I can't get away with resin pads. I find, between different brands, that they either don't last long or don't work very well in the wet. I use sintered pads instead which are supposed to be noisier...the ones on my Formula brakes do squeal when wet. The Shimano brakes (XTR 975)) on my other bike however, have always been silent. Sometimes they lose a bit of power, usually when the trails are dusty (not very often here). I pop the pads out and scuff them up with a bit of emery tape to remove the glaze. Then they're as good as new again.
I use the brake manufacturers pads on both sets as I've found them to work well and last a decent length of time too.
P.S. Looking at some of you're pics, I think I need to start doing a spot of fishing on my trips!
Now as I understand it sintered is just another name for metal, is that your understanding as well?
I tried the XTR metal pads that came in an OEM brake set and found them to be noisy on long dry descents once
they got hot and squealed really bad when wet. Not to mention doing a pretty good job(signs of wear) on my rotors.
That said, on the plus side, I did notice they had a lot more stopping power. Less effort was required by me to get the bike stopped.
But I could not take all the noise so I switched back to the OEM resin and made this post to see what other have tried.
I would rather replace my pads often than my $$$ rotors. I know resin pads do not provide the stopping power
of metal but to help with that I increased my rotor size running 180's front and rear.
PS- D45yth, Glad you liked the trout biking adventures. Being retired I do that about once a week. I absolutely love
riding along my favorite trout stream, stopping to catch only one fish, pullout the MSR stove, frypan, with 4 strips of bacon
and you have a meal fit for a King.
