, so I appreciate questioning it. On my Sekine I went with the tri-color Shimano style and they work well for me, but I cannot equate his stopping criteria with mine. So far I've never been in a situation...

Slackerprince

I got mine for $14, and like I said, I haven't tried them yet, but for the money I'm not going to sweat it.
They get a LOT of positive reviews.

2 Packs of Kool Stop Dura Type Brake Pads for Wet Conditions SRAM Shimano Salmon | eBay

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Flyingblind9

Well I do indeed have a membership here but he so willingly offered a thread while I was neck deep in my studies! Im eventually upgrading to 105 calipers for increased stopping power because my tektro long reach seem to flex a bit more than the ones I have mokeyed around with! If many of you haven't noticed any quantifiable wear regarding the salmons I might try them out because my original reservations were because I heard they are abrasive. However that being said I'm sure they're softer for wet conditions.

banerjek

The Koolstop salmons are just fine. I've used nothing but for a long time. If he has wear issues, it's grime acting as grinding paste rather than issues with the pads.

Who the hell can get away with running the same pads for two years?

zymphad

I bought two pack o Kool Stop Salmons to replace the 5700 105 brake pads. I have not read anything that would indicate Salmon have increased rim wear.

Also rims are cheap if you don't need the best like Zipp, Reynolds etc. Shimano rims for example are really affordable.

Dan333SP

I'm at around 1.5 years and 8,000 miles on the same koolstop dual compound pads, and I have plenty of life left in them, at least another year I'd think. I suppose it all depends on the amount of wet weather riding and hard braking you do, and I tend to ride routes that don't involve a lot of stops or steep downhills and I stay on the trainer when it's wet.

RoadTire 

I've just been demoted ....

achoo

Me. I've mostly ridden one bike with the same set of pads and even raced on them for close to three years now. They're still less than half worn away and have a lot of life left. They're Koolstop Salmon pads, too.

Who the hell's wearing out their pads so fast?

banerjek

Lots of wet and hills for me. I get about 1500 miles out of a set and they are garbage when I finish. My riding trashes rims too.

TrojanHorse

There's your reason. I've got 2700 miles on a set of dura ace pads and they're good to go for quite a while yet. Hardly any wet weather riding on them though.

Smokehouse

Rim wear = Don't care.

Proper stopping ability = do care.

Even if the cool stops do chew a rim faster...I don't care as long as they stop well wet/dry (which they do...I run the bi-pad type).

Drakonchik

Swisstop pads.

Agent Cooper

I don't understand the question. :-)

Seriously, others have noted this already but I'll join the chorus and say that I don't believe the Kool Stops are the problem. There's some other culprit responsible for the rim damage.

I've been using Kool Stops for quite some time and I like them. They perform very well and haven't done any harm to my rims.

link0

+1, they are the only things I use.

Flyingblind9

Excellent feedback! I think I might give them a try even though I mainly do dry riding but puddles and rain happens so I'd rather not get caught with poor stopping when I need it. I think much of the wear may attribute to sand or other particulates embedding themselves into the pad material.

Nachoman

Two generations of Road Tire in this thread. Nice.

RoadTire 

Thank you!

Slackerprince

Make sure you've got a good return policy for those 105 brakes.
I tried to put some Ultegra 6700 brake calipers on my Synapse and they didn't reach.
The Synapse frame allows for wider tires, so it requires longer brakes.
I had to stick with the Tektros, which are R539. They work good enough
and I was only upgrading because the Ultegras were on sale and I was already replacing the Tiagra FD, which didn't work too well.
Just something to keep in mind.
As others have noted, wet and grit from the road are what wear down rims.


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grolby

Light people who don't live in Portland.

Seriously, I can pretty easily get a couple of years out of a set of brake pads.

OldsCOOL

I never gave a hoot about pads and contact until moving to a high spot up in hill country. My road intersects the main road to town at a crazy angle on a "T" intersection. For the first time in my life I pay attention to pads.

Part of my tuning involves matching pad angle to the rim sidewall (yes, these are vintage bikes).