Was about to buy Shimano XT rotors and OEM pads from CRC when someone suggested taking a look at Superstar. Wow - prices are great - but are their 'wave' rotors and 'semi-metallic/organic pads' going to work flawlessly with my Shimano M445 callipers? Any experiences of Superstar pads and rotors to share - and anyone tried this specific combination? How about Superstar's service, returns, etc. Sent them an email last week asking when the 160 wave rotor was going to be back in stock and haven't received a reply yet, so starting to worry already about their customer service. Thanks.
Hob-nob anyone?
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Sorry - don't get it. You'll have to explain?
Have a quick search using the forum search function...you'll find plenty of topics about this!
Ok, penny's dropped! Sorry, this is my first day on the forum and I didn't know I was dragging over old ground. Will search the archive as you suggest. Thanks.
They're fine, never had to deal with customer services myself mind you. Its pads and discs, what's the worst that could happen. Yeah there has been issues with a few pads letting go of the braking material, but so have most pad manufacturers.
Ok, I'm back. Searched the forum on "superstar" and got 100 hits, but nothing that really answered my question. But R.lepecha, thanks for your patience with a newbie on the forum, your reply was very helpful. Beats hob-nobs and octopusses...
nowt wrong with the pads (despite what the haters say). i'd stick with shimano rotors though.
the pads are excellent, not used the rotors though,
Not heard anything bad about the rotors, but the pads are ok. I've got the kevlar ones in my main bike at the moment. They're gooood!
If you have searched on here and had a read you have all the info you need. I wouldn't touch his stuff due to the high failure rate and poor service friends of mine have experienced
Good kit, great prices, fluctuating service
Superstar's pads are good but they are not the same as the originals. Not wildy different just little things like not quite fitting in the same way and irritatingly noisy in some situations (M575s + RT76 rotors)
FWIW XT rotors are a tiny bit thicker than most rotors and if there's any shing-shing going on with your brakes at the moment, it will be worse with RT76s. Otherwise they are outstanding and look pure class on the bike.
The rotors and pads are fine.
Get three times as many for the price of one of those Shimano jobbies.
Aye, the kevlar ones are great. Best pads I've ever had in my Hope brakes. And they are rude boy red. I think I got 4 sets for the same price as 2 Hope made pads.
That's great stuff guys, thanks, keep it coming!
And to TandenJerry, I tried the search again and found out that a basic search only goes back a month - duh! Have now done an advanced search going back a year and am starting to uncover some of the history you alluded to. Bear with me - its my first day on this forum!
I use the Superstar Kevlar pads too. They're great! And cheap as chips. What's not to like?
I've not tried the rotors, but whats actually going to fail on a disc rotor? At the end of the day its a circular piece of metal
you'll see it is a very few people that made a very big fuss about pads failing, and lots of people reported other brands failing too, I'd certainly recommend their pads anyway based on the last couple of years problem free for me. Their service does suck though, they seem to have adopted a no-reply policy to anything but product queries from the website in my experience, so if something did go wrong, you might be stuck.
I've used both the sintered pads and the rotorsin XT brakes. Decent stopping performance, no trouble with the pads falling apart (was a problem a while back) and excellent pad life. However, they squealed like a pig. Nothing I could do would stop it so I've finally gone for the genuine shimano xt ones and they are without doubt better. Better stopping, more modulation more clearance on the pads (guess either the pads of rotor are slightly thinner (less stoppping material?) and completly silent.
I'm sticking to genuine stuff from now on unless I can't get it at all.
I'm very happy with their pads, grips and bargain chain device but I did have an issue with the Wave Rotor that I think has been experienced elsewhere?
They look great but I used to get serious judder when braking hard with it and ended up swapping it out for an alternative. This was a front 203mm rotor in combination with Magura Martas.
I've got the flame rotors (203mm at both ends cos I'm fat) and use the sintered pads with my formula oros. They have been great, plenty of power and last as long as any other pads I've used.
Been waiting to use an octopus picture I found the other day.
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Pads are OK, some are noisy, but I found that original ones can also sometimes be noisy.
Just ordered some rotors, hopefully they're OK....
Rotors are great! Pads are great!
Service seems to be getting better - had a little niggle with a ss hub and it's getting sorted, and they are answering my emails in a day or two - just try being polite, its working for me!! 😀
I have also found their headsets, bottom brackets, grips, stems, hubs, rims, wheels, seatposts - well just about everything to be good for the money!
I like this bit
[i]And to TandenJerry[/i]
(No probs with Superstar bits here.)
They seem to have had a bad batch of pads about a year plus back, I've used their pads for 3 years, never had a problem. The kevlar pads work great in my Hope brakes, sintered work fine in my Avids.
Plus you get free Haribo in your order, deal clincher 😀
I am liking the pads and rotors. Been running them for about 3 years at a fulsome 17st. So far so good and the fact they're cheap means you don't mind changing pads rather than inadvertently burning the pad down to the backing, which isn't great for the disc, in that 'nah, it's £15 to change it - must be another ride in these.' Just me again then?
As all of the other posters seem to say - cheap and work well.
Pads and wheels have been good for me. In fact the wheels are worth a special mention for VFM
The wheels are a great price and quality kit but the build on mine wasn't great, with slight wobbles in both axes and the spoke tension seems quite low.
Disco brakes are good for pads too. http://www.discobrakes.com/
May be slightly cheaper than superstar.
I have superstar rotors, never had a problem. Lots of issues with avid rotors, always warping.
bigjim - Memberyou'll see it is a very few people that made a very big fuss about pads failing, and lots of people reported other brands failing too
Exactly this. I didn't come on here and flame Shimano when the friction material dropped off my OEM XT pads but when it happens with Superstar it's the end of the world apparently. Not convinced the failure rate is any better or worse than anyone else's, considering how popular the things are. One forum highlight here was someone recommending that people buy the exact same pads for 50% more cost from another vendor as "Superstar pads are rubbish" 😉
They seem to have fitment issues with Juicys though.
(Though to be fair Neil has shown himself occasionally to be a c*** and I wasn't delighted with how my seatpost warranty claim went... but I'm very happy with the pads, well tried and torture tested over several sets in 3 different brakes)
+1 for Avid rotors being pants
I run the pads in my Hope Mono6 Ti's & they're lovely. Cheap enough to test anyhow comparatively. I only use Hope rotors though, so know nowt about the big 'S' versions.
Good luck
Got some rotors and Kevlar pads from them recently. Rotors are nice and work well.......as well as any other rotor I've had. The Kevlar pads feel great, but not sure about the wear rate. They are possibly not going to last as long as their organic ones which was the reason I decided to try them. They stop well though.
Oh, and I did bed the pads in as per the instructions.
pads are fine never tried the roters 🙂
Oh, forgot about rotors. i've had a couple, one was drilled slightly offcentre but a mate is using it happilly on his downhill bike... The 180mm is still on my rigid and, well, it's metal and round, and cheap. Exactly the same rotor as the Tektro ones that came on my old XC bike, which were fine.
Rotors are fine. Got a few. Nowt special but cheap as you like.
Pads been fine with me- sintered-noisy in my elixir 5's tho when wet. That is all.
welcome perth!
kevlar pads here and they're great, vibe and wave rotors yeah, flame rotors - no.
Infact i've got a 200mm one you can have for the cost of postage...
Thanks for indulging a newbie, and for all the feedback guys. Based on what I've heard I think I'm gonna try the Superstar pads & rotors, and if I do get a problem, well I haven't wasted much money! Bit worried about Dr_bakes comment about problems with the wave rotor tho', as they're the ones I'm thinking of getting - can anyone point me in the direction of more info about this problem - a search of the forum didn't return any hits.
And, I even got a reply to my earlier email to Superstar - couldn't have anything to do with me mentioning it on this forum, could it? Anyway, they explained the delay was because of the recent bank holidays, which I hadn't considered, so I guess I was a bit too hasty in berating them for their slow response.
Now there's only one thing still troubling me.... what's with the Octopusses (octopi?!?) guys? I may be a bit slow on the uptake, but I just don't get it! Someone include me in the joke please....
search for octopus and octopi in the forums... it should lead you there. I can't remember the whole thing, but it was whilst certain people at SSC were... "manipulating" the feedback found on here IIRC.
It all stemmed from "bumming the octopus" - an extraction of "jumping the shark"
It got somehow from Howies to SSC during one memorable thread, aided by the freak that runs SSC having a couple of different logins here used primarily to discredit his competitors.
For that reason....I'm out.
Are the wavey rotors the same as the a2z wavey ones? They look very similar.
I use both the Kevlar and organic Superstar pads in all my bikes and I've never had a problem with them. You also get a very quick response if you contact them with any issues/questions via their Facebook page.
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I ran a set of superstar pads and the abrasive pad de-bonded from the backing plate and almost caused a very nasty accident (i.e. the braking surface sheared off the metal backing). Thankfully happened in the UK but I was only bedding a few sets in before a trip to Morzine....could have been nasty. These was when then just came out though so maybe production QA has improved since....
We had a post a while back about wave rotors.
They dont seem to agree with Oro calipers (IIRC) and or Hope hubs. The pads in Oros are really really small and the gaps in SS wave rotors are big. It doesnt seem to work well. I got a mad ABS type effect. I sent mine back and got a refund no problems.
Overall I'm a huge SS fan for brake stuff. And still alive!
Couldashouldawoulda, thanks for confirming my vague recollections.
[url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/problems-with-superstar-flame-design-rotors ]Here's that thread[/url] about the wave/flame rotors. Look good but apparently not compatible with a few callipers, to which you can add my Magura Martas.
I've had no problems with any other SSC products though.
Used quite a bit of their kit over the years.
Pads, quick releases, chain devices all good no problems at all.
Wheels, great price, had a bit of a poor build which was a disappointment. From what I can tell I'm not the only one. Re tensioned and Trued and they seem ok now.
I'm using their flame rotors on a spare pair of wheels for the 29er.
Not as grippy as the Hope rotors (Tech XC, saw rotor) which I don't really understand, but it seems to be true. However they are perfectly acceptable.
Also had 2 sets of superstar pads drop the pad off the backing plate. It was in 2008 but as one of them caused truly arse twitching moment and, less bad than could have been, crash have not bothered since.
Running flame rotors and sintered pads on my SS just now - work fine for me and lasting well so far. Can't say I've noticed them being any better or worse than the original Hope rotors and pads.
Been using them for years now (the pads) and not had any problems.
They seem to require more thorough bedding-in than the original Avids, but as long as you do that then they are fine & last ages.
If you don't bed them in (15 high speed stops), you can really reduce life.
Don't know what the mechanism is that achieves this, but it definitely makes a difference.
Pads are ****g useless, don't bother.