imobilinpedalus

Hello folks,

Rained the other day while i was out riding around on my cyclocross. I don`t know exactly when the noise materialized,
but i have experienced this on a number of occasions over my cycling years. This time as i have a set of relatively expensive Shimano rims (ultegra 6800) i took the opportunity to have a closer look. Cleaned the dirt from the rim contact areas but this didn`t help. I pulled the wire off the V brake so i could inspect the inside of the rubber clamps. I noticed a few rather large metal chips firmly embedded in the rubber clamps which is why that terrible sound rang out every time i hit my rear brakes. I still have no idea how they got there. I think the rims contact areas still are ok, but honestly up until now it never crossed my mind that this could be the cause of this heartwrenching noise. How does this happen?

corrado33

Um, by rubber clamps do you mean the brake pads?

Brake pads work by pulling pulling microscopic pieces of aluminum off of your rims. Sometimes those pieces are larger than others.

Removed the offending pieces from the brakes pads and ride on.

dsbrantjr

Small pieces of aluminum in your pads tend to build up additional material over time which become bigger pieces and wear your rims faster. Best is to get into the habit of checking for and removing them periodically.

imobilinpedalus

Thanks. This was not a build up. This was something larger that had embedded itself in the rubber of the brake pads. There was a lot more wear to them before the pads were depleated. At first when i saw those metal pieces i thought the pads were worn down, but that they were not. Any chance these chips came off my rim in such large pieces? The pieces were around 8 mm and 5 mm long and perhaps 2 mm wide. Again the noise only came about when i was out riding in the rain. So why are there no such "build up" on my front end brake pads?

trailangel

I can't see anything wrong with your brakes from here. Keep riding.

corrado33

Check the rims to make sure they're ok. Remove the metal pieces from the pads and ride on. It happens (unfortunately.)