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You'll lose power with any brake system moving the lever in, it reduces the amount of pressure you can put into it, which will reduce the amount of power you can put into the brakes. So it's not so much that you don't lose power, it's just that there is more power available earlier in the lever stroke. Sometimes you can compensate with the contact adjuster, but I find all the brakes I've run except the Hayes, I left it all the way out.

I'd say the Hopes (Tech 4, V4 caliper) may have a touch more earlier on than the Hayes, I had to adjust the contact point because it was a bit much esp when going between brakes, but they both provide a good bit more power earlier in the stroke than the Codes IMO. I also feel the Hayes brakes manage pad wear better, I feel like all the SRAM brakes I've had really start to lose power after the pad wears about halfway down or so, they don't seem to compensate for the pad wear as well. I can't speak to the Hopes in that regard, I didn't run them long enough to wear the pads down.
I don't think the lever cam in the Hayes Dominions gets enough love.

It means the brake levers are always running at the same leverage whether you've got levers all the way in or all the way out. Because the cam on the push-rod is fixed and you're only adjusting the lever blade onto the cam.
These comments made me cave in and I got myself a set of Dominions A4. I hope they’re as good and powerful as everyone claims. At the same time, maybe they’re my road to recovery from the awful experiences I had using the hfx-9.
 
I'm really impressed with the power of the semi-metallic pads. I'll switch to the sintered when I wear them out, but so far they're not lacking. I've not hit any of our harder breaking, longer descents yet this summer, so I don't know how they'll hold up there, but so far so good.
 
wich is the main diferences betwen the semi met and the met? i know that met need some temperature to work at the best and make more noise than semi met, semi met work well even when they cold, don't make noise and last less time.

Cheers
 
Discussion starter · #1,345 ·
wich is the main diferences betwen the semi met and the met? i know that met need some temperature to work at the best and make more noise than semi met, semi met work well even when they cold, don't make noise and last less time.

Cheers
Metallics (sintered with gold backing plates) are harder. They bite harder, they last longer but they make more noise more often.
The semi-metallics (black backing plates) are softer, they still have great power and are quieter but wear faster.
 
To answer your question, a4's are significantly better in power vs rsc's. Actually better in every regard to be fair. Except maybe bar clamps, single clamp bolt is less fiddly than two haha.
They're the best of all the mainstream brakes, hell I'd probably be comfy selling my trickstuff maxima's and running these.

Code rsc as mentioned do seem to have a tiny window where everything has to be perfect to get comparable performance.
A4's are very easy to get a perfect bleed, and they stay that way.
 
They went to the two piece for ease of installation.
 
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Front brake installed. The caliper centering process using cross-hair screws makes other brakes look dumb and old. As most reported, the free stroke is very light.
The power after bedding in the pads is a bit underwhelming, specially after reading all the comments and reviews. I was expecting it to be night and day difference with the code rsc, and honestly the rear code rsc (so far) is more powerful and has stronger bite. The MT5 were mushy but felt more powerful.
 
Front brake installed. The caliper centering process using cross-hair screws makes other brakes look dumb and old. As most reported, the free stroke is very light.
The power after bedding in the pads is a bit underwhelming, specially after reading all the comments and reviews. I was expecting it to be night and day difference with the code rsc, and honestly the rear code rsc (so far) is more powerful and has stronger bite. The MT5 were mushy but felt more powerful.
something is wrong dominions are way more powerful than code rsc, any chance u dont bed in well? or get the system contaminated?
 
something is wrong dominions are way more powerful than code rsc, any chance u dont bed in well? or get the system contaminated?
System is not contaminated, everything is fine. They’re properly bedded. On the trail they feel somewhat more comparable, it’s also probably the smooth and lighter lever action. But they’re not night and day difference as some here suggested, at least not for me. I feel my codes rsc are pretty well setup (my biggest complain is how often and tiny that maintenance window is to keep them that way) so maybe that’s a factor too.
 
System is not contaminated, everything is fine. They’re properly bedded. On the trail they feel somewhat more comparable, it’s also probably the smooth and lighter lever action. But they’re not night and day difference as some here suggested, at least not for me. I feel my codes rsc are pretty well setup (my biggest complain is how often and tiny that maintenance window is to keep them that way) so maybe that’s a factor too.
Out of interest what pads/rotors have you tried? They are consistent at least and seem to require a lot less fiddling than rscs/shimano brakes.
 
Code RSC w/ Trickstuff are great. I settled on Galfer Green w/ Galfer Shark rotors on my Hayes setup and it’s phenomenal. I agree, Hayes sintered with their rotors was a bit underwhelming, but the Galfer stuff changed the game, and the lever feel is unbeatable.
 
System is not contaminated, everything is fine. They’re properly bedded. On the trail they feel somewhat more comparable, it’s also probably the smooth and lighter lever action. But they’re not night and day difference as some here suggested, at least not for me. I feel my codes rsc are pretty well setup (my biggest complain is how often and tiny that maintenance window is to keep them that way) so maybe that’s a factor too.

something is not working well, the force u have to do with dominion vs code is at least the half, u definitely need less force to get the same or more amount of stoping power. I recommend to try other set of dominions from a budy or maybe ure LBS.

Cheers
 
Discussion starter · #1,357 ·
My new brakes arrived today, I noticed they have slightly different olives? The lower one seems a solid single-piece. Are they interchangeable?
View attachment 2046096
Front brake installed. The caliper centering process using cross-hair screws makes other brakes look dumb and old. As most reported, the free stroke is very light.
The power after bedding in the pads is a bit underwhelming, specially after reading all the comments and reviews. I was expecting it to be night and day difference with the code rsc, and honestly the rear code rsc (so far) is more powerful and has stronger bite. The MT5 were mushy but felt more powerful.
Galfer rotors. Code rsc w/ trickstuff power and Hayes with their standard organic pad (black back plate). Both pad compounds are organic so that makes the comparison more fair.
Olives are interchangeable. New ones are two piece, but it'll take a while for the one piece to get used up.

You've got power issues with Galfer rotors. Are they new or used? Used rotors will have a long break-in as they have to scrub all the old embedded pad material off.

I don't know why people persist with weird rotors.
 
You've got power issues with Galfer rotors. Are they new or used? Used rotors will have a long break-in as they have to scrub all the old embedded pad material off.
They were brand new when I started using the Trickstuff pads with the RSC. Now they’re used. I wiped them with IPA to try remove old pad compound because I couldn’t find Trickstuff power pads for the Dominion. I’ll be more patient with the bedding in, but didn’t feel the night and day difference mentioned here, that’s all. Lever action is smooth, so smooth it feels like it’s not working but you can actually see the pistons moving very early in the stroke.


I don't know why people persist with weird rotors.
They’re not weird rotors, at least, not weird to many people. They are good quality (and lightweight if that’s of any relevance) and their pad compounds are second to none. Local to me, quality parts and affordable pricing. What’s wrong with that?
 
Discussion starter · #1,359 ·
They were brand new when I started using the Trickstuff pads with the RSC. Now they’re used. I wiped them with IPA to try remove old pad compound because I couldn’t find Trickstuff power pads for the Dominion. I’ll be more patient with the bedding in, but didn’t feel the night and day difference mentioned here, that’s all. Lever action is smooth, so smooth it feels like it’s not working but you can actually see the pistons moving very early in the stroke.
Your used rotors are basically contaminated with other pad material. They will come right eventually but it'll take longer.
 
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