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Just got a pair of XTR MT900 rotors for my road bike, but I've read reports of them only lasting 6 months (naturally depending on several factors) from e.g. Peak Torque
- ice tech has a thin layer of stainless with alu sandwiched between, gives better cooling but also reduces the life of the rotor.
I've used sintered in the past when commuting as they provide the best all weather performance, are most resistant to contamination which actually made them more silent in shitty weather - you'd get an initial squawwwk but then they died down. I also lived somewhere flat and didn't have to worry about rotor wear.
Now i live somewhere hilly and only ride in good weather, should I go back to resin pads to save my rotor, or will the cost of replacing the resin pads more often equal the cost of replacing the rotor more often?
Which pads will be most resistant to brake fade on up to 8 min 8% twisty descents? I read resin can overheat, but sintered can put more heat into the caliper and oil - worst case boiling it (running the L04C finned pads currently).
Buy some steel rotors?
I've got steel rotors as spares for winter. But TBH can't really see much noticeable wear to my ice tech ones.
You should probably change solid rotors when that much material has been worn off too so really it's just a cost thing.
Back to callipers. I really can't see you wearing them out quickly. Yes if its a commute bike. You are hardly going to overheat road brakes in the UK. Never done that to rim brakes.
I've had ice tech rotors on my hardtail for 9 years never worn on sintered pads. I'm a heavy guy 120kilo.
Maybe it's a myth that resin wears harder on the rotor??
It seems a bit like you might be trying to solve 2 different problems- wear and heat fade- at the same time, without knowing if either of them is actually a problem? I'd be testing those out before changing anything...
I think it all basically hinges on heat, not wear or anything else. Because if you don't have a heat problem, then you don't need finned pads, icetech rotors or anything else, you can just slap in solid steel rotors and use whatever pads you want and half of what's bothering you just goes away, you can just kind of cut the knot.
Maybe it’s a myth that resin wears harder on the rotor??
Other way arround. Sintered pads are harder, thus wear the rotors quicker.
There are two basic types of pad, sintered (aka metalic) and organic (aka resin).
Some companies mess arround with the fomula and create semi metallic (metal particles bound in resin), Kevlar (organic resin with fibres in it) etc. But basicly is a choice between one and the other.
From cold (which is 99% of a bikes brake work) organic pads have more friction. But they will vaporize and burn if you get them hot enough. Beyond that point sintered pads work better.
Sintered pads work better once they're hot (but different pad compounds will still have different ranges).
Brakes overheat in different ways too.
A) The pad surface gets too hot and friction is reduced.
B) Or the fluid boils and the brake fails entirely.
"A" is solved by swapping to bigger rotors and/or sintered pads because they tolerate heat better and/or finned pads/rotors.
"B" is solved by going to organic pads because they offer some insulation (and bigger rotors, fins, etc).
But as Northwind said, unless you have a heat problem, then there's nonpoint messing arround. Stick with organic pads and whatever rotors you have. IIRC you live in Berlin? None of this should be an issue for you unless you head south to the alps.
I've got semi-organic pads and finned rotors on my MTB because I think it does make a slight difference on steep descents where I can feel the brakes grabbyness drop off a bit. On the road I'd be tempted to go with finned rotors and try various pads as typically you have to brake more on descents as there isn't the resistance from rough ground keeping your speed down.
But......
Sintered pads last longer because they're harder. If you were riding off road in the Peak District then that factor generally trumps all others!
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You are hardly going to overheat road brakes in the UK.
I have.
Other way arround. Sintered pads are harder, thus wear the rotors quicker.
Yes I've read this too, but never seen any data comparing wear rates. There are even anecdotal reports of sintered lasting longer, so I'd really like to see some evidence.
The problem with resin pads is that they don't work in the wet/get contaminated. For pure dry riding resin is a more obvious choice with better initial bite (if they really do significantly increase rotor life.. as they certainly wear out faster). Then there's semi metallic (resin) pads, I actually have a pair of Swissstop 34RS resin (good in dry, shyte in wet) and 34E semi-metallics (haven't tried) pads for later.
I moved from Berlin to Norway and got some problems, replacing the centerline rotors was a good first step.
Yes I’ve read this too, but never seen any data comparing wear rates. There are even anecdotal reports of sintered lasting longer, so I’d really like to see some evidence.
The pads last longer because they're harder, they wear the rotors out quicker as a result.
We're talking about (tens of?) thousands of miles though for what are generally very cheap components. Pads on road bikes seem to last a very long long time as they're never subject to wet gritty conditions like mountaimbikes. Pick the ones that work best for your riding and just get on with it.
Contamination, again it's possible, but if you were riding through that much oil you would be sliding arround all over the place. I'm not sure a bit of greasy tarmac after summer rain is any worse than a farm track that's had leaky land rover diffs up it, or worrying about trailbuilders 2stroke chainsaws.
How much quicker? 1% 10% 50% 100%? XTR Rotors are expensive + hard to get atm, and some have reported wearing them down in 6 months - depending on how(much) you ride ofc. In any case I'll measure mine and see how fast they wear 🙂
Contamination if riding on wet roads is a huge problem with resin as diesel, oil etc gets on the pads and soaks into them. With sintered it's much less of a problem. Forest muck however is usually not oily, so doesn't tend to contaminate pads in the same way.
Other way arround. Sintered pads are harder, thus wear the rotors quicker.
I have cheap shimano rotors on my commuter, which are marked as resin pads only. Whether it's a problem in practice, I don't know.
Aand I went back to shimano resin pads, much better stopping power from the get go, less vibration and less noise. Only do max 6 min 6% descents here so overheating shouldn't be a problem. Very cheap too so not a big problem that they wear out faster.
