Rim braking surfaces - how to clean?

Itsfixed

Hi all

Looking for some advice here.

Went for a spin on the new road frame - a thorn audax mk3, which has all the bits and wheels from my old bike, plus some new brake calipers. I was hoping that the front braking performance would improve with the new calipers as it was never very good with the wheels I have but its just the same.

I think i need to clean my front wheel braking surfaces, which is fairly scratchy, but its not worn. Any tips on what to clean it with? Obviously not something with oil.

Or shouyld i just upgrade the brake blocks?

cheers

Chips Lovell

Itsfixed wrote: »

I think i need to clean my front wheel braking surfaces, which is fairly scratchy, but its not worn. Any tips on what to clean it with? Obviously not something with oil.

Or shouyld i just upgrade the brake blocks?

Hot water and washing up liquid will usually do the trick. An old pot scrub if there's stuff that's hard to shift.

What brake blocks do you have on it at the moment?

CheGuedara

Hi,

What you need to get is a mavic rim rubber. Its like fine grit sandpaper but in a rubber block. Cleans all the cack off your rims back to the braking surface (actually can make old wheels look new). Makes a big difference if the braking surface is covered in grime. You can get them here. Also sanding off 1/2mm from the surface of new brake pads (v find sand paper) can improve their performance also.

blorg

Could be the brake blocks, or could be the brake/lever combination you have.

What do you have? Long-reach calipers?

What is the nature of the poor braking performance, e.g. does the lever bottom out, or is it stiff but just doesn't stop the bike, etc.

I have widely differing braking performance across my bikes and in most cases I suspect it is mostly down to the actual lever/brake combo but it could be the pads I guess.

From what you post and my own experience I doubt cleaning is going to help much.

Itsfixed

Thanks for the replies

che, that mavic rim rubber sounds worth a try, thanks.

eltonto, i did clean the rims before with fairy and a scrubber and made a small improvement.

blorg, i'm using tektro long reach calipers R730 with the standard pads, but might get some Fibrax replacement pads instead. The action is stiff and everything but the pads struggle to bite the rim.

Chips Lovell

I use kool stop salmon pads. They're specially designed for wet weather and tend to grab the rim quite well. They are meant to wear out quicker than regular pads, but I got around 7,000km out of my last set.

Hermy

Cleaning rims with acetone improves braking performance.
Edit: Be Careful - Acetone is corrosive and highly flammable!

blorg

Itsfixed wrote: »

blorg, i'm using tektro long reach calipers R730 with the standard pads, but might get some Fibrax replacement pads instead. The action is stiff and everything but the pads struggle to bite the rim.

For what it's worth I have Tektro (standard reach) calipers on one of my fixies and braking performance would be very similar to what you describe there. Levers are stiff, pads contact rims fine but wheel doesn't lock, just slows. Braking on Cane Creek/Ultegra/Dura-Ace calipers I have used on other bikes is completely different, wheel locks easily and you could go over the bars if you wished. Not sure whether it is the pads, brake or brake/lever combo but I did find braking vaguely similar on a Planet X I tried which also had the entry-level Tektro calipers. I need to replace the pads anyway so will see how that goes... Then might try sticking the Cane Creeks on as I have them spare.

Marvinthefish

Hermy wrote: »

Cleaning rims with acetone improves braking performance.
Edit: Be Careful - Acetone is corrosive and highly flammable!

But take your tyres off, since acetone degrades rubber.