I just bought a new mtn bike for under $500, so the brakes are probably Shimano's lowest-end stuff. The Shimano brake pads that came with my mtn bike 10 years ago were very hard, glazed easily, and wore grooves into the rims. Replacing them with Eagle Claws provided much better performance and less harm to my rims.

The question is, are Shimano's low-end brake pads these days pretty good or should I go ahead and replace them with better pads before they scratch up the rims?

Thanks