I have Aeolus 7s and they don't brake well either :/

Try using cork pads as that's what both Bontrager and Zipp recommend. If it's wet outside or there's any moisture on your rims braking will be even worse.

Most carbon wheels don't brake as well as aluminum. The exception seems to be Enve and to some extent Zipps from my experience. My ENVEs stop very well.

It's a function of the brakes, wheels, and pads. My Reynolds Assaults work great with Campy Super Record brakes and the blue pads. My Reynolds RZR92s with TriRig brakes and blue pads are not as good. Cork on the original Reynolds KoMs was ok, but not great.

For the Planet X wheels, I'd give the Reynolds blue or SwissStop Yellow Kings pads a try.

Try the SwissStop "Black Prince." Best pad I have seen on carbon yet. -Ian

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Ian Stanford
Ally's Bar. AStacher LLC

The only carbon rims I thought braked well are Enves with their (proprietary) pads. Zipps are OK unless wet.

I'd recommend the Swiss Stop Black Prince brake pads. They are a bit more "grabby" then the traditional yellows. Lose a little feel/modulation, but they will grab even though they claim the deeper groove "enhance" modulation and wet weather performance (right).

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Fatigue is biochemical, not biomechanical.
- Andrew Coggan, PhD

I used Mavic 40C (carbon clinchers) with the yellow Swiss pads at Norseman last year. It was raining and some long downhills with switch backs.
I felt totally safe and the combination of wheels and pads had a lot of stopping power in both wet and dry.
Mavic uses a special resin on the break zone and my experience is that it is working.

carbon wheels NEVER brake as well as aluminium, so they will be inferior to what you are used to. you mentioned you have never owned carbon wheels, before, so your experience of 'poor' braking may be relative. if you're coming straight from alu you're definitely going to find them not as good.

as mentioned, braking power is a mixture of your brake levers, calipers, braking surface and brake pads. swiss stop generally make a good pad, have you tried cleaning the surfaces? what brakes are you using?

Do not use swissstop yellow pads, they run hot under
Prolonged braking / downhill etc. it is likely you could damage the carbon brake track. In wet conditions perhaps ok, but dry. / warm not recommended.

Better run swisstop black prince or the zipp platinum pads... Very similar compound but the black prince run carbon black which improves the wet weather performance very slightly over the Platinums.

Cork are another option, catch 22 here is although lower coef of friction and therefore temps for a given duration of use, the fact they don't brake as hard means folks hold em
On longer which can glaze the pad and that just makes things worse... Less braking followed by death grip followed by overheating brake system... This is under severe duress, prolonged downhill braking...

For TT or non technical course tri black prince are about as good as it gets right now....

If your still not happy get some Flo's and enjoy your Ali brake track...

The Reynold blue pad works pretty well for me. Not in wet though, nothing works then. Really risky. I'm going to buy carbon wheels with alloy breaking surface.

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Endurance coach | Physiotherapist (primary care) | Bikefitter | Swede

- Or just don't buy wheels because they have a good price. For full carbon wheels, only buy wheels with good reviews regarding breaking in wet - such as new models Enve and Xentis.

I also run Planet X wheels and came from 3 different sets of aluminum tracks. Braking is less, but not unsafe. I'm questioning the static tension on your brakes as well as how comfortable you are with giving them a good squeeze. Only then would I look into the pad and then blame carbon. That's my n=1.

I've gone to Serfas pads. I use them for my Bontrager CC's and my other carbon hoops which include a set of PX tubulars...

I hear this all the time but I honestly don't notice any loss of braking with my Zipps or my Spinnergys. I'm particularly impressed with my new Zipp Platinum pads on my 404 CCs. The caliers you are impact on brake performance so that could be part of the problem in this case for the OP.

wetri2, as per http://www.swissstop.ch/Road.aspx the gray pads are not for carbon rims. "SwissStop's brake pads for carbon wheels can be identified by the yellow compound, in the case of the Yellow King, or yellow writing on the side of the pad in the case of the Black Prince."

As others have said, switch out your brakepads.


Modern full carbon tubulars are really good and have few compromises beyond wet weather braking these days. However, I think carbon wheels with an alloy brake track are a better choice if you're going with clinchers. The weight penalty these days is very small, you can use the same brake pads as alloy training wheels, you'll get better braking and there's nothing to melt. Note that Shimano has never made a full carbon clincher. I figure they must know something.

I know Zipp has a different coating or a texture in the resin on the braking surface itself. I only have a carbon rim on my rear and it brakes fine. Less "feel" than aluminum, but honestly, it's a skinny tire TT bike, how hard are you trying to brake anyway? On anything with 2 wheels, you best 1st option is to maneuver out of an accident, not hit the brakes. Once you apply the brakes, you now have limited your maneuvering abilities are pretty much committed to a straight line.

That being said, I'm not upset that my front 404 has an aluminum braking surface as your front wheel provides 80% of your stopping power when braking hard anyway. Focus on improving your front braking first.

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TrainingBible Coaching
http://www.trainingbible.com

Specific combinations of rims and pads will work best. Not all combinations work well, or at all. You may have to try a few types of pads to find what works for your wheels.

If you want to give your gray pads another go, check and make sure they are not glazed over or otherwise have crap embedded in them. If they do, sand them down with some finer grit paper to expose fresh pad and try it again.

In any case it is very difficult to get as much power/control out of carbon wheels as you expect with aluminum. In addition to checking your equipment you need to check they way you ride and plan ahead with your braking a little more with your limitations in mind. I think you will find it to not be a huge issue after awhile... but also don't go out of your way to put yourself down a miles long steep descent where you will be riding the brakes.

Thanks for all of the responses. Just to be clear, I knew that braking performance would be affected. I rode this weekend and I was very scared at every stop sign. I Rode a section of my ride this weekend on a bike path and I was going less than 10mph and still couldn't stop. There is always screeching. I will try to sand the pads first. Then buy a new set if that doesn't work. On my last ride I began letting up pedaling anytime I knew I would have to stop and tried to coast without braking. It was a terrible way to ride.

Try 'pumping' the brakes vs. 'squeezing' like you would with aluminum rims.

The squeal you hear may be caused by the brake pads not grabbing the wheel symmetrically.

Squealing is likely;
contaminated or glazed pads, contaminated rims, incorrect pad toe-in setting and potentially the pads being loose in the pad holders.. (can happen in some aftermarket holder and pad combo's), all the above being OK, some material combinations between Rim and pad....

For the sake of dicking around, chuck in black prince pads, toe em in, make sure not loose in pad holders, and clean the rims with acetone on the brake track and then even use a wet and dry sand paper and lightly run it around the brake track only.. then clean again with acetone... that's as good as its gonna get....

PS if you have low cost brake lines and outer a step up to something like yokozuna compressionless brake lines can make the brake feel more positive at the expense of some modulation.. its a feel thing and you have to work out what you refer and set up to address that.

If after all this you are not happy, ditch the wheels and go back to what you had before that you felt better suited your purposes..

Bets of luck

I am pretty sure that Planet X carbon rims are made by Gigantex, so you should use Equinox (Gigantex) brake pads.

This is exactly why I will entertain carbon wheels only if they have an aluminum breaking surface. Sorry, not any help I guess, but good luck in your search for a safe, effective match for your wheels.

I'm sure this is a dumb question. What's the difference between alloy and aluminum brake tracks?

I just run my regular Campy pads and there isn't really much difference in braking between my wheels with carbon or aluminium braking surfaces. I swap wheels and not pads, so maybe all the embedded aluminium assists in braking with the carbon rims. ;)

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Lewis