kudude

Metal dissipates heat, no?

Youngin

kool stops... now.

RC2

Metal dissipates heat, yes.
Miscellaneous shrapnel in your pads tears up rims.

dcvelo

Unless of course it's coming from the rim, in which case they are doing a perfectly fine job of self-destruction without need of assistance from the brakepads.

What wheels are you running there anyway?

operator

Lol? Of course it's coming from the rim, and the only way that happened is when the brake pads were squeezed onto the rims.

Replace them with koolstops.

kudude

Mavic Ksyrium Elites. Lots of rainy rides in the last few weeks, somehow I wonder if that has contributed.

CastIron

New pads. Clean your rims with alcohol and a scotchbrite pad. The rain helps pick up bits of grit which then dig into your rims when the pads clamp down. After riding in the rain make sure you give the pads a look. In winter I'll periodically file my pads a bit with a metal file to eradicate some of this junk and offer a fresh surface.

Neil Fraedrich

I have torn up rims in winter riding in the past which eventually brought me
to buying disc brakes for my winter bike.--I loved them almost at once.
Now I ride disc brakes year around--Avid Mechanicals

For me changing to Disc Brakes was like going from Down Tube Shifters to STI

TTFN

kudude

Do you ride a cross bike in road races?

Neil Fraedrich

Not into Road Racing, Now only Commuting.
In the past I did century's and Double centuries .
I am now coming back from some injuries, will try STP this year.
But I never Raced.
The commuting is where the Brakes really shine, with all the Road YUK
in an Oregon Winter, Rubber Compound Brakes can go fast.

Yo

operator

You're going to have a hard time convincing others to buy a completely new wheelset just to use disc brakes and the associated costs of doing so. Also, the fork will need to be changed as well.

Although I do agree - for all-weather commuting, disc brakes would be the best choice.

toucci

replace the pads but at the same time sand off any hanging flakes on the wheels. I used to deal with this problem on my mtb until I realized I had to correct both areas at the same time or it would come back in just one ride.

operator

And just to add, this should not be happening (flakes on the rims) if you were using quality pads.

geneman

"I come up out of the saddle, I shift and jump. Barthelemy on my wheel. I bite in the hard air, I rip down the left side of the road, I bridge the gap at a single tug. Now, what to do with my velocity? I could always use it to make my brake blocks nice and toasty: little shavings will go flying off of them, my bike another thousandth of a gram lighter."

waterrockets 

Rain kicks up more grit, which sticks to the rim. The brakes grab it and hold on to it (grains of sand). These then abrade the braking surface, which makes it look like you have metal bits in the brake pad.

The "right" thing to do is to replace the pads.

That said, I never have replaced pads because of this, in 16 years. I just take out my pocket knife and lever out the offending gravel bits. Wipe the rims off. Pads good for another few thousand miles. When it happens again in the next rain storm, poke those bits out again.

Most people on these forums buy about 15x more crap than they need to

800over

I know some people around here who'll buy a whole new bike for less!

stapfam

Still have the OM wheels in the shed- just waiting for those foul weather days when Road grit will ruin the Set of handbuilt rims you have saved up for.

Have gone a bit higher grade now but I have a set of Aksiums that are set up with cassette and ready to fit any time. Only thing is before the next dry ride- the blocks are cleaned or filed down to get rid of the stuff they picked up on the wet ride.

Neil Fraedrich

Ok point well taken --there is a cost-- however I am not on a crusade to influence the world
I ride in Oregon EVERY DAY(on the wet side) and here we have a lot of wet days, so for me this makes a lot of sence -- The cost is negotiable there are lots of bikes which have disc's-maybe not so many road bikes -- but still there are always choices. (1)- buy during the year end close outs , (2)- keep two bikes in the stable.

TTFN

kudude

the pads came with my Ultegra SL group from pbk, I assume they're not of too poor quality.

I've already picked the pieces out (using toothpicks) and sanded down the blocks. I only wiped off the rims, so i may need to go back over those with some 400-600 grit sandpaper and recheck my pads. Unfortunately I can't avoid riding in the rain. My schedule is limited, so if I have time to ride, I do. Rain or shine.

operator

Rain or not, it shouldn't do that to your rims. I just got back from a rain/snow/slush ride With my koolstop salmons and there are zero particles in there.

Your pads are junk, replace or suffer premature wheel failure due to excessive brake track wear.

waterrockets 

The pads are fine. Salmon KS pads are better, but I've been running Shimano pads as long as I've been riding, and never had a wheel braking surface wear excessively. I think most here would agree that I ride my bikes and parts "longer than normal." I also ride in the rain frequently (well, as frequently as it rains anyway).

There's never a reason to sand down your braking surface other than to smooth a seam (mfg. irregularity). The gravel in the pads was doing enough sanding for you. Just wipe them down with a damp rag.

When you hear grinding after your next rain ride, pull out the toothpick again. I still like the pocket knife better though, as you whittle off pad ridges as needed too (more commonly needed on the old cantilever MTB brakes).

Don't forget to clean out the vertical channels in the pads as well. You should be able to see daylight in there.