Brake Pad fail - suck it up or whinge?

[Bollo]

Ah, you didn’t say that in your OP, you just said 3,000 and since we use miles in UK. Either way, when did you last check thickness of pad material remaining?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

View attachment 706035

That’s not your OP 😂🤣

 

[Bollo]

That’s not your OP 😂🤣

Ooohh, you got me. Hahahhaaaah. You won the internet. Well done.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Ooohh, you got me. Hahahhaaaah. You won the internet. Well done.

Not trying to win just pointing out from your OP it could reasonably be taken as 3,000 miles as you didn’t state units, in which case defaults apply.

Either way, what was thickness of pad material, when you last checked, and how long ago? You can expect the failure you saw if you continue using the pads below their stated minimum wear limit.

 

[Bollo]

Park tools recommend 1mm minimum, Shimano 0.5mm and SRAM 3mm including backplate, but they’re brand dependent. I can’t find a recommendation on the Swisstop site but I’m sure it’s in there somewhere.

I don’t have a set of callipers but an estimate with a ruler suggests the pads have a bit more than a mill. Not much, maybe .25mm over. No idea how thick they are when new. I’d assume the park tools limit is reasonably conservative and I’ve certainly run thinner without problems.

But, to sound like a broken record, it’s more the nature of the failure that’s bugging me. I get that too-thin pads could fail in a number of ways and I’d have to suck that up (see thread title), but these don’t look p1ss-take thin. The pads didn’t degrade - they failed, and the bike went from perfectly fine to emergency-fix/call-the-wife-you-bone-idle-**** in a couple of kilometres.

 

[Slick]

To be honest, I reckon whilst a whinge is justified, I also reckon life is far too short to waste any of it pi55ing in the wind.

Get them replaced and get back out on the bike, lovely job.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Have a whinge, go on. You know you want to. Get the green ink out.

 

[Bollo]

To be honest, I reckon whilst a whinge is justified, I also reckon life is far too short to waste any of it pi55ing in the wind.

Get them replaced and get back out on the bike, lovely job.

Have a whinge, go on. You know you want to. Get the green ink out.

I'm kinda leaning towards Slick on this.

Pro Whinge...
(1) Not cheap pads.
(2) Wear not excessive (IMHO )
(3) No obvious signs that the pad was going to fail. It worked until it suddenly didn't.
(4) Buggered the ride a bit.
(5) New pads are like hens teeth right now. Even enthusiastically priced sites like SigmaSport don't have stock.

Pro Suck it up
(1) I'm too lazy.
(2) That's life.

Anyways, I've just managed to find somewhere with compatible pads in stock, albeit at the even-fancier end of the spectrum. I'd rather get back on the bike asap while the weather holds than stress out. Swisstop have a basic contact us form on their site. If I'm bored waiting for some code to break I'll send something reasonably neutral just to see if they respond.

 

[fossyant]

Don't forget to bed them in - new material.

Uber Bike are my goto for pads.

 

[Bollo]

Don't forget to bed them in - new material.

Uber Bike are my goto for pads.

Thanks, that's useful to know about Uber. I did take a look at them but didn't know enough to pull the trigger. I've been bitten by some shoot cheapo decathlon ones in the past - a distress purchase after I really did let a previous set get too thin - so I'm pretty conservative when it comes to pad brands.

Bedding in is something I'm quite strict about. I hate noisy bikes in any form and squeaky brakes in any format do my head in.

 

[fossyant]

I use Uber Race Matrix on my full suspension. Very quiet pads, and work really well. The only time they squeal is the initial braking when the disc is wet.

 

[T4tomo]

But, to sound like a broken record, it’s more the nature of the failure that’s bugging me. I get that too-thin pads could fail in a number of ways and I’d have to suck that up (see thread title), but these don’t look p1ss-take thin. The pads didn’t degrade - they failed, and the bike went from perfectly fine to emergency-fix/call-the-wife-you-bone-idle-**** in a couple of kilometres.

this is why we have 2 sets of brakes.

It also happened to me when a brake cable snapped, which is possible I should have spotted the wear earlier. I nursed it home and changed it.

 

[cougie uk]

Park tools recommend 1mm minimum, Shimano 0.5mm and SRAM 3mm including backplate, but they’re brand dependent. I can’t find a recommendation on the Swisstop site but I’m sure it’s in there somewhere.

I don’t have a set of callipers but an estimate with a ruler suggests the pads have a bit more than a mill. Not much, maybe .25mm over. No idea how thick they are when new. I’d assume the park tools limit is reasonably conservative and I’ve certainly run thinner without problems.

But, to sound like a broken record, it’s more the nature of the failure that’s bugging me. I get that too-thin pads could fail in a number of ways and I’d have to suck that up (see thread title), but these don’t look p1ss-take thin. The pads didn’t degrade - they failed, and the bike went from perfectly fine to emergency-fix/call-the-wife-you-bone-idle-**** in a couple of kilometres.

If I were Swiss Stop I would want to know about any failures.
If you don't report it - they can't fix it for the future. I mean you've spent more time on here discussing what to do about it than it would have taken to email them ?

 

[Dogtrousers]

You never know, they might send you a lifetimes supply of brake pads, or toblerones or something.

 

[Jody]

I use Uber Race Matrix on my full suspension. Very quiet pads, and work really well.

Uber are great for pads!