Any recommendations? I purchased a used set of wheels… and I guess I’ll need new brake pads. These are for 2008 404 tubulars.
Thanks!
OE Shimano or Campy pads - or KoolStops, pink.
I really liked SwissStop yellow carbon pads for use with my 404s. I thought that they performed much better than Zipp’s own pads. Just my $0.02
whatever you do, don’t use the Kool Stop Salmon pads on a carbon rim. They’ll last about 2 hours of riding. I left them on once out of laziness–one road race and there was a pile of red fuzz hanging off of my melted brake pads. Sometimes, it’s not just marketing, and specific products actually do have a purpose.
I joined the bandwagon and tried the yellow swiss stops. The seem pretty good, and more importantly they look like they’ll last a little while. Looking around at the local 1/2 peloton, it seemed that most guys were using these.
Agreed 100% - but, I would much rather melt a $30 set of pads than a $2000 set of wheels.
+1 with Roady, and as happens occasionally, Chip is talking out of his exit hole again.
Don’t use the salmon pads or the stock pads, and for several good reasons:
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As Roady has already said, they wear fast… fast as in finding out that you have no pads left with 20 miles to go in a hilly road race fast (yeah, it happened to me…)
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They leave residue on the rim as they melt, which will degrade braking performance on down the line.
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The pads leave residue because they are melting due to heat build up from the carbon braking surface, which isn’t as thermally conductive as an alloy brake track. As the pads heat up, the possibility exist that they may, in fact, pose a risk of damaging the carbon rim, which leads to…
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I have personally experienced Zipp refusing to offer warranty service on rims that had evidence of pad material from salmon pads on them. I was eventually able to get the rims serviced for the customer, but it wasn’t easy. Zipp was explicit in maintaining that their policy was to refuse warranty service for cracked/broken rims that had evidence of residue from non-carbon specific brake pads.
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Please dont confuse the $20 KoolStop Pink with the $40 Swiss Stop Salmon.
Swiss Stop doesn’t make a salmon colored pad.
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Swiss Stop doesn’t make a salmon colored pad.
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Nope, Swiss stops are black green and yellow.
Chip, are you drunk?
First you recommend salmon Koolstops, then you say “don’t confuse Koolstop Salmon with Swissstop salmon” then you agree that there ain’t no such thing as Swissstop salmon…
WTF man?
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Drunkenness aside… are these the yellow SwissStops to which you guys are referring?
Yup.
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Chip, are you drunk?
Hammered. Thanks for correcting me.
I’ve read on here before about using carbon specific pads on aluminum rims (even if the pads say they are interchangeable…).
Is it recommended to use the swissstops on aluminum rims? I don’t know how much rim swapping i’m going to do, but I might here and there… though I guess I could just swap the pads as well when I do so.
Most manufacturers recommend using your carbon pads only with you carbon rims as metal filings can be deposited in the pads and damage the carbon break surface.
Agreed, swap out your pads between wheels, and please use the SwissStop pads, they are the best out there.
…
- I have personally experienced Zipp refusing to offer warranty service on rims that had evidence of pad material from salmon pads on them. I was eventually able to get the rims serviced for the customer, but it wasn’t easy. Zipp was explicit in maintaining that their policy was to refuse warranty service for cracked/broken rims that had evidence of residue from non-carbon specific brake pads.
Their wheels and policy has changed: Though this surface does not require special pads, we do NOT recommend Campagnolo brake pads. These have a very low melting point, and might melt excessively under heavy braking, leaving a residue on the rim which is very difficult to clean.
“Their wheels and policy has changed…”
Maybe. Of course, that just happens to sound a lot like the text I cited to the rep to get my customer’s wheels warrantied after their initial refusal.
:0)
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