Originally Posted by sorestgore

yeah, i know the holes are for cooling functions, i've been doing SCCA and road rally events since i could drive, lol, but the purpose of the slots is to keep the surface of the brake pad itself clean and at thier peak amount of grip, and it scrapes a minute amount off the pad to do so. this stuff is for brake pads that are hard, and can be resurfaced that easily.

with bike brakes, at least for most BMX, it's a rubber compound that is effected completely different than automotive brake pads. therefore, slotting, crossdrilling, or the combination of both, would serve a completely different purpose. as the pad rubs across the rim, each slot or hole would act as a ridge, and increase the resistance as it moves along. it would also (as with automotive rotors) keep the face of the pad "fresh" by removing very minute amounts of "stale" pad surface.

what i plan to do (on an extra rim i have lying around) is to make a slot with a triangular file every inch around the rim. after i've made the slots, i will file the edge leading to the slot (as it would be when it's rotating) to taper down into the slot, making the other edge of the slot slightly taller than it's other, which will cause the pad to "hit" that edge as it is pressing down on the rotating rim. than, instead of drilling all the way through the rim, i'll set up my drill press to only penetrate about half the thickness of the rim's wall, so it will create a cup-shaped depression. i realize that the rubber pad will not be heated the same way an automotive brake pad would, but i just feel like "cross-drilling" it anyways (it'll look wicked either way)

i'll do this saturday, and possibly post a picture of the end result when i'm done

after that i'm planning on looking into figuring out some sort of pad that uses a compound similar to that used on higher-performance automotive brake pads (which contain a higher amount of metal than those used on street-based vehicles, and that is also why a car equipped with race pads/rotors squeel when braking at low speeds), because i figure it should provide more friction than a soft rubber. i'll probably steal the pads off the disc brakes that i've got on my pocket-bike

i'll update when i've done all this, lol