I’m trying to work out what pads to buy for my road bike and it’s baffling. I’ve got L02A finned resin pads in it which have been fine, but can’t find any more and I don’t think they make them any more. Organic has been fine, so what are Shimano’s current finned or non-finned equivalents?

I think I had one of those calipers but it died with a micro leak and I replaced it with a Hope RX4. The Shimano caliper had come with a finned sintered set of pads in it and I accidentally bought the resin version when I needed new pads. The resin ones seemed to lack stopping power on long hot descents vs the sintered ones.

were replaced by L03A, which are like hens teeth, and are replaced by L05A, which are equally like hens teeth.

I bought both types on eBay recently, the L03A’s were used but not used if you know what I mean… I paid the same inflated £34 for each. My Audax and my summer road bike use them and I was getting close to running out. I should be okay for a year now

I was recently looking for L03A and they’re basically non-existent or £40+ a set for some weird import.

I saw the name Gorilla Pads so bought them and fitted them yesterday. Used them today and they feel great. Just the right amount of modulation and perhaps more power than the ice-tec pads they replaced. No idea about longevity but so far so good.

You could try Uberbike as well – they had pads last time I looked for Shimano road calipers. Finned or non finned. I’m not convinced the fins do a lot.

Noah and Theo also

L05a-RF if you want finned, K05s-rx for unfinned.

Great – thanks everyone. I’ll try the K03s and see whether I cook them by dragging on the descents 🙂

I went through this last week. for the 815 calliper. Uberbike appears to be sold out but it turns out you can buy the non-finned version which on the Uberbike site are the pads for R8020, SKU UB-27SU. They are not indicated for use with my (and your) calliper but I checked with Uber and they are definitely compatible. £8 each or 4 for £28.

IIRC one of the old popular mtb pads work in these calipers, which I have on my Cube Attain GTC, but until now I’ve used the “official” road pads and more recently a set from PlanetX without fins that are compatible https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/BSJOBDPSM/jobsworth-semi-metallic-disc-pads

Wasn’t it the M515 pads?

A really quick google brings up https://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-shimano-deore-m515-m525-tektro-disc-pads for five squids, they look the right shape.

they look the right shape.

They’re not.