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Brake Pads, what's the best?

BIGHITR

WINNING!
Nov 14, 2007
1,084
0
Maryland, east coast.
Ebay, Hayes Brakes Pads, under search gets you several choices. Pricepoint sells sintered metalic. However, while looking, I see there are some that offer buying multiple sets and different compounds. As example, I see Ceramic and Kevlar.

What's the best of these? I use ceramic on my car because they get grippier the hotter they get. Bike pads I figure don't get anywhere near as hot as my car brakes do so my curiosity is what is best? Sintered Metalic, Kevlar, Ceramic? Or something else?

Anybody? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,559
24,182
media blackout
never had experience with ceramic or kevlar. only metallic and organic. organics win in every aspect except for durability. I run shimano brakes, and they just get eaten up. I think the longest I ever got from one set was 6 weeks. metallic pads work just fine, and last wayyyyyy longer. YMMV.
 

Easy*

Chimp
Oct 8, 2010
30
0
Lowell MA
Im also in the same boat. Wondering wether to go Kevlar or metallic sintered on my Deore's.

I like the idea of Kevlar, from what Ive read they have great stopping power and low heat but wear quickly.

Sintered is attractive because of the long life but Im worried they will produce too much heat and damage my calipers or teflon brake lines. Anyone have any heat issues with running sintered pads?

I am looking at disco brand pads. Ive read mixed reviews about their durability but for the price I think it's worth a shot. The stock pads on my M575's are rubbish.
 

Mr Jones

Turbo Monkey
Nov 12, 2007
1,475
0
No probs on with the metallic pads. After 2 years of DH, I finally wore out the metallic pads on my M775's. Plenty strong even when wet. They do eat up rotors a bit faster, but it's worth it because of the extra stopping power.

Ran resin pads for a day just to see if there was a difference. No real difference at the beginning of the day, but by the middle of a brake heavy descent, I noticed a marked loss of breaking power and my rotors were black. Same trail a few days later with the metallic pads and they were powerful throughout the ride. Bottom line, unless I'm using the bike mainly for commuting or light trail riding, I will not use resin pads.
 

armada

Monkey
Aug 27, 2010
196
0
wait now.... you have the same pads for 2 years and you ride Downhil? good one :D
if you got a brake with a lot of stoping power, ie saint you wont notice any diference if you have a brake with less stoping power you wil notice the diference betwen resin and sintered pads, but owerall resin work better but the sintered last longer
 

BIGHITR

WINNING!
Nov 14, 2007
1,084
0
Maryland, east coast.
I have been using the same pads on my bike for two seasons and now need a set but I don't do downhill. Good input here but I guess I should be more specific.

I am using Hayes mag's that came on the bike, and nines on the other bike. I have ceramic pads on my cars and they are GREAT! The hotter the brake pads get, most brake compounds fade and get weak. NASCAR only uses Ceramic because of it's properties. With Ceramic, the hotter they get, the grippier they become. But I'm not sure on a mountain bike if they're going to get hot enough to be grippy. I also have never heard of Kevlar brakes because Kevlar is an extremely hard plastic compound. I would think they would melt if too hot, or wear too fast. Thus my main concern is if anyone has rode on CERAMIC? They're on Ebay in all types of compounds. I have the stock Hayes pads in now. The need to be changed fast. I don't want to buy sintered if Ceramic is better.

If someone has rode on Ceramic, I'd like to know, do you have to downhill race to get them hot enough to grab, or do they grab under normal riding single track?
 
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demo 9

Turbo Monkey
Jan 31, 2007
5,910
46
north jersey
not sure how hot is hot, but when i ride DH (only 1000 ft vertical) and i fall or lean against my rotor, i get branded and it hurts quite a bit, never had ceramic, but id think if they designed it for bikes, it must work?
 

Sghost

Turbo Monkey
Jul 13, 2008
1,038
0
NY
not sure how hot is hot, but when i ride DH (only 1000 ft vertical) and i fall or lean against my rotor, i get branded and it hurts quite a bit, never had ceramic, but id think if they designed it for bikes, it must work?
They make them for bikes.
 

tompug

Chimp
Jul 31, 2010
6
0
My organic pads tend to go off, there will be plenty of pad but they don't grip the disk. I think I glaze them? I run sintered and can't tell much difference from organic.