Campag brake pads issue

[RobWJL]

Apologies as this may be a very basic question.

I have been cycling on very hilly terrain of late and doing a lot of braking. My campag triomph rear brake pads suddenly started making a faint scratching noise when engaged to any degree. They also appear to leave a grey residue on the rim. Together with the fact that they now offer very little in the way of stopping power...

Any ideas on the diagnosis?

Cheers

 

[Mapturner]

Maybe grit or something abrasive in the pad material kicked up from the road - assuming there is still pad material present.. if they are original campag ones they probably need replacing - with something more up to date..i think over time the pad goes hard and is less affective - and from experience the old campag brakes weren't the most effective anyway - well compared to their modern counterparts..

 

[Ian Raleigh]

Take the blocks off and clean the scum off the pad face, then thoroughly clean up the rims.

 

[Newman8]

+1 to both above. Always clean rims & pads... But actually I found the Campag pads that came with new Veloce calipers were rubbish: I switched to lifeline pro shoes & pads for about £20. Big improvement. I'm sure there's a good quality modern shoe/pad that will fit your calipers.

 

[predki]

Re:

Koolstop makes contemporary replacement for Campagnolo brake blocks in two versions black and salmon (this for wet weather).

http://www.bicyclehero.com/gb/kool-stop ... 1FtKjluPUI

or

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kool-Stop-Maf ... 4897.l4275

here salmon:

http://www.bicyclehero.com/gb/kool-stop ... 1FuKDluPUI

 

[gfk_velo]

Re:

Definitely clean the pads and rims, make sure that there are no little bits of debris embedded in the pads. Sometimes worth a pass with a flat file to take any heat-generated glaze off the pads.

Check for wear - it may be the wheel guides are catching the rim if the pads are very worn.

Check pad position - the pads on a side pull actually come "up" and in as they close and if they were set a tad high when new, if they are well worn (but not at the max), they may be coming up far enough now for the wheel guides to catch the bottom of the braking surface, sep. on older design rims that typically had deeper braking surfaces that we see now.

Good quality images might be helpful ...

You don't specify what wheels you are using but bear in mind not all pads work well with all rims - Newman8 either had poor rim-pad compatibility or poor set-up - Campagnolo use the same material for all of their pads all the way through the range (except for the carbon-compatible pads) and historically braking has never been an issue. In your case, if you have seen a degradation of performance, though, it's not likely to be pad compound - rim mismatch.

HTH
Graeme

 

[bugloss]

Sounds like you've got some rim material embedded in the pads.

Pick it out and pass a coarse file or sand paper over the face to rough it up a bit.