Noisy brakes & rough front rim

[silver]

Interesting. I have Kool Stop brakes pads. But I put them on to help grip in the rain, not because I had squeaky brakes, after almost having total brake failure once in the pouring rain.
If you read the info about KS pads, it says how they have little wedge shapes on their front ends, which help push off the rim debris as the brake comes down on the rim. Pretty much what I was talking about above about toeing-in. Toeing-in brakes and KS pads with wedges are both sort of like the idea behind those old "cow-catchers" that train locomotives used to have in front, to hurl cows and other "debris" off the tracks before the train ran over them.
I can't imagine having slivers of metal coming off one's rims though! Time for better rims maybe??

Lisa, to the best of my memory, when I did the research a while back, the reason that the Kool Stop pads were recommended to help with the problem was because they were made of a softer material. Is that right?

I think the problem is the combination of the stock pads and the stock rims. Just not a good combination. But these are low end rims.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Lisa, to the best of my memory, when I did the research a while back, the reason that the Kool Stop pads were recommended to help with the problem was because they were made of a softer material. Is that right?

I have not heard of KS pads being recommended to stop squeaky brakes. They are made for gripping better under wet conditions- that is why they are softer....like snow tires! But maybe they do help with brake noise- I don't know because I haven't had squeeky brakes. I do notice that the KS pads grip better and stop me faster- I had to be careful the first week to not brake too suddenly.
I do know that one can usually stop squeaky brakes (of any kind) by toeing-in the brake pads.
It is true that ALL brake pads tend to get hard and brittle over time and then they do start to squeal, and should be replaced every few years regardless, because they can't grip as well once the rubber has hardened from age.