Has any magazine done a bit of a disc pad review?

I’m thinking more than just the anecdotal ‘these are better’.

I know you can find rolling resistance etc of tyres, I just wonder if someone has been as geeky with pads.

Too subjective isn’t it. The limitation of braking is tyre grip so it’s just about feel. I’ve got Hopes and hate the feel of sintered pads so organic for me. They just feel like they bite better.

Race Matrix on my SRAM – quiet and I stop.

Too subjective isn’t it.

I’m not so sure.

Surely you can measure pull vs friction, heat build up, fade and wear rate (etc)

I just buy Shimano.

You can get cheaper but they might be shit.

https://www.bike-magazin.de/komponenten/bremsen/test-mountainbike-bremsbelaege-2017/a37195-page5.html

I just buy Shimano.

You can get cheaper but they might be shit.

This. I’ve never been let down and I don’t go through them so fast that any potential cost-saving is worth the effort of finding out

I just buy Shimano.

I don’t think they make Magura pads…

I’m just intrigued, having popped a pair of (brilliant) Kevlar Uberbike pads in to the old bike ready for sale, I remembered I need to buy spare pads for the new bike.

Enduro mag used Hope’s test rig to test out a load of brakes in a scientific, controlled environment.

I don’t believe they tested pads separately, ping them and ask for a test!

IIRC though, the trickstuff pads offer around 20% more power.

Anecdotally, third party pads receive mixed reviews from everyone, everytime this question is asked. OEM pads are generally universally praised as working as advertised.

Got some Shimano pads in Halfords last week for £7.99 so comparable to the online retailers.

As above +1, although I’ve settled on uberbike race matrix. And avoid anything sintered.

Too subjective isn’t it. The limitation of braking is tyre grip

I don’t think that’s quite true. Otherwise we’d all still be riding round with hope Mini’s, which were good but not SRAM/shimano 4-pot good.

And less lever force tends to mean more control. Even at the vertically challenged Swinley there’s a few braking points where I know I could brake harder. Either by braking harder than feels comfortable or just because i run my levers as close to the bars as the adjustment allows so even freshly bled they hit the bars before the front tyre locks up (downhill, in the dry, with my arse on the back tyre).

I’m sure it’s possible to do a fully objective analysis of power, heat management etc. so much is down to personal preference – I like sintered in the front, organic or kevlar in the back. Others hate sintered. Some people prefer cable discs over hydro (weirdos).

In terms of brands, I’ve tried a few and disco seem the best alternative to Shimano. I’ve got some disco sintered in the front on my Zees to try them but I may move back to Shimano for feel.

We spend a bugger load on kit, why try and save a few quid on pads?

We spend a bugger load on kit, why try and save a few quid on pads?

I’m trying to buy good pads, not just cheap pads.

The same brand/compound of pads can perform differently in 2 different brakes, so that alone sort of screws the direct comparisons. I think any test limited enough to give sensible repearable results, would pretty much inevitably be too limited to actually be useful for punters.

Rahox are the best I’ve used.

As you say it’s all subjective.
I’ve used Superstar Kevlar in my old Avid brakes which were good – I did try sintered but hated them.
I didn’t get in with the standard Shimano pads in my SLX brakes – now use Uber Racematrix and find them really good.
I did make a mistake and order Uber Kevlar too and those have been pretty good too.

After trying uberbike and superstar pads I wasn’t impressed. Wear rates were much higher than the Shimano equivalent and I always felt they were a bit inconsistent. Some pads would be great but then I had a few duff ones that always felt like they lacked power.

I’ve just used Shimano Sintered for the last few years. You can usually find non-finned ones for around a tenner and finned for £15. But wear rates are incredible and they’re much more consistent. My current pair of pads have done around 450 miles of riding in the welsh valleys all through winter and still have about 30% pad left.

I always used Disco Brakes sintered, and reverted to UberBikes sintered when Disco are out of stock.  Never had any issues with them – they do wear twice as fast as Shimano but are 25% of the cost so overall come out half the price.

I use Race Matrix, they’re at least as good as the OE pads that came in my XTM8000 brakes, but on my HT you sometimes get a bit of a weird warble from the rear, I think it’s a combination of the all steel rotor and a very stiff back end.

An update.

My shiny new Deore four pot brakes, a month or so of riding.
The stock Shimano pads (resin) are glazing over, as I got with my two piston Deores. They work well and quietly though.
A swap for UberBike Kevlar reveals much more power, just as quiet. A Ben Lomond descent and BPW, no glazing, of anything a bit more grabby…

Oh, and Deore Four piston are teh shizzles.

I know you weren’t looking for opinions, but seeing as you got a load 😀 ..

Shimano sintered in rear (where it gets more crap), organic in front (where you want better modulation).
Or race matrix both ends (quiet, wear quick but are cheap).

In Deore m6000’s with 180mm rotors both ends, 2.5″ 29er tyres. They stop my 14 stone frame adequately. I tried the finned ones, made zero difference.

In the xt 4 pots fitted to my fs ,I have only just replaced the pads they came with, after a year including a week in’t Alps ,which I replaced with racematrix,the same replaceable pad/ fin style I use in 2 other sets of xt’s m8000 and m785’s.But they were an absolute mare to fit in the 4pots, the retain spring seems to be a tad too big, but after the struggle they bed in and work just fine

I have been in the Alps for 3 weeks. EBay £1 a pair jobbies are working great for me.

Shimano fit ones in SLX on a 160/140mm trail bike and SRAM fit in Guide RE on a Specialized Levo. No issues stopping. No over heating. No unreasonable noise. No excessive wear.

For clarity they were £1.02 a pair and took 20 days or so to come. I will buy again.

My pal turned up with shagged pads, walked into an Intersport francise and walked out with a new pair of pads for his Deores for €20. Insanity. Plan ahead.

A lot of online stuff like the Enduro mag tests rave about Trickstuff pads.

Aye, I kind of don’t want to recommend them but I got Bikeinn ceramic pads from aliexpress, they cost £7.55 for 4 and so far they work absolutely great- did a few rides at home, fine, took them out to the alps, fine, ended up using a pair for the megavalanche, fine. Could be there’ll be some horrendous long term effect like they eat my discs or don’t work below zero degrees or something but so far they’re not just cheap, they’re as good as anything else I’ve used. And I’d be amazed if the exact same pads aren’t for sale for 5 times as much with some different brand attached in the UK.