I was riding in the rain for the first time (it doesn’t rain much here) and when I got back a bunch of brake residue (caliper) had turned my aluminum brake rims black. This did not happen for my carbon brake pads on my front wheel. Why???
by Reze5438
13 Comments
Yup that will happen with rim brakes.. anyone got a pad they recommend?
I switched to disc brakes for this exact reason. I lost all braking power descending a mountain on a bike packing trip in The rain.. crashed big time at high speed with lots of gear 🙁
Your tire is on backwards as well
When you say it didn’t happen for your carbon brake pads, do you mean another set of pads you’ve used previously, or that you’re using carbon pads on alloy rims? Because if you are that’ll be the problem, carbon pads will wear out quickly.
If not, then it probably depends on the age of the pads & the amount of braking you were doing – if they’re older pads, the material on them can get brittle which will then disintegrate when you’re braking
The dust from the pads is normal, it just the water that makes it get stuck to the caliper. But yeah, rim brakes and water don’t mix.
It’s not causing your bake pads to wear out faster or anything. It’s just Brake dust + water = brake dust sludge. The only difference is that in the dry, the brake dust kind of blows away in the wind or coats everything in dust. This isn’t even an accurate representation of the amount of dust generated as a lot of it was probably just on your pads and ended up on the wheel. You can always switch to a higher quality pad, if you’re worried. But if your brakes are working, then don’t sweat it.
Just get some composite pads for rainy conditions, i use ztto from AliExpress and works just fine. Others will say koolstop salmon which are good for rainy conditions.
Kool stop Salmon pads! Those are the ones.
That is normal, you will also find little dots of these brake “mud” on your trousers.
If you ride in the rain a lot def better to just go disc
If you ride in the rain sometimes a better ‘wet’ grip pad like Kool stop def worth it
If you find in the rain rarely then I wouldn’t worry about it too much
But normal pad def wears way faster in the rain ..and of course you are going to need to adjust them tomorrow
I think if you really want to convert to disc but your bike doesn’t support it then you could change front fork to disc compatible. I like having disc in front rim brake in rear
Clean brake dust especially before after wet rides.
Get better pads (KoolStop Salmon) and 1 spare pair so you can always change pads the moment they are worn.
Ignore the disc brake comments.
Decent rim brakes are perfectly fine except under incredible loads like cargo bikes , tandems or loaded tourers rigs in steep descents /rain
Hydraulic disc brakes. It’s the only way.
It is the very nature of rain, and road grit like sand. The rain washes off old rim, dust, and re-introduces water and grit which constantly gets refreshed over the course of your ride, which is essentially wet sanding, the surface of your rims and your pads. The water makes this particularly effective because it’s constantly washing out and re-introducing new grit to break down your pads and wear into your rim.
JFC, it’s God’s will, thats why!