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Strongest Brake Pad performance (or close to) for Maguras?

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#21 ·
SuperUltraKel said:
Here's a quote from Enduro-MTB.com:
"Don't forget aftermarket pads too, in our tests fitting the Trickstuff Power+ brake pads to the SRAM Code R resulted in a 20% improvement in average braking torque, and an average of 18% improvement in deceleration times, they were silent too. If you ride a lot in the alps or in the wet, sintered may be the pad for you, if you like power and silence, then organics may suit better."
View attachment 1317737
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Not convinced entirely from that test. Would like to see Sintered Metallic vs. the Trickstuff.
 
#22 ·
I haven’t seen any head to head test comparing them to anything. They only run about $14 per wheel. Sometimes the best test is to try it out and see for yourself. Not trying to be a smart-ass at all, but with limited exposure to the brand here in the US, it’s going to be tough trying to find any sort of major review and much less a very detailed head to head comparison. If you are curious at all, I’d say give them a try. I think you may be surprised.
 
#23 ·
ran sintered front and organic pads on my guide r from new. sram. sharper bite to organics but less actual power. wore out the rear organics in about 800km. so put the new organic set from the fronts into the back. wipe rotors down periodically with alcohol. i absolutely avoid getting soap on them during a bike wash. just clean w warm water.

something people might not think about, is contamination from your pets. my dog has full roam of the garage and i turn my bike to keep her from sniffing/putting her nose onto the rotors or swinging her tail around and hitting them. she always has a dirty somewhat greasy coat!
 
#25 ·
For my XC (magura) and road-bikes I use BBB organic pads. On my recent bike builds I used the stock magura (build 1) and shimano (build 2) pads for a while but felt that the brakes were weak and so purchased the BBB's again. Right away I was reminded why I buy them. Braking performance went through the roof. I cannot compare the organic to sintered, but I don't ride AM or DH so never felt the need to try.
 
Discussion starter · #26 ·
Dougal said:
Best way to fix contamination is to drag the brake slowly down a long steep hill.

If properly contaminated they'll start to smoke and smell about the time they start to bite properly.
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Can't disagree. Did a day at Spider mountain (small lift served local bike park) and the brakes definitely improved.
That said, that's an occasional ride, otherwise few hills are long enough to accomplish this locally.

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#27 ·
Automotive brake cleaner leaves a greasy film on your pads and rotors. Its contamination in a can. Constant cleaning with that stuff will soak your pads in oily mess.

At work (I work for audi) there is a quiet internal memo from the manufacturer about not spraying brake clean onto pad material. You can burn it off with high braking heat, but it certainly does not dry clean. Its less of a problem in a heavy car, on a bike it can seriously remove stopping power.

The best cleaner for bike brakes is alcohol. A gallon of 99% iso alcohol is $20 at your local hardware store. Usually only your rotor needs to be cleaned, and a quick wipe will do it.
 
Discussion starter · #28 ·
Trickstuff pads with brand new Magura rotors (I ditched the Alibaba rotor idea) are installed.
Drags like a mofo at the moment.
I'll try to break it in this week and update.

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Discussion starter · #29 ·
Yet to be determined.

Basically with new Trick Stuff pads and new Magura rotors it feels just about like it felt when I did the same update before but just using Magura pads.

The Trick Stuff pads did require a little love to get them to not drag.. The paint on the sides of the pads rub the inside of the caliper and was restricting retraction just a hair.

The rear pads (2 piston) came with those retraction springs like you see on car brakes, so I installed it. Well the rear wheel with the chain removed has never spun so freely. It's awesome. Turns out the spring is for if you use those pads on different brands of calipers that don't have magnetic pistons. I wasn't even supposed to use it on the Magura but I'm not taking it off. Wish they had a spring for the 4 piston front caliper, that would be worth a few saved watts for certain.

I need to get the TS pads to Spider or Bandera so I can get some genuine heat in them and see how they perform (all currently shut down). Turns out you don't need a whole lot of braking for trail riding! At least not how I do it.

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Discussion starter · #30 ·
So here is where I'm at with the Trickstuff pads, they are strong, very strong.

I'm pleased with the brakes and they broke in easily.

The issue I have, is not one I have been able to solve even with going back to Magura pads, I just can't seem to get away from the inevitable brake drag on the front. a nice hard spin of the front tire gets me about 2-3 spins. The same motion on my wife's bike results in 8+ spins.

In the rear the pads came with an automotive style spring clip. It turns out I wasn't even supposed to utilize this on the Magura brakes as they have magnetic pistons which are supposed to fully retract the pads automatically. But the rear wheel, even with the freewheel hub adding friction just spins and spins with the brake spring clip installed and brake performance is astounding.

The front 4 piston caliper I removed some fluid, lost brake pressure but it still dragged just as much, tried every alignment technique that I know how to use, it still drags. But the pads are so grippy that even a slight contact of the pad, causes a notable loss of wheel rotation. The rotor is brand new OEM and straight. I micrometered the new pads and they are no thicker than OEM pads.

At this point I'm just hoping that the front brakes wears in a fair bit and eventually the drag becomes less noticeable, because I don't know what else to do. It has gotten notably better with some significant miles. It went from like 1.5 rotations, to 2.5 with maybe 50 miles of AM riding (no DH).

I will say this, and I consider myself sensitive to tire drag, the brake drag is not something I can feel when riding.

Any suggestions on correcting this are appreciated.

That said the pads have great feel, are quiet, and are very very strong. I would say they feel stronger than new OEM, maybe 15-20%.
 
#31 ·
Suns_PSD said:
Any suggestions on correcting this are appreciated.
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I would say you either have a sticky caliper or you may need to have your post mounts refaced. A good shop will have a refacing tool that aligns the post mounts to be perfectly parallel to the axle and therefore perfectly perpendicular to the rotor. This can be out for numerous reasons but oftentimes when you just can't seem to align the calipers without it dragging, that is the culprit. There are more DIY ways of doing this but you have to be careful because it involves filing off material on the fork. The other thing could be a sticky caliper that isn't fully retracting when you let off the brakes. Rebuilding the caliper should fix it if that is the issue ... otherwise, you could try to remove the pads and cycle the pistons a few times to free them up.
 
Discussion starter · #34 ·
SuperUltraKel said:
I would say you either have a sticky caliper or you may need to have your post mounts refaced. A good shop will have a refacing tool that aligns the post mounts to be perfectly parallel to the axle and therefore perfectly perpendicular to the rotor. This can be out for numerous reasons but oftentimes when you just can't seem to align the calipers without it dragging, that is the culprit. There are more DIY ways of doing this but you have to be careful because it involves filing off material on the fork. The other thing could be a sticky caliper that isn't fully retracting when you let off the brakes. Rebuilding the caliper should fix it if that is the issue ... otherwise, you could try to remove the pads and cycle the pistons a few times to free them up.
Click to expand...
This was a huge help.
I just held the caliper at a little bit of an angle while I tightened up the bolts, and bingo spins like a champ now. You are right, the caliper is definitely not perfectly perpendicular to the axle.

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Discussion starter · #36 ·
So I managed to borrow one of these Park Tools that makes the flat of caliper mounting tabs completely parallel with the front axle.
I did notice that when I would do the last quarter turn tightening down the brake caliper it would always twist from the pads being perfectly parallel with the rotor to being off maybe 3-5 degrees. You could see the caliper twist. That's where the problem was coming from. At first I faced the fork brake mounting tabs. That wasn't enough, but better and took me from 2 rotations to about 5. Then I faced the adapter with it mounted on the forks. Caliper alignment is now a lot better, maybe even perfect. The caliper doesn't twist out of plane when being tightened down. However the wheel rotation still doesn't behave perfectly, maybe the pads/ rotors although nearly new, have worn funny already? My front wheel went from about 2 rotations up to about 10 with me giving it a decent spin. My wife's does 20-25 rotations with the same spin. My kid's bike wheel (with disc brakes) will spin 30+ times easily.
Even though my rotors are brand new, I'm gonna try slapping another rotor on it tomorrow and see what happens.
My front brake is the only bike I have with a 203mm rotor, I suspect that distance further away from the fork exacerbates any misalignment, combine that with very grippy TS pads, and you get some nasty drag.
Image


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#37 ·
Nice job. A mates Pike (2015) also had brake mounts that weren't flat. For him I was able to shim the adapter to straight and that stays on. So you can install and remove the caliper without losing the fiddly shims.

Can you see daylight either side of the rotor when it's installed? Put a white sheet of paper on the ground if you need more contrast.

Also check how many times the wheel will spin with no brake installed. Just in case it's the bearings.
 
#38 ·
Yeah, maybe some thinner rotors at 1.7mm or 1.8mm will somehow help since the pistons seem like they might not be retracting enough. Might make no difference of course.

So you did in fact notice the trick stuff pads had more power? The Power or Power +? Also, Were you running Magura P or R beforehand?
 
#39 ·
cheap chinese rotors, or non-OEM...the metallurgy is highly suspect. the rotor has a big say in how brakes will perform and resist wear and contamination.

Economy rotors are typically made from the cheapest scrap iron
 
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Discussion starter · #40 ·
I have new OEM Magura rotors. Have checked over everything carefully many times. It's been ridden, lots. Taken apart, pressure released, then re added, another new rotor, fork then bracket machined, etc. My front wheel with a hearty spin gets a full...3 rotations. If I pull the caliper it'll do 20+ spins easily.
I've just given up, it is what it is.
On a good note it does seem to spin better mid way through a ride getting more like 5-6 spins.
I do have a cheap, and more narrow rotor. Will test that since I already have it.
The TS pads do brake very well but really it's just on par with new Magura pads imo.

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