Nederlands | English | Deutsch | Türkçe

Project Sports

Questions and answers about sports

Chemically roughening rim braking surface to improve performance

5 min read

Asked by: Roy Huber

How can I improve my wheel brake performance?

Quote from video: It's not catastrophic not any sense but you can get a little bit more performance back into your brakes. If you either take a file or sand rake gently that top shiny layer off your brakes.

How do I increase the braking on my carbon rims?

Proper Braking Technique for Carbon Rims

  1. Distribute braking force as evenly as possible between your front and rear brakes.
  2. Avoid prolonged braking, such as “dragging” your brakes, which can cause a dangerous amount of heat buildup in carbon rims.
  3. Use shorter, more powerful periods of braking.

Why rim brakes are better?

If you’re a dedicated racer, you will get a much quicker wheel change with rim brakes versus disc brakes. Rim brakes are cheaper, easier to maintain at home, and often lighter than disc brakes, but they are notorious for poor performance in wet conditions, especially with carbon rims.

What is a rim brake?

disc brakes: Once the dominant braking system on bikes, rim brakes, as their name suggests, stop the bike by squeezing two opposing brake pads against the rim of the bike wheel. The brake mechanisms are mounted on the frame somewhere near the upper part of the wheels.

Can you use carbon brake pads on Aluminium rims?

3. Can I use SwissStop carbon pads on alloy rims? Yes, it works but alloy pads perform much better on alloy rims and the change from alloy to carbon rims can be dangerous for carbon rims. Any alloy bubble in the carbon pad can destroy a carbon rim in only a few braking intervals.

How do you soften brake pad?

Quote from video: Put it on the sandpaper. And kind of push down on crazy hard but you got to put some pressure on it and you're just going to go back and forth and you're going to see some of the surface.

Do you need carbon brake pads for carbon wheels?

Carbon is a very poor conductor of heat, so carbon-specific brakepads are needed to control the amount of heat buildup, and pull it away from the rim. What this means is that you’ll need to fit a pair of carbon-specific brakepads and use them only on your carbon rims.

Do rim brakes wear out carbon wheels?

You don’t need us to tell you that the wheels are one of the most important components on your bike and if you run rim brakes your rims can wear out – that’s because whether your wheels are aluminium or carbon every time you brake not only are you shaving small amounts of material from your brake blocks, you’re shaving

Do rim brakes work on carbon wheels?

Yes, this also dates back to the original rims. When designing a rim brake system for carbon wheels you have to think of both the epoxy resin system and the rubber compound of the brake pads. When these are designed together they work very well.

Why do road bikes still have rim brakes?

Greater absolute stopping power.



A rim brake can provide all the stopping power most anyone needs under most dry conditions, even on long, steep descents.

How do you tell when carbon rims are worn out?

We asked 14 makers of carbon road rims how you can tell when it is time to replace your rim. There is a common theme in almost all the answers: A grooved or cupped track, uncovering a previously invisible layer of material is a sure sign your rim needs swapped.

Are rim brakes good enough?

Rim brakes are also easy to adjust, unlike some disc brake systems, where disc brake rub and squealing can be persistent issues. On top of that, it’s worth pointing out that the latest rim brake systems are better than ever, particularly on mid to high-end groupsets, and provide plenty of stopping power on tap.

How long do carbon rim brake pads last?

So, How Long Do Bicycle Brake Pads Last? Typically, brake pads last anywhere from 500-1000 miles. However, this depends on a variety of factors such as the braking system used and the conditions of the ride itself as in riding in wet or dry conditions. So be sure to check your pads regularly for signs of wear.

How long do carbon rim brake wheels last?

From ENVE:



This is a good question and one that merits explanation, given that many of us grew up on a 3-5 year lifespan expectation from alloy. The short answer is that a carbon rim is expected to last until it is damaged in a way that compromises the bond between resin and carbon fibers.

What are rim brake pads made out of?

Brake pads can be made of leather, rubber or cork and are often mounted in metal “shoes”. Rim brakes are typically actuated by a lever mounted on the handlebar.

Why are my disc brakes not gripping?

Quote from video: It's either air in the system or a pressure situation compress your loss. Parts of friction issue at the calipers.

How do I increase brake pressure on my bike?

Quote from video: All you want to do is pop a tiny little bit of fluid.

Why are my bike brakes not gripping?

If either brake isn’t working properly, it’s likely to be a result of slack in the cable – unless your bike has hydraulic brakes, in which case they probably need ‘bleeding’ to remove air bubbles. (That’s a job for the bike shop or a confident home mechanic.)

How can I improve my motorcycle brake performance?

Quote from video: Up next upgrades the brake pads. This is another fairly cheap way to upgrade motorcycle brakes by upgrading to track biased pads you'll not only gain more out by performance.

What is the best braking system?

Even though both of these are used in most cars now with disc brakes being in front and drum brakes in the back, disc brakes are still the better choice.

How can I make my motorcycle drum brakes work better?

Quote from video: What you can do is take a little bit of sandpaper. And just run this along that glazing. And then you can spray this off with some brake cleaner.