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Disc brakes wear waaaay too quickly - suggestions?
So I have a gravel bike with disc brakes, and every time I go out when it's raining I go through a set of pads. I have tried all from organic to sintered with similar results. I went out today and was pretty much grinding metal on the last couple of kilometres. Does anybody have any experience of certain brands that are better than others? It's just that I'm doing the Dirty Reiver this year - I did it last year in the dry and everything was fine but I'm dreading what will happen if it rains. I know grit and water is the perfect material for wearing things out, but after one ride?? I am also starting to wonder whether my discs are at fault for some reason.
Any help appreciated.
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9 comments
Using a business card is a common way to set up hydraulic brakes. You can buy various gizmos by Hayes/Lezyne etc that do the same thing.... They fit over the rotor and put a nominally ideal distance between rotor and pad when setting up initially.
If your pads were closer than that it may have contributed some of the wear.
Thanks for that insight. What I've now done is re bled the brakes as I wondered whether the pads were too close to the rotors during normal use. I read on an mtb forum that people can fit a business card in between the gaps and that is considered normal. I couldn't do that with mine so I suspected that there was too much fluid in the brakes. Now just waiting for the new pads to turn up so I can test.
Standard organic pads can disappear in one race day if conditions are right/wrong.
When I first used Avid Elixir discs (about 7 years ago) on my commute through soggy Glasgow, I got less than a week out of them - that's less than 100 miles of on-road riding.
I now use Disco Brakes sintered pads on both of my disc equipped bikes and usually get about 1500 miles out of a set of pads. When I do have to change its usually because of contamination than being totally worn out (mudguards can cause rotors to be exposed to more crud than normal)
All this aside, if you're going through sintered pads as fast as you reckon, there's something wrong.
Try the old rotors first.
faulty pads? contaminated pads? pads will wear if not worn in well (and given few hard brakes every subsequent ride) as the pad just wears away. are the brakes dragging?
could be loads of things. sticky pivots, system needs bleeding, warped discs, bad part compatibilty, rider style, really bad riding conditions.
Probably need someone to have a look at it.
Pads were virtually new, discs are well set up and rotors are true. Like I said, it works perfectly in the dry. Having slept on it, I think that the problem lies in dirt staying in between the rotors and pads as I ride along, and even when I hit the tarmac it seems to keep making the grinding noise. I read on some older forum post about rotor choice affecting its ability to shed dirt away, so I will bung my older rotors back on and see how I go.
If it makes any difference, the pads do last well when I ride in dry conditions - I just thought I'd get more out af them when it's wet and muddy that's all.
I thought about that but don't honestly know what they would change. The brakes are Shimano BR-RS 785 I think, so they are obvs self adjusting to give the right gap between the pads and rotors. But the moment I get into mud and grit, you can hear it constantly grinding. The only other problem that I can think of is that the rotors can't shift the grit away. They are The lightweight Ashima ones - perhaps I should put some old ones that I have back on and see if that makes a diferrence.
Still on original pads on my CX, after 000s of miles. Sounds like you and your bike could benefit from a visit to LBS.
Sounds a bit odd, my last set of stock Shimano pads lasted over 10,000km. Most of that was dry conditions - but we all get caught out occasionally.
I believe the weight of the rider+bike is a big factor in pad wear, as is wet/muddy conditions. But to wear out a set of pad in one ride?? Sounds highly unusual.