How long does disc brake pads last?

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kode54
Posts: 3749
Joined: Tue May 23, 2006 9:39 pm

by kode54

A fellow rider uses a metal/resin pad while I use the L05A resin. He weighs about 50 lbs more than I do and his metal pads are only slightly worn in comparison to mine.
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CampagYOLO
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by CampagYOLO

TobinHatesYou wrote:
Tue Aug 02, 2022 5:44 am
froze wrote:
Tue Aug 02, 2022 3:39 am

But the Road Bike Review report was about road bikes not about MTB's

Anyone getting 1250mi or lower out of sintered brake pads in dryish conditions needs to learn how to ride a bike.
Agreed. 5000-6000km on my brake pads and they've still got plenty of life.
I can only assume that someone gettig 1250 miles out of a set of pads drag their brakes all the way down descents on a heavily laden bike.

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MikeD
Posts: 1000
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 9:55 pm

by MikeD

CampagYOLO wrote:
Tue Aug 02, 2022 10:28 am
TobinHatesYou wrote:
Tue Aug 02, 2022 5:44 am
froze wrote:
Tue Aug 02, 2022 3:39 am

But the Road Bike Review report was about road bikes not about MTB's

Anyone getting 1250mi or lower out of sintered brake pads in dryish conditions needs to learn how to ride a bike.
Agreed. 5000-6000km on my brake pads and they've still got plenty of life.
I can only assume that someone gettig 1250 miles out of a set of pads drag their brakes all the way down descents on a heavily laden bike.
Don't sintered pads have a tendency to squeal? I'd rather have a quiet bike, even if it means shorter pad life.

blutto
Posts: 229
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2012 5:09 pm

by blutto

....so disc brake pads seem to wear down in fairly short order and one would assume spew significant brake dust into the immediate environment....has anyone heard anything about breathing problems related to being in the slip-stream of a braking rider and sucking in the resulting brake dust....would imagine a tight crit circuit race or a group ride on a twistly downhill could likely carry the potential for a cloud of brake dust being produced ...

...I ask because there have been reports about race car drivers having carbon fibre dust in their lungs apparently from the carbon brake pads often used in race car brakes...

Cheers

Hexsense
Posts: 3270
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2015 12:41 am
Location: USA

by Hexsense

Most brake dust from bikes are very heavy and will fall right to the ground instead of being inhaled in. It run nowhere as hot as race cars.
Environmental concern from brake pads are mostly from copper. Copper aren't harmful to us (in a moderate amount). But it's toxic to aquatic animals. Brake dust can get wash off into rivers etc.
https://www.epa.gov/npdes/copper-free-brake-initiative

On bicycle brake pads, there are some copper free pads, such as:
https://bikerumor.com/cedric-gracia-sto ... rake-pads/
But still, the amount of brake dust we generate are largely, not significant enough to be a concern.

TobinHatesYou
Posts: 12456
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:02 pm

by TobinHatesYou

I’ve never smelled burning bicycle disc brakes. I do occasionally still smell burning rubber from rim-brake pads. My team coach still rides rim brakes. He’s a good descender, but Redwood Gulch is 25% in some places with bad pavement and lots of sharp corners.

So yeah, I doubt we’re inhaling or ingesting more disc brake dust than actual vapors from burning rubber rim-brake pads on steep & technical descents.

blutto
Posts: 229
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2012 5:09 pm

by blutto

Hexsense wrote:
Thu Aug 04, 2022 10:24 pm
Most brake dust from bikes are very heavy and will fall right to the ground instead of being inhaled in. It run nowhere as hot as race cars.
Environmental concern from brake pads are mostly from copper. Copper aren't harmful to us (in a moderate amount). But it's toxic to aquatic animals. Brake dust can get wash off into rivers etc.
https://www.epa.gov/npdes/copper-free-brake-initiative

On bicycle brake pads, there are some copper free pads, such as:
https://bikerumor.com/cedric-gracia-sto ... rake-pads/
But still, the amount of brake dust we generate are largely, not significant enough to be a concern.
....actually the dust doesn't just drop to the ground, it has momentum since it is launched into the environment at whatever speed the bike is going when the brakes get applied ....and then it could easily be pulled to a aerodynamically low pressure spot like that which exists directly behind a rider and incidently past his mouth which on breathing in also produces another low pressure spot and then its in the lungs...

...just sayin' eh...

Cheers

blutto
Posts: 229
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2012 5:09 pm

by blutto

TobinHatesYou wrote:
Thu Aug 04, 2022 10:37 pm
I’ve never smelled burning bicycle disc brakes. I do occasionally still smell burning rubber from rim-brake pads. My team coach still rides rim brakes. He’s a good descender, but Redwood Gulch is 25% in some places with bad pavement and lots of sharp corners.

So yeah, I doubt we’re inhaling or ingesting more disc brake dust than actual vapors from burning rubber rim-brake pads on steep & technical descents.
...just looking at the relative volumes of brake pads consumed over time there is a lot lot more disc brake particulate produced.....

Cheers

TobinHatesYou
Posts: 12456
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:02 pm

by TobinHatesYou

blutto wrote:
Thu Aug 04, 2022 11:05 pm
TobinHatesYou wrote:
Thu Aug 04, 2022 10:37 pm
I’ve never smelled burning bicycle disc brakes. I do occasionally still smell burning rubber from rim-brake pads. My team coach still rides rim brakes. He’s a good descender, but Redwood Gulch is 25% in some places with bad pavement and lots of sharp corners.

So yeah, I doubt we’re inhaling or ingesting more disc brake dust than actual vapors from burning rubber rim-brake pads on steep & technical descents.
...just looking at the relative volumes of brake pads consumed over time there is a lot lot more disc brake particulate produced.....

Cheers
If you can smell brakes, you’re inhaling them. My current SwissStop E pads are at least 7000mi in and still have at least 3000 more miles to go. Also disc brake pads have less actual brake compound mass, period.

froze
Posts: 430
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 3:47 am

by froze

kode54 wrote:
Tue Aug 02, 2022 9:45 am
A fellow rider uses a metal/resin pad while I use the L05A resin. He weighs about 50 lbs more than I do and his metal pads are only slightly worn in comparison to mine.
Sure, metal pads last longer than resin, however your friends rotors will wear out faster than yours will. I would stick with resin pads over metal so I'm not replacing rotors twice to three times more often.

My touring bike has resin pads, and when loaded I don't have any issues stopping the bike even in rain, and I carry about 45 to 50 pounds of camping gear and supplies plus combine weight of myself and the bike of 205 pounds.

As far as brake dust goes, my only reference is my TRP brakes, I have never found any brake dust around the calipers or the fork. I can't use my wife's bike with Shimano disk because she rarely rides it, so I had to call my friend about his Shimano and he says he hasn't noticed any brake dust accumulating anywhere; we both use resin pads, so not sure why some of you are getting dust, maybe certain brands of pads do that and others do not, I know that's true with cars, German cars are notorious for brake dust, while Japanese cars are not...at least if you're using factory OEM pads that's the case.

TobinHatesYou
Posts: 12456
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:02 pm

by TobinHatesYou

Resin pads wore out pretty quickly in the damp winters here. I'll take semi-metallic pads in most cases. My SRAM Centerline XR rotors have 17000mi on them and are still going. I'm okay with that.

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Roel W
Posts: 943
Joined: Fri Dec 09, 2005 9:39 am
Location: Belgium

by Roel W

As a newbie in disc brakes I did 5.700 km on my Shimano resin L02A brakepads before replacing them. That was not my best idea:
The front brake pads were completely worn out to the metal, the spring was damaged and also my rotor was engraved and ready for the garbage can.
On the next sets of pads I did about 4400 km with the front brake pad and 6000 km with the rear (L02A).
I'm talking about a road bike, used winter and summer, mostly in dry conditions and a hilly environment (Ardennes) but no real mountains.

Don't try this at home!:
Image

Rear brake pads after 5800 km:
Image

blutto
Posts: 229
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2012 5:09 pm

by blutto

froze wrote:
Fri Aug 05, 2022 2:36 am
kode54 wrote:
Tue Aug 02, 2022 9:45 am
A fellow rider uses a metal/resin pad while I use the L05A resin. He weighs about 50 lbs more than I do and his metal pads are only slightly worn in comparison to mine.
Sure, metal pads last longer than resin, however your friends rotors will wear out faster than yours will. I would stick with resin pads over metal so I'm not replacing rotors twice to three times more often.

My touring bike has resin pads, and when loaded I don't have any issues stopping the bike even in rain, and I carry about 45 to 50 pounds of camping gear and supplies plus combine weight of myself and the bike of 205 pounds.

As far as brake dust goes, my only reference is my TRP brakes, I have never found any brake dust around the calipers or the fork. I can't use my wife's bike with Shimano disk because she rarely rides it, so I had to call my friend about his Shimano and he says he hasn't noticed any brake dust accumulating anywhere; we both use resin pads, so not sure why some of you are getting dust, maybe certain brands of pads do that and others do not, I know that's true with cars, German cars are notorious for brake dust, while Japanese cars are not...at least if you're using factory OEM pads that's the case.
....well its not that some get dust and others don't cause everybody wears out their pads and hence create/get dust....the question is where does it go after its created...though looking at aerodynamic plumes coming off bikes in wind tunnel testing may give us a pretty good idea...

Cheers

ghostinthemachine
Posts: 780
Joined: Thu May 07, 2015 9:18 pm

by ghostinthemachine

TobinHatesYou wrote:
Tue Aug 02, 2022 5:44 am
Anyone getting 1250mi or lower out of sintered brake pads in dryish conditions needs to learn how to ride a bike.
I'm getting not far off that sort of mileage out of soft compound pads in wet conditions, on an MTB. About 1500 km, give or take.

Road disc pads I'm usually replacing because it seems like a good idea at the time or just before a big block of training/racing. Usually mid season/~8000km. The "worn" pads usually are good for emergency spares still. i.e. I'd still happily put them back in for a couple of months light training use locally.

Personally, my discs get swapped when i fancy a change of colour.😊

MikeD
Posts: 1000
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 9:55 pm

by MikeD

froze wrote:
kode54 wrote:
Tue Aug 02, 2022 9:45 am
A fellow rider uses a metal/resin pad while I use the L05A resin. He weighs about 50 lbs more than I do and his metal pads are only slightly worn in comparison to mine.
Sure, metal pads last longer than resin, however your friends rotors will wear out faster than yours will. I would stick with resin pads over metal so I'm not replacing rotors twice to three times more often.

My touring bike has resin pads, and when loaded I don't have any issues stopping the bike even in rain, and I carry about 45 to 50 pounds of camping gear and supplies plus combine weight of myself and the bike of 205 pounds.

As far as brake dust goes, my only reference is my TRP brakes, I have never found any brake dust around the calipers or the fork. I can't use my wife's bike with Shimano disk because she rarely rides it, so I had to call my friend about his Shimano and he says he hasn't noticed any brake dust accumulating anywhere; we both use resin pads, so not sure why some of you are getting dust, maybe certain brands of pads do that and others do not, I know that's true with cars, German cars are notorious for brake dust, while Japanese cars are not...at least if you're using factory OEM pads that's the case.
Shimano L03a resin pads make dust.

by Weenie


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