I’m running Kool Stop pads on my Shorty’s. The stock pads were mediocre at best. Since cleaning the bike they’ve been ridiculously noisy, to the point where it’s unpleasant. Any ideas? Or am I better with new pads? I’ve cleaned the rims, scuffed the pad surface and no joy. They’re on a CX bike.

Check the pads are toed in correctly, one end touches the rim first (trailing end) rather them being parallel to the rim and the whole pad makes contact. Hope that makes sense!

I was always told to toe them in so the front (leading) edge made contact first. Used to keep things quiet for me. That was a long time ago – before mtb’s with discs…

Yes, have the leading (front) tip 1-2mm closer to the rim than the rear. The rotational movement of the rim will rotate the pads slightly when the brakes are applied.