For all you superstar haters out there, pull up a chair, you may enjoy this.

Had some pads fall apart on me just at the start of a ride. As in the pad part fell off the metal part inside the calliper. Took them out, had a quick look, popped them back in to lever them apart to get the new ones in, popped them back out, put the new ones in, rode.

Sent the old ones back to super star. Eventually got a reply saying they’d been levered back with a screwdriver or similar (duh), and they were refusing to refund or replace. I emailed back telling them I’d only levered them after they had fallen apart, and didn’t receive any reply.

So I sent 11 more emails over the course of a month to the guy who’d originally got back to me (Neil). Now started sending emails to the main superstar email contact thing. Only sent 1 so far. How many emails do you think I will have to send before they cave and reply? 10? 50? ??

Neil IS the main (only?) Superstar contact 🙂

Ah, may have to double my efforts then.

Wouldn,t you think he,d just send you a new set.
He must sell bloody hundreds of the things.not like he,s going to miss a pair.
Pure greed…
I had a the seals perish on some nano,s in like 3 weeks.
Emailed him.He told me to send them too him(after buying a new pair) and he,d refund………still waiting 6 months later

playing devil’s advocate, you got your answer, perhaps they are sticking to it
if you keep emailing them, they’ll probably just block or filter out your email address

He must sell bloody hundreds of the things.not like he,s going to miss a pair.

maybe a lot fall apart so if they give RealMan a set, they’d have to give a lot more others a set too

they’ll probably just block or filter out your email address

I wondered this too, but surely if they do this they’re accepting they are going to ignore me for the rest of time, regarding all future purchases.

Emails are very easy to ignore.

Emails are very easy to ignore.

Sending a couple a week, I reckon he will get pretty bored of deleting them soon. What’s a pair of pads to him? £2?

If you levered them back after the friction material fell off, then any marks on the pad would be on the backing and it’ll be obvious it wasn’t the cause. Nice little QED for them.

(though this sort of logic might not work… When my seatpost stopped working they told me to service it, I did, it still didn’t work. Sent it back, they suggested it was because I’d serviced it wrong. Cause traditionally comes before effect 😛 )

Incidentally, if the friction material falls off a Shimano OEM pad and you ask for a refund you get told it’s a consumable and the warranty doesn’t apply.

Incidentally, if the friction material falls off a Shimano OEM pad and you ask for a refund you get told it’s a consumable and the warranty doesn’t apply.

well, every day is a school day. Is it shimano or madision who say this?

Oh, and does this pad unreliability occur often in motorbikes and cars? I’d never heard of it before budget mtb disc pads came out.

I’m wondering with the small contact area on mtb pads – they’re more likely to de-laminate compared to car pads – for the same level of quality control(?)

he’s always at race events (he’s the ginger one) so you can ask him face to face

Well I’ve had no response to emails to them in past where I wanted to buy something so you’ve got no chance of a reply.

send him soemthign recorded delivery saying you’ll take him to small claims court as his product is not fit for purpose.

be cheaper for him to supply pads.

to be honest after he started reviewing his own products on some american sites and dissing other suppliers on here under both an assumed name I decided I wouldn’t ever buy anything off him again regardless of how good/cheap it was – he’d crossed a line.

although the ‘installed it with a rock and now he won’t honour my warranty’ was a classic thread.

A completely wild suggestion but how about picking up a telephone and dialling this number: 0845 4758338 (as taken from the ‘contact’ page on Superstars site). Easy to ignore emails. Harder to ignore someone phoning up asking a question about some faulty pads they bought.

This is one of the reasons having tried ‘that’ suppliers pads that I stick to Fibrax, Clarkes, Goodridge or Hayes, at least they will fit in the caliper too without having to let fluid out the system of take a file to the backing plate or replace them after one ride as they have disintergrated!
In my experience as with everything in life you get what you pay for…..

They are universally shite of course.

PS – been using their Kevlar ones since Verbier in 2009. The pads I have in at the moment have still got loads of life left and have been in since the back end of 2009, survived two Calderdale winters and work brilliantly. I’m not quite sure how they’ve lasted that long but I’m not complaining!

Just ordered another 2 sets of their pads.
Never had any issues in fitting them or in use.
Neils customer service is at best rubbish, at worst, well……

I’ve had motorbike pads delaminate

Daveyboywonder, they don’t ever seem to answer the phone.

julianwilson: well, every day is a school day. Is it shimano or madision who say this?

Oh, and does this pad unreliability occur often in motorbikes and cars? I’d never heard of it before budget mtb disc pads came out.

Shop referred to distributors who said they’d referred to Shimano. Which may or may not be true of course.

I had a very expensive carbon lorraine brake pad fall apart on the motorbike, which was loads of fun. Luckily on the rear but from the way it failed I reckon it could happen to the front.

But for pushbikes it just seems to be something that happens occasionally, saw a Hope one do it, heard of others. They’re tiny wee things under a lot of stress so it’s not too shocking I think. I’ve also seen people on here declare Superstar ones to be rubbish then go off and buy the exact same pads from another seller under a different name, for about 25% more 😉