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Ceramic Brake Pads

By Chitts - Posted on 23 June 2009

Hi,

Did the Ouribbah NOBMOB AMBC training this weekend and ate through my pads.
Looking at getting ceramic brake pads from Disco Brakes and they claim the ceramic last around 3x longer. Even if it is only 2x, the cost benefit stacks up.
My questions are:
1) Has anyone tried the ceramic pads?
2) Do ceramic pads work well in both wet and dry?

Any feedback appreciated.

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General Gear (stuff for any rider)

I have.

Submitted by loki on Tue, 23/06/2009 - 16:03.

Hi Chitts

I've tried a couple of different pads from DiscoBrakes including the ceramic "Pro" version. Haven't tried the "Ceramic 3x" version though. I posted a question to DiscoBrakes a while ago and this was their response:

Sintered and Ceramic D have about the same durability, and they will both last much longer than CeramicPro, Semi-metallic or Resin pads.
In choosing between Sintered or Ceramic D bear in mind that Sintered are usually quieter whereas Ceramic D run at lower heat.

http://www.discobrakes.com/?s=1&t=0&f=viewtopic....

As for whether ceramic work well in both wet and dry - I've found no significant difference in braking performance between the original Resin pads, Ceramic Pro, or Sintered. The sintered pads definitely need to be bedded in properly. If you don't you won't be able to stop! I put two new pairs in today and had to do about 20 hard stops before they started performing well.

I'm currently running sintered pads and am getting better wear out of them than the resin or Ceramic Pro, however as soon as I hit a wet trail they wear out just as quick. The sintered are also noisy when wet - they squeel like crazy until they dry out.
Have you seen this post: http://nobmob.com/node/8818 ? Lots of discussion there about pad life.
Also recent post http://nobmob.com/node/9709 where I question the effect of rotor design on pad life.
Just out of interest what brake system do you have? Calliper model and rotor size/model would help please.

If you do try the Ceramic 3x please let us know the results. They're not that much more expensive than the sintered (especially compared to LBS prices) so could be worth a try.

Have you experienced accelerated pad wear in the past? Or was the AMBC training day your first session in the rain and on a wet track?

cheers
Loki

Horrible conditions

Submitted by Buck on Tue, 23/06/2009 - 16:11.

It was just the conditions on the day of the AMBC course. It was pouring rain and we were practising braking techniques. So we had multiple hard braking stops on the firetrail.

We then did parts of the course and there was a LOT of standing water and the carpeted section of Ourimbah. was literally a waterfall.

My front pads were totally trashed after that day. Bottom bracket is also gone.

Basically riding off road in the wet is expensive