I have not worn out any Salmon pads yet, have only been using them for a few years. But one person I know says that the rims last longer with those pads than with harder pads. For that reason I am slowly switching to Salmon pads for my bikes. Now I have to figure out what to do with the unused pads that I have bought that are not Salmon.

I do not have a lot of long distance braking experience, but I can say that on Going to the Sun Road going down hill westbound, I stopped twice to check my rims for heat, once they felt warm enough that I decided to wait for about 5 or 10 minutes for them to cool. That was not with Salmon however. That was the only time I can think of when I dragged my brakes for a long distance, as that was a few thousand feet of elevation.

They are not very expensive, carry a spare set. I often carry a spare pair of pads for one wheel when I tour. My next tour, my pads are worn enough that I am bringing spare pads for both wheels.