I have a friend with a 2016 Cannondale Slice. The rear brake has no barrel adjuster and very little opening, even with the cable disconnected. It was ok until we tried to swap in a wider race wheel. The race wheel is an all carbon Flo disc.
We were going to sand down the brake pads but is that really ok to do for a carbon wheel? It seems odd to me that we shouldn’t share a pad between aluminum and carbon brake tracks but hitting the pad with an abrasive is ok? What am I missing? Is there a “right” sand paper to use in this case?
FYI, we used thinner pads but there still isn’t enough clearance.
I have a friend with a 2016 Cannondale Slice. The rear brake has no barrel adjuster and very little opening, even with the cable disconnected. It was ok until we tried to swap in a wider race wheel. The race wheel is an all carbon Flo disc.
We were going to sand down the brake pads but is that really ok to do for a carbon wheel? It seems odd to me that we shouldn’t share a pad between aluminum and carbon brake tracks but hitting the pad with an abrasive is ok? What am I missing? Is there a “right” sand paper to use in this case?
FYI, we used thinner pads but there still isn’t enough clearance.
The reason you don’t use aluminum pads on aluminum is two reasons:
the brake pad was not designed for carbon
the aluminum pad may have checks of aluminum that will eat up the carbon wheel
Sanding the pad will be fine as long as you don’t let abrasives get embedded in the sanded pad. Again it is the rim you are worried about, not the pad.
Thanks everyone. I’m just surprised there isn’t a concern about sandpaper, knife or file adding adulterants into the pad. Sandpaper worried me the most. A brand new rasp that has never been used on anything else seems like a winner to me.
Thanks everyone. I’m just surprised there isn’t a concern about sandpaper, knife or file adding adulterants into the pad. Sandpaper worried me the most. A brand new rasp that has never been used on anything else seems like a winner to me.
I wouldn’t worry about abrasive issues from sandpaper. Knocking them down on a belt sander would get the job done quickly and cleanly.
If the rear brake isn’t proprietary you could consider some different pad holders and maybe find more clearance from a swap. Also worth checking if the pad holders are mounted to brake calipers with any washers or spacers in between that could be flipped to the other side of the caliper to increase rim clearance.
Thanks everyone. I’m just surprised there isn’t a concern about sandpaper, knife or file adding adulterants into the pad. Sandpaper worried me the most. A brand new rasp that has never been used on anything else seems like a winner to me.
Sandpaper might. Knife, rasp, or a file would not. Right?
I had swiss stop black princes on my trek that were still too wide when new. I used the cone shaped sander thing on my dremel tool to sand them down. No visible debris left in the pads, worked great for 4 years with two different sets of carbon rims.
I had swiss stop black princes on my trek that were still too wide when new. I used the cone shaped sander thing on my dremel tool to sand them down. No visible debris left in the pads, worked great for 4 years with two different sets of carbon rims.
Did you have the “low profile ones”? The ones that are thinner out of the box.
