Road brake pads

How to choose road bike brake pads

The brake pad is the consumable part of a rim brake. It wears down, hardens over time and eventually damages the rim once the rubber is gone. Two things determine which pad you need: your rim material and the type of pad holder on your calliper.

Aluminium rim or carbon rim — never the other way round

• A pad designed for aluminium fitted to a carbon rim destroys the braking surface in just a few descents. The compound is harder and does not cope well with the heat of a carbon rim.
• A pad designed for carbon on an aluminium rim brakes poorly and wears out very quickly: the compound is soft and designed for a different operating temperature.
• Manufacturers colour-code pads by rim material — Swiss Stop Flash black and blue for aluminium, yellow and Black Prince for carbon. Always check: colour coding is not standardised.
• Some rims have their own dedicated brake pad, such as the Mavic Exalith, whose surface treatment requires a matching pad compound.

Complete brake pad or insert

• The complete brake pad combines the rubber and its holder: you replace the whole unit, as on entry-level setups.
• The insert is a rubber insert that slides into a fixed pad holder. Only the insert needs replacing, so the adjustment stays the same — this is the system used by Shimano R55C4 and most high-end callipers.
• The brake pad holders are also sold separately, which is useful when changing rim type while keeping the same adjustment.

Pad holder compatibility

A Shimano brake pad insert will not slide into a Campagnolo pad holder: the grooves and retaining pin are different. Third-party manufacturers explicitly state “for Shimano” or “for Campagnolo” — that designation, not the pad’s brand, determines compatibility.

When to replace them

The drainage grooves act as wear indicators: once they have disappeared, the pad is worn out. A glazed pad that is shiny and noisy can sometimes be restored with sandpaper, but a pad with embedded aluminium particles must be replaced — those particles scratch the rim.

To find out more: How to adjust your road bike brakes

See also: Road rim brake callipers · Road wheels for rim brakes · Road bike brake cables and housing