[Closed] Quietest-in-the-wet pads for Shimano road disc brakes? K03S + SRAM XR howls!

Swissstop Yellow work really well for me - never had any noise, plenty powerful enough

https://www.swissstop.ch/brakepads/discbrakes/disc34/disc-rs/

Road.cc seems to agree! https://road.cc/content/review/270779-swissstop-disc-34-rs-pads

I replaced my pads with the new K03 resin pads. First few rides in the wet it was absolutely silent.

A few weeks on though and it's simply terrible. Any water on the rotor leads to an insanely loud squeal from the brakes.

All I can take away from it is that the pads themselves don't cause squeal when new and clean, but are extremely vulnerable to road spray contamination. Might try having a go at them with some brake cleaner but my experience is that once resin pads are contaminated they're not recoverable.

A few weeks on though and it’s simply terrible. Any water on the rotor leads to an insanely loud squeal from the brakes.

Could it be that the pads had just bedded in? Were they less powerful during the initial 'quiet' period? It wouldn't surprise me if the noise/resonance changed as the surface of the pads changed with bedding in.

I had the sintered ones with the standard shimano discs that came on my road bike. They can squeal a bit but one hard brake usually seems to quiet them down. Accidentally ordered resin replacements but haven used them in the wet yet....so far I’d say they feel initially more grabby then the sintered but on sustained downhill braking they feel like they’re getting a little bit grumbly.

Look on the bright side. The howl will drown out any noise made by the freehub.

I replaced my pads with the new K03 resin pads. First few rides in the wet it was absolutely silent.

A few weeks on though and it’s simply terrible. Any water on the rotor leads to an insanely loud squeal from the brakes.

All I can take away from it is that the pads themselves don’t cause squeal when new and clean, but are extremely vulnerable to road spray contamination. Might try having a go at them with some brake cleaner but my experience is that once resin pads are contaminated they’re not recoverable.

This makes sense, but perhaps the Swissstop pads are more resistant to it? I ride on heavily trafficked roads here in Berlin so contamination gets bad when it pours.

Look on the bright side. The howl will drown out any noise made by the freehub.

You might have missed that I switched to the new Newmen Fade hubs which sound purrrfect xx

My L03a pads and RT800 rotors are silent wet or dry

My L03a pads and RT800 rotors are silent wet or dry

Nice - how dirty are the roads where you ride? 😉

Nice – how dirty are the roads where you ride?

I'm not sure, is there a standard measure?

Do you live in the countryside, a small village or in the equivalent of London with rush hour traffic.

I've just coughed up ten quid for a spray can of Muc Off brake cleaner.

Pro: no squeal.
Con: no brakes.

Would not recommend. I imagine spraying them with silicone lubricant would have the same effect.

When it's pissing down and i'm riding on shared road which are covered in diesel and oil a regularly give my brakes a decent squeeze so that when i do come to use them, I don't get the howl for more than a fraction of a second and it doesn't make me feel bad for braking. I have exactly the same experience with my Hope RX4s and resin pads.

I've always used Shimano resin pads after a very brief (accidental) use of sintered. They last for 10s of thousands of miles

Do you live in the countryside, a small village or in the equivalent of London with rush hour traffic.

Manchester

Manchester

So roads should be plenty dirty, and afaik the pads you run are the same as mine just with fins? hmm

To be fair the key to solving noisy Shimano road brakes is almost always put genuine Shimano rotors on.

It's not failed me yet.

To be fair the key to solving noisy Shimano road brakes is almost always put genuine Shimano rotors on.

Yeah so much for centerline rotors being quieter w Shimano calipers..but we are also talking a worst case scenario here; intense sudden downpour + dry heavily trafficked roads = pads drenched in grime.

They were really comically loud..

It can become an expensive, frustrating rabbit hole yohandsome, believe me, you might want to learn to live with it or go back to rim brakes!

I went through three different brands of brake, about 5 or 6 different types of pad and maybe four different types of rotor.

I also got brake mounts faced, bought the Hayes alignment gauge, strapped lead weights to my chainstays, took wet and dry paper to the rotors regularly, blowtorched pads, sanded pads and bedded new pads and rotors in fastidiously.

At the end of the day, if you're cursed with howling-in-the-wet brakes, I think you're cursed with howling-in-the-wet brakes. Makes me think it's some combination of weight, riding style, frame and or fork or combination of all of the above.

Maybe someone braver than me can experiment with cutting sipes in pads with a dremel to channel water away or change resonant frequency or something... 😉

EBC Red for sure.

Have the pads glazed? I give them a brief rub with a file and then re-bed in.

Have the pads glazed? I give them a brief rub with a file and then re-bed in.

Probably glazed in oil and diesel by now.. seems like a temporary fix, guess ill just wear ear plugs lol.

Took the plunge 4 months later and ordered the Swisstops, things are getting embarassing.

Always found K03S pads and Shimano brakes in general fairly quiet in the wet. Also found every brake I've had with Centerline rotors has been almost unusable when wet. I'd be more inclined to believe that's down to the pads (have tried various different pads BTW) but maybe the rotors bear some responsibility as well?

Yes could very well be, I think the centerlines are noisier than the dura ace rotors they replaced. If still not good I'll have to consider getting some Swisstop rotors (although not as aero? or beautiful as centerline XRs ;_;)

Watching the World Cup cyclocross from Tabor at the weekend I was reminded that even professional mechanics can't get disc brakes to run quiet in wet conditions, so my comment about going down the rabbit-hole still stands!

Surely brake squeal is low on their list of priorities.

I’ve just coughed up ten quid for a spray can of Muc Off brake cleaner.

Pro: no squeal.
Con: no brakes.

This is my experience also.

These days I douse my brakes in bike cleaner (halfords) then squeeze the brakes or even ride a few yards with brakes on, to rub it in a bit, then I hose the calipers out. Seems to work really well.

Guess what, front still squeals a bit after deep cleansing the XR rotor and installing new Swisstop DS 34 rs pads, maybe the XR rotors are simply not a good match for Shimano 105 calipers :s

Surely brake squeal is low on their list of priorities.

I would have thought it fairly high because IME a howling brake is also one that is not working well

!£th - you may have the solution there - eat more pies!

My commutter rarely ( but occaasionaly) develops a squeal. I think the reason for this is that I rode it down leith walk - which for those that do not know is a hill with traffic lights and I deliberatly brake as late and hard as I can at every light.

I think its a mix of contamination, light usage and frame / fork resonance that causes it and that if you have a perfect storm of riding style, bike and brake you can find it almost impossible to get rid of

I saw these recently & thought they looked interesting:
https://www.merlincycles.com/magura-mdr-c-ebike-disc-rotor-173133.html

The description claims they reduce noise. But Maguras are 2mm thick & Shimanos 1.8mm so I'm not sure if they're compatible. The extra thickness & the mid-rotor brace thingy might help reduce noise.

Swiss stop has their own rotor which should be the ideal combo..

I would have thought it fairly high because IME a howling brake is also one that is not working well

Not necessarily, listen to trials riders' bikes. Depends WHY they squeal.

!£th – you may have the solution there – eat more pies!

My commutter rarely ( but occaasionaly) develops a squeal. I think the reason for this is that I rode it down leith walk – which for those that do not know is a hill with traffic lights and I deliberatly brake as late and hard as I can at every light.

I think its a mix of contamination, light usage and frame / fork resonance that causes it and that if you have a perfect storm of riding style, bike and brake you can find it almost impossible to get rid of

Diesel, oil and other dirt from wet roads are a real killer - oily pads = instant squeal.

!£th – you may have the solution there – eat more pies!

As a 90kg plus bike and luggage rider, I can confirm that cheap OEM pads squeal like a piggy at the butcher's both when gently braking or throwing in the anchor.
Extra weight is not the solution.

Diesel, oil and other dirt from wet roads are a real killer – oily pads = instant squeal.

This comes up a lot but I've had pads squeal from new (e.g. post bed-in but before they've had a chance to get contaminated). Pad squeal absolutely exists on clean/uncontaminated pads OR pads get contaminated unacceptably quickly for a product designed to be used on the road.

I'm going with TJ's theory which is a combo of how the brakes are used (on the road bike I brake quite gently, I'm not trying to shave milliseconds off my descent times so would rather keep it smooth and in control) and possibly the fact that they never get dirt/grit/mud on them to break up the smooth and shiny surfaces.

Watched a GCN review/promo vid for some beautiful Moots gravel bikes last night, the brakes on those were absolutely honking when they got wet, I'd be crying if that was my £7,500 titanium super-bike making that noise!

Was out in mild rain, both front and rear squeals bad even if not (badly) contaminated yet, think the Sram XR rotor doesn't play too well with the 105 calipers or organic pads are just very sensitive to road grime.

Time to try Shimano metallics i guess!

Time to try Shimano metallics i guess!

They will be noisier

They will be noisier

One would think, but also think that's physically impossible, maybe I should do some recordings..

I used to swear by Shimano sintered on the MTB for relatively low noise in the wet, there was a theory that the pad material is more porous or stays rougher, helping break up the film of water or something.

I never tested the theory on road though, got too caught up in the 'don't mix compounds on one rotor' theory.

It just dawned on me that organic pads are not for wet dirty roads, I get no stopping power and insane squeal, so trying sintered for at least decent stopping power and possibly lower squeal.

For me there's no down side to the sintered pads, better initial bite and less fade than resin, might get a slight bit of noise if I've not braked for a while when cold and wet.

I am quite heavy though probably 110kg with bike.

Also getting a pair of ceramic pads to try..

Shimano sintered are so far a lot quieter and stronger in the wet, see if it holds up..

Sorry to bring up an old thread. I thought about creating a new one but found this one in a search.

@yohandsome how did you get on with your sintered pads?

I've been dreading this time of year after riding through last winter on my first bike with hydraulic disc brakes. All through winter my brakes were honking in the wet (and sometimes in the dry), it was embarrassing! I live in Leicestershire where it's pretty flat, so there's not a lot of braking. So coming to a stop in a quiet village on an early morning winter ride was painful.

I've tried all sorts of remedies, different pads, different rotors, sanding, baking, alignment, bleeding, bedding in, regular isoprop cleaning, even switched to Hope RX4s with their own 160mm rotors. Actually I even swapped my semi-custom built frame for a Condor Fratello in the hope it was the resonant frequency of my old frame - no luck as I discovered yesterday.

I built up the Condor this summer, sold the RX4s and switched back to my Ultegra calipers, and bought some 140mm Galfer road rotors. Throughout the summer they've been great, no noise at all in the dry - and I had high hopes for riding in the wet.

Well I went on the club ride yesterday morning - it was dry on the way out but I had to leave my mates at the cafe as I needed to get home. It pissed it down all the way home and it was rather cold. My brakes were absolutely awful, honking so loud. Braking performance was there, but definitely diminished. If I braked pretty hard it would stop the honking until next time. But by the time the honking goes away I'm already slowed down enough to not need to brake silently!

Surely brake squeal is low on their list of priorities.

I've read so many of these threads and I always skip the posts that say something about ignoring the noise, or using it to warn others of your presence. Because IT IS important. I consider myself a considerate road user, and I was faced with a pretty awkward situation yesterday on my way home. I was riding down a steep hill, with 2 people leading 4 horses down it in the same side of the road as me. Either I try to slow down to pass considerately, but honking all the way, or just speed past without any brakes. I did a bit of both a profusely apologised as the horses spooked to the honks.

My friend has some new L03A pads for me to try - in case mine are just too contaminated. Otherwise I'd be interested in trying sintered although it seems completely counter intuitive - but I can't face another winter of wet rides!

My bike yesterday -

Hey there!

In the end I stopped riding in the rain and switched to shimano organic pads which are quieter and have better initial bite - not a lot of long descent here. I decontaminate them once in a while removing some pad material with sand paper (no need to use any solvents or clean the rotor).

When I did commute in the rain, I found sintered pads squealed a bit initially, but within a second or two it went away and they are much less prone to getting contaminated = less faff with sandpaper.

Ceramic pads MAY be worth a try, haven't gotten around to testing mine.

I might get there before you YoHandsome, I've been trying Swissstop Catalyst rotors with Swissstop green pads which are still dreadful in the wet. I've filed chamfers on the pad edges and even tried cutting sipes in the pad surface, no joy.

Sanded rotors and tried some EBC red pads today. Felt great but the dreaded squealing returned after some wet grass and puddles. It was perhaps very slightly less obnoxious than the Swissstop pads though.

Next step is the new Magura rotors, have got some to fit during the week. If that doesn't work I've got a set of Noah and Theo ceramic pads to try, and had half an eye on some MTX ceramic pads from the US, great reviews but $80 posted.

After that, I've still got my rim brake wheels and forks left and a custom gravel rim brake frame on the way 😁

Curious to hear how the ceramics work out! EBC reds are organic? not surprised it doesn't take much to make them squeal.

I'm wanting to try out kevlar pads too.

My UberBike Race Matrix have a high pitched skreel to them - but much, much less volume than the OEM and Shimano pads I've had before.

I’m wanting to try out kevlar pads too.

Think most kevlar pads are simply organics with some kevlar fibers so I wouldn't expect them to be much better than regular organics re noise.

Damn, I've not had much luck with the organic Shimano L03A. Tempted to try sintered though and interested to hear about ceramic.

I also ordered some rubber washers to fit somewhere on my callipers/bolts - will I die?!

I also ordered some rubber washers to fit somewhere on my callipers/bolts – will I die?!

Interrrrrrresting! I've tried automotive anti-squeal shims behind the pads (benefit of having TRP Spyres, you can wind the pads out). They're basically cut-to-shape rubberised adhesive pads. I had high hopes but surprisingly the brake squeal was completely unchanged, same pitch, volume etc. Makes me think it occurs between the pad and the rotor only.

I was thinking about trying some of those wee self adhesive wheel balancing weights on the spokes of the rotors, haven't ruled it out yet!

Wee update:

EBC reds on Swissstop catalyst rotors were generally as dreadful as any other pads I'd used, so I switched to some Magura MDP-C rotors (the cheaper of their e-bike rotors). It's quite an overbuilt rotor, feels heavy in the hand, but it's a 160mm vs. the 140mm Swissstop rotors.

Anyway, did some CX practice laps tonight on a squashy wet football field. Rotors weren't silent but were a lot more bearable to listen to than others.

Maybe it's just a rotor size thing, perhaps I should stick 180mm rotors on my CX bike! 😎

I find Shimano road brakes are quite squealy but only on wet urban roads - must be something about road salt / contamination.

I preferred the Shimano sintered pads to the organics - they seemed to have more power down big hills and more bite. I accidentally swapped to organics (ordered the wrong finned pads) and they’re ok in the dry but I’m more nervous about descending with them - they feel like they’re going to fade.

The rear Shimano caliper has reslcwntly self destructed - pretty sure it’s micro leaking out the seals as it lost power / just made noise.

I’ve replaced it with an RX4 which so far seems to have less initial bite but it’s only a few rides in and each ride it seems to be getting a bit more powerful. Using the Hope sintered pads - with basic Shimano road rotors that came on my caad12 105 disc. Will see how noisy they are commuting in the rain very soon I’m sure.