Is this normal wear? I feel like the pads should make contact with the entire disc but I’m new to cycling and might be completely wrong.
by _reykjavik
Is this normal wear? I feel like the pads should make contact with the entire disc but I’m new to cycling and might be completely wrong.
by _reykjavik
9 Comments
[My bike](https://99spokes.com/en-EU/bikes/sensa/2021/romagna-gravel-grx)
So lately I’ve felt my brakes are becoming really poor and I noticed that it seems that the pads are making poor contact with the discs.
Just curious if this is normal or not.
Thanks in advance!
Not normal. The caliper spacers are the wrong size.
Are you pads in normal place, retained by a pin? Did you try taking them out to look at the wear? Otherwise show a pic of the brake calipers with the wheel on, it could (maybe?) be a wrong adapter…
Either rotor size is incorrect or you have an adjustable geometry bike and the brakes is set to far back.
Not right. Is the bike stock or have you modified it in any way? Could be as simple as a mount adapter having been installed upside down.
Small pads, wide brake disc?
Sometimes you really have to check, if pads match the disc type.
Other cause might be a misaligned braking saddle or too much/not enough spacers.
Based on the other pictures you posted in the comments, im pretty sure the adapters are the wrong size for the rotor. Since you need the bike soon it should be ok to ride a little bit but definitely get the correct adapter ASAP. Would recommend taking it into a shop and making sure you get the correct adapters
Looks like it might not be abnormal with those GRX calipers: [https://www.reddit.com/r/bikewrench/comments/10xalm7/is_this_a_normal_disc_brake_wear_pattern/](https://www.reddit.com/r/bikewrench/comments/10xalm7/is_this_a_normal_disc_brake_wear_pattern/)
Like u/deleted from that post says:
>The important part is that the brake surface of the disc rotor covers the full surface of your pads. Does it, or is the upper part of the pads above the rotor? That would be a problem.
Shimano make a narrow brake pad and a wide brake pad. Your rotors (SM-RT10) are for the wide brake pad, your GRX calipers take the narrow pads. This combination means the lower quarter of the rotor’s wear track is unused. Much less bad than the opposite which was really common with TRP Spyre (wide pad) equipped bikes with narrow rotors wearing out the rotor spokes prematurely
Your rotors also are incompatible with sintered pads, they’re too soft and squeal
That said, it’s worth double checking that your pads get contact right to the top of the pads and aren’t forming a lip