Carbon rim braking surface refurbish
 

Between some mileage and perhaps over aggressive removal of stray glue, the braking surface on my 50mm tubular carbon wheel set is about gone. Has anyone had Ruckus Components replace the braking surface on their carbon-fiber rims? Are there any good options out there besides discarding rims that seem to be in good condition otherwise?

there was an ask Lennard question like that on Velo News.
his recc: replace the rim, there is no resurfacing .

What brand wheel?

They are the Christmas group buy wheels from BD, branded Vuelta XRP. Gigantex rims.

Here's the service I'm asking about (I am not shilling):

Blend of Many Things
Posted on: 01/21/2011
We have been hard at work developing our "Blend of Many Things" for our carbon fiber rim brake track resurfacing.

What the service fully includes is having your rim's braking track machined and then we deposit on our "blend of many things". Our "Blend of Many Things" includes certain additives to dramatically help you stop and increases the surface hardness of the brake track. This helps protect the inner layers of carbon fiber from damaging objects that you may pick up.

The "Blend of Many Things" is designed to last approximately 12-18 months depending on where you are riding, (roads vs cretaceous tar pits).

We have the final recipe together and it is proving itself extremely well. The cost is $100 per rim and doesn't include shipping.

Further inquiries at repairs@ruckuscomponents.com

IMO this should be a solvable problem... perhaps this Ruckus mob have something here. At $100 a rim, it seems worth a shot.

Well. I'm going to give it a whirl. I'll take some "before" photos before I pack the wheels up and some "after" when I get them back. Went to the LBS today and picked up a nice wheel box for shipping. I offered them $20 for it. Their pure profit on it makes me feel a little better about rarely needing their services or products. Already have the alloy clincher wheel set on my bike, the brake pads changed over, and the computer's wheel setting switched over. Hope to sneak a ride in tomorrow.

Did u finally send the wheel to them??? It worked fine??

Got the wheels back a few days ago. Definitely got the impression that I am an early adopter (or Beta user) with the attendant baggage. The process and interactions impressed as confused. The wheels took longer than I expected, about 2 months, and the result was not quite what I expected. Ruckus volunteered to pay for the return shipping without my complaining about the delay. I intend to write a longer review after I've ridden them, I glued the tires on yesterday and didn't ride today.

I'd envisioned a product like the original coating, seemingly a thin sprayed application of ceramic paint. Instead the surface looks more like JB Weld applied with a putty knife to make a 1mm or so thick surface. It seems somewhat irregular and I'm wondering how smoothly they will brake. I'll post a couple of photos shortly. Please note that I purposely didn't mention to Ruckus that I would be posting any reviews, since I didn't want to affect the product.

Before (The braking surface had worn down to the clear coat. The original coating is visible as a narrow strip at the bottom of the braking area) :
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/P9110001.jpg

After:
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/PB280002.jpg
There were a couple of lumps on the tire attachment surface that I Dremeled off after taking the photo:
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/PB280007.jpg

So Cranky, how did this work out? Were they ridable?

I don't see any mention of the service on their website.

Ruckus told me to use my hard brake pads rather than my Swiss Stop Yellows to wear the surface smooth. I took the wheels off my carbon frame since they were grabbing and pulsing badly and I was concerned about damaging my head tube/headset and the brake mounts. I put them on a less beloved aluminum frame and rode them, worked with them on a truing stand with emery cloth, and have been riding them on the aluminum frame to try and smooth them out, but after several hundred miles the braking is still noisy and jerky. (But I don't use my brakes very often on rides). I wouldn't recommend the process at all even if it is still offered. IMHO I've wasted money on a failed experiment.

Thanks for posting this. That repair just looks like crap and sounds as though it functions the same. I won't be using Ruckus for anything when they are willing to send out shoddy work like that.

Carbon rim braking surface refurbish
 

Is it possible to repair my carbon rim brake surface.