I was out riding on Sunday when my rear brake stopped working. Half-way down a grassy descent the lever suddenly pulled straight to the bar and there was no power. After frantic pumping, I got some braking back but when I got to the bottom and looked at the bike, I was quite surprised by what I found. One of the pads of friction material had completely come off the metal backing pad. I had checked the pads before the ride and there was loads of material left, maybe a couple of mm on each side. I’ve never seen that sort of failure before, has anyone else? Any ideas what may have caused it?

The brakes were XT M785 and the pad was sintered metal on a red painted backing plate – not sure what make but perhaps the description will ring a bell with someone on here.

I have had it on superstar pads. 3 sets and they all failed in the same way a few miles after fitting. I will never buy cheap pads again especially superstar.
Its just not worth the risk to save a few £££

I’ve had cheap and expensive ones do this.

Superstar were great and sent me some free replacements.

Red backing = Superstar Kevlar

If anyone has red brake pads, with approx. 2mm of pad left, please remove them from your bike at once, OR YOU WILL DIE!!!!!!

rickon – Member

Red backing = Superstar Kevlar

Apart from the bit where the OP says they were sintered pads.

OP, do you know what brand? Or is this the most widespread PSA ever?

I don’t know any more than what I already said. I don’t ride the bike much – it’s spent the best part of a year sitting around indoors doing nothing – it was so long ago I bought the pads I can’t remember what brand they were. I’m pretty sure they were sintered because I never but anything else. There was no marking on them either. Hmm, I may not be helping very much. Sorry.

Clarks are red I think? I’ve had some

Superstar also say Superstar on them.

Quite helpful. If they are red and sintered then it means they definitely aren’t Superstar. That’ll slow the haterz a little bit

superstar sintered are gold

I purchased a set of the new kevlar superstars pads with the heat fins on. Didnt fall to bits, but I was going through a set a week. Went back to Shimano standard (organic ?) pads lasted the rest of the winter.

Buy cheap ones, then when on the rare occasion they fall apart you wont be upset at wasting lots of money. Also you wont feel hard done by when you wear them out fast.

I’ve had expensive ones fall apart and wear out in a weekend of riding.

I think a lot of the time, esp if stuff is sat around for a while, corrosion can de-bond the friction material from the backing plate.

Yes I know superstar had this issue years ago. I’ve used SS pads pretty much exclusively for the last 7 or 8 years. No problems with them at all.

Plus 1 for bigyinns comments.

How did you first bed them in when uou installed them?

I had this on a set of 120 quid Yamaha ones for the motorbike

I’ve had this on Hayes OEM pads too. On the actuated side of a front mechanical disc, on a fast and narrow section of road.

New pants were required in addition to new pads.

My mate had it happen to his BMW motorbike pads. He glued them back on with Araldite !

He told me this while I was riding pillion, as we approached a roundabout at a decent speed. I wasn’t sure what to suggest, as asking him to slow down would have meant using the brakes. I did start to check out the verge for a soft spot.

Pads fail sometimes, shit happens. Cheap or expensive ones.

russyh – Member
I purchased a set of the new kevlar superstars pads with the heat fins on. Didnt fall to bits, but I was going through a set a week. Went back to Shimano standard (organic ?) pads lasted the rest of the winter.

My Superstar Kevs last all winter, and half the summer before it. On two bikes, in all the utter crud of the winter. No fair weather riding only.

They do wear more than sintered though, but I much prefer a little more frequent changes to the feel and horrible noise of sintered. Plus pack of 4 Superstar is same price as one original brand.

Not that the OP has Superstar Kevs if it’s red and sintered 😉

Anyway, solution… less braking.

Thanks for all the replies.
Nobeerinthefridge – yes. Better safe than sorry, eh?
bigyinn – if water had crept in there that’s possible, I suppose. The solution would be to ride the bike more often, right?
Damascus- they were bedded in by doing about 10 stops from 10-odd mph, then riding around in bottom gear with the brake on as hard as possible while still going round, then another handful of stops from nearer 20. At the end of that, there was a subtle hot-brake-burning smell and they were working brilliantly.
Trimix – wtf?!

Your bedding procedure sounds ok, although I prefer to do a heavy brake from 20mph and repeat. I live on a hill so if I go to the top and ride back down thats my pads bedded in nicely!

russyh – Member

I purchased a set of the new kevlar superstars pads with the heat fins on. Didnt fall to bits, but I was going through a set a week.

(not relevant to the OP but)

One thing about kevlar pads- not just superstar- is that they’re dependent on being properly bedded in to last well. But, they’re not dependent on bedding in to give good power. So, whereas with most pads you’d break them in til you get good performance and then stop, with kevlar it’s easy to go “Well these work fine” and just get on with it. Actually you need to go through the whole same rigmarole as with anything else, it’s just not as immediately obvious that you need to, or that it’s helping.

Anyone have any experience of these pads?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121760917588?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&var=420754233412&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I’ve just bought a couple of pairs for the road bike? Risky? I might just run them on the rear only, and put something “branded” on the front…….