New Carbon wheels – what brake pads?

Hi all,

Looking for some recommendations based on your wisdom of personal experience..

I’m building a new bike and I’ve ordered frame/groupset/carbon wheels and just had a thought – do I need to replace the brake pads that come with the groupset (105 5800) before even using them? Presumably the ones that come as standard wouldn’t be optimal for use with carbon rims I would have thought.

I can’t seem to find a definitive answer wether you need carbon-specific pads or wether simply not to use the same pads (whatever you’re using) on other (aluminium) rims.

I see some odd advertised as carbon specific but there are handfuls of people on other forums that use “normal” pads on carbon and seem to be fine, but I can’t help but think that it’s worth spending a few quid more to have the right stuff if indeed it gives better stopping power.

Swissstop yellows come up a lot and I’ve found a pack of 4 for £25 online which seemed reasonable, but not sure if I have faith in the brand – I changed from Swissstop Black to cheap old Aztecs on my commuter and they were actually BETTER in dry and wet, despite what brand loyalists and marketing may have you believe.

Dura ace pads seem popular too at about £13 a pair.

Any experiences to share?

Your thoughts spared greatly appreciated.