Which disc brake pads are best for mountain bikes? Sintered or organic?

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Jon Woodhouse's picture

Jon Woodhouse

Jon was previously the editor here at off.road.cc. Whether it's big days out on the gravel bike or hurtling down technical singletracks, if it's got two wheels and can be ridden on dirt, then he's into it. He's previously been technical editor at BikeRadar.com, editor at What Mountain Bike Magazine and also web editor at Singletrackworld.co.uk. Yes, he's been around the houses.

3 comments

Jon Woodhouse's picture
5 years 1 month ago

horizontal dropout wrote:

 

"clean the calliper with disc brake cleaner"

Hayes say "Clean the disc and the hub-mounting surface with isopropyl alcohol (not disc brake cleaners)." I think it's because disk brake cleaners can have additives in. Just stick with isopropyl alcohol, it's the major constituent of disk brake cleaners anyway, and probably a lot cheaper.

Also plastic tyre levers are really good for levering pistons, particularly phenolic ones which can chip easily with a sharp thing like a screwdriver.

 

You're quite right that isopropyl alcohol is the right stuff to be using, but having a bit of aerosol power behind it is a boon if you're a bit lazy.. Wink

Good shout on the tyre levers too!

fnark's picture
5 years 1 month ago

"claimed to give improved performance as the heat generated under braking"

Well, they do work, and I learned that in practice! My ingenius LBS, replaced my road bike's ice-tech pads, with standard ones and I didn't notice. After suffering several rides with horrible brake fading, the pads and the metal spring between them melted and became one piece. Also the calibers look like burnt and their paint chipped off. I am lucky I didn't get any frame damage (i hope!).

Ever since this incident, I trust my bike to no LBS, and I got ice-tech pads for all my MTBs too!

Highly recommended cheap upgrade

5 years 1 month ago

"clean the calliper with disc brake cleaner"

Hayes say "Clean the disc and the hub-mounting surface with isopropyl alcohol (not disc brake cleaners)." I think it's because disk brake cleaners can have additives in. Just stick with isopropyl alcohol, it's the major constituent of disk brake cleaners anyway, and probably a lot cheaper.

Also plastic tyre levers are really good for levering pistons, particularly phenolic ones which can chip easily with a sharp thing like a screwdriver.