Soft pads like the salmon help a lot, also very important after riding in rain is when arriving home, wiping rims with a rag to remove grit. Even a wet rag wipe back and forth on pads to remove gunge, this all goes a long way reducing rim wearing and what you describe.
And taking a close look regularly at pads for embedded stuff is always a good idea.
Last edited by djb; 06-05-19 at 01:25 PM.
Reason: gunge