Specialized Turbo Vado SL 5.0 brake pads after 1050km

[jason.flood]

Today I was not feeling energetic so instead I spent some time inspecting the brakes on my bike and reading about changing the pads. (I 've never had disc brakes before)

I decided to remove the pads and measure the wear. A small Tektro leaflet with the bike indicates pad replacement when they wear to 2.5mm.
Tektro website indicates they would have been 4mm when new.

https://www.tektro.com/en/product/126

Using digital calipers I took some measurements:

Rear pads: between 3.15mm and 3.45mm depending on measurement location
Front pads: one side 2.85-3.15mm , other side 3.25-3.5mm

When measuring the rear pads (which I did first) there was not significant difference between inner and outer pad.

Only when measuring the fronts did I visually notice a difference between one side and the other. However, I didn't note which pad was the inner and which the outer. When re-installing the fronts I put the thicker pad on the inside towards the piston, thinking, possibly, greater forces exist on that side. (but I'm conflicted due to Newtons third law of motion)

I've been riding the bike daily in fairly typical Scottish winter conditions and have to use my brakes a fair bit on the 3-4 mile downhill trip home after work each day.

Does anything seem out of the ordinary here? I've had the bike for two months, so at the current, rate I'm thinking I'll need to replace the front pads after maybe only 3 months or 1500km (unless swapping the inner/outer pad rebalances the wear)

 

[jason.flood]

I forgot to mention that when I removed the front wheel there was a kind of dried white substance on the front axle thread and a little around the point where the axle is flared slightly at the point it makes contact with the wheel hub bushings.

it didn't seem like thread lock as it kind of crumbled away when I rubbed it.

Should I be putting something on these axles during re-assembly?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Hi Jason,

First of all, I would greatly recommend you swap the rear and front brake pads. The front brake takes approximately 70% of the stopping load. Swapping the pads front/rear would squeeze max life from your existing set. Now, if you only can, install the pads the thicker part facing forward of the bike.

Please recentre the brake callipers. (After the brake pad replacement and replacing the wheel do this procedure: loosen the main brake calliper bolts so the calliper assembly can move; squeeze the respective brake lever and keep it; retighten the calliper bolts).

The uneven wear on either side of the calliper might result from the uneven brake piston action. It might come from slight corrosion of the piston surface, adding friction as it moves. I know of no way to cure that.
--------------
Do not worry about thru-axles. The only function these perform is tightening the fork against the hub bearings. Only ensure the threads are clean, and retighten the axle to the specified torque (never exceed the value!) I understand the front fork in your Vado SL is made of carbon fibre. The white substance might be the anti-seize paste for carbon threads. (I am not familiar with that!)

 

[jason.flood]

Hi Jason,

First of all, I would greatly recommend you swap the rear and front brake pads. The front brake takes approximately 70% of the stopping load. Swapping the pads front/rear would squeeze max life from your existing set. Now, if you only can, install the pads the thicker part facing forward of the bike.

Please recentre the brake callipers. (After the brake pad replacement and replacing the wheel do this procedure: loosen the main brake calliper bolts so the calliper assembly can move; squeeze the respective brake lever and keep it; retighten the calliper bolts).

The uneven wear on either side of the calliper might result from the uneven brake piston action. It might come from slight corrosion of the piston surface, adding friction as it moves. I know of no way to cure that.
--------------
Do not worry about thru-axles. The only function these perform is tightening the fork against the hub bearings. Only ensure the threads are clean, and retighten the axle to the specified torque (never exceed the value!) I understand the front fork in your Vado SL is made of carbon fibre. The white substance might be the anti-seize paste for carbon threads. (I am not familiar with that!)

Thanks very much Stefan. That’s a really great set of tips.

Now that I’ve taken the pads out once and realized it is much easier that I thought I will do as you suggest- including re-centring the calipers.
I treated myself to a torque wrench now so I am less paranoid about damaging or under tightening critical threads

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Today I was not feeling energetic so instead I spent some time inspecting the brakes on my bike and reading about changing the pads. (I 've never had disc brakes before)

I decided to remove the pads and measure the wear. A small Tektro leaflet with the bike indicates pad replacement when they wear to 2.5mm.
Tektro website indicates they would have been 4mm when new.

https://www.tektro.com/en/product/126

Using digital calipers I took some measurements:

Rear pads: between 3.15mm and 3.45mm depending on measurement location
Front pads: one side 2.85-3.15mm , other side 3.25-3.5mm

When measuring the rear pads (which I did first) there was not significant difference between inner and outer pad.

Only when measuring the fronts did I visually notice a difference between one side and the other. However, I didn't note which pad was the inner and which the outer. When re-installing the fronts I put the thicker pad on the inside towards the piston, thinking, possibly, greater forces exist on that side. (but I'm conflicted due to Newtons third law of motion)

I've been riding the bike daily in fairly typical Scottish winter conditions and have to use my brakes a fair bit on the 3-4 mile downhill trip home after work each day.

Does anything seem out of the ordinary here? I've had the bike for two months, so at the current, rate I'm thinking I'll need to replace the front pads after maybe only 3 months or 1500km (unless swapping the inner/outer pad rebalances the wear)

I usually need to replace the pads on my Vado SL a few times a year. It's the hills, I'm on Dartmoor and every ride includes 2,000 to 3,500ft of steep climbs and descents on windy lanes. And yeah i was surprised that first winter how often they needed replacing especially compared to the rim brakes of my old bikes which pads last years! But my local bike shop said its pretty standard for any disk brake bikes on Dartmoor. Plus I use the Vado SL more and go further then my other non e bikes.

 

[jason.flood]

I usually need to replace the pads on my Vado SL a few times a year. It's the hills, I'm on Dartmoor and every ride includes 2,000 to 3,500ft of steep climbs and descents on windy lanes. And yeah i was surprised that first winter how often they needed replacing especially compared to the rim brakes of my old bikes which pads last years! But my local bike shop said it’s pretty standard for any disk brake bikes on Dartmoor. Plus I use the Vado SL more and go further then my other non e bikes.

Thank for those insights. It sounds like I do t have to worry too much about as I’ve been riding in some pretty mucky hilly conditions too. TBH I am still soo stoked about the performance of the disk brakes compared to my old mtb’s cantilever’s that I would have just accepted changing pads 4 times a year anyway.

Those old shimano LX’s cantilever’s were such a pain in the arse to align the blocks on both sides with my wonky old wheels, when replacing or adjusting after high wear.

I think following some of the tips from Stefan should allow me to eek the pads out a bit longer too. The process seems so much simpler (for the pads at least). I’m sure I’ll get to crossing the bridge of hydraulics soon enough

 

[BlackHand]

Jason, that all sounds pretty normal. I tend to bias my brake use to the rear when just shedding speed so my front and back pads wear pretty evenly. I get much more life out of my pads now than I did when I first got my bike - probably a combination of better maintenance and smarter cycling.

The FAQ on Tektro's site says to replace when the pad itself gets to .5mm - that sounds pretty consistent with the 2.5mm measurement from your brochure assuming that includes the backplate. I use the credit card method: when the pad material is thinner than my credit card (.74mm) I replace the pads - or at least plan to at my next real maintenance

My Tektro's tend to get sticky pistons which on quad piston brakes can make the pads wear very unevenly. The Park Tool video below shows how to clean the pistons

 

[jason.flood]

Jason, that all sounds pretty normal. I tend to bias my brake use to the rear when just shedding speed so my front and back pads wear pretty evenly. I get much more life out of my pads now than I did when I first got my bike - probably a combination of better maintenance and smarter cycling.

The FAQ on Tektro's site says to replace when the pad itself gets to .5mm - that sounds pretty consistent with the 2.5mm measurement from your brochure assuming that includes the backplate. I use the credit card method: when the pad material is thinner than my credit card (.74mm) I replace the pads - or at least plan to at my next real maintenance

My Tektro's tend to get sticky pistons which on quad piston brakes can make the pads wear very unevenly. The Park Tool video below shows how to clean the pistons

Thanks Blackhand. Again great tips. Finally a use for expired credit cards.

I’ve been for a long ride today and just taken the pads out again after washing the bike so I can swap the rear pads to the front as Stefan suggested

I just measured the back plate of the pads and they vary a bit. Some are closer to 1.7mm others closer to 1.8mm.

I think I like the idea of the CC trick as it will be so simple compared with the digital calipers which are very tricky to measure only the pad material

 

[jason.flood]

Now, if you only can, install the pads the thicker part facing forward of the bike.

Stefan, am I right to assume you mean put the thick part towards the leading edge or direction or rotation? The angle of the rear caliper means the edges of the pads face up and down

 

[fooferdoggie]

Hi Jason,

First of all, I would greatly recommend you swap the rear and front brake pads. The front brake takes approximately 70% of the stopping load. Swapping the pads front/rear would squeeze max life from your existing set. Now, if you only can, install the pads the thicker part facing forward of the bike.

Please recentre the brake callipers. (After the brake pad replacement and replacing the wheel do this procedure: loosen the main brake calliper bolts so the calliper assembly can move; squeeze the respective brake lever and keep it; retighten the calliper bolts).

The uneven wear on either side of the calliper might result from the uneven brake piston action. It might come from slight corrosion of the piston surface, adding friction as it moves. I know of no way to cure that.
--------------
Do not worry about thru-axles. The only function these perform is tightening the fork against the hub bearings. Only ensure the threads are clean, and retighten the axle to the specified torque (never exceed the value!) I understand the front fork in your Vado SL is made of carbon fibre. The white substance might be the anti-seize paste for carbon threads. (I am not familiar with that!)

thats a really bad they have wear patterns so they would not make even contact. its not a good idea to flip the pads you want to keep the in the same orientation when you remove them and put them back. pads dont always wear evenly as pistons on the outside move more then the inside do.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Stefan, am I right to assume you mean put the thick part towards the leading edge or direction or rotation? The angle of the rear caliper means the edges of the pads face up and down

I meant the leading edge.
Now I am not sure. Perhaps foofer is right

 

[jason.flood]

I meant the leading edge.
Now I am not sure. Perhaps foofer is right

thats a really bad they have wear patterns so they would not make even contact. its not a good idea to flip the pads you want to keep the in the same orientation when you remove them and put them back. pads dont always wear evenly as pistons on the outside move more then the inside do.

Oops. I already did the front rear swaps last night before I saw you post Fooferdoggie.
Stefan’s idea seemed reasonable though in terms of getting maximum use out of the pads. Maybe it’s best to just have spare pads and just rapped only the fronts or rears as needed.

Your pot make makes sense and I did find when trying to re-centre the calipers that the rotor was being pulled over a bit.

In the end I just manually adjusted the front calipers until it looked like the rotor did not move when pulling the brake lever.

I’ve done a journey to work and back but taken it easy on the brakes. It does feel like the front lever is biting earlier now the slightly thicker pads are on the front.

I’m not sure whether I should swap them back again - but I’d have no idea which was originally inner and outer if I flipped the fronts back to the rears again.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Oops. I already did the front rear swaps last night before I saw you post Fooferdoggie.
Stefan’s idea seemed reasonable though in terms of getting maximum use out of the pads. Maybe it’s best to just have spare pads and just rapped only the fronts or rears as needed.

Your pot make makes sense and I did find when trying to re-centre the calipers that the rotor was being pulled over a bit.

In the end I just manually adjusted the front calipers until it looked like the rotor did not move when pulling the brake lever.

I’ve done a journey to work and back but taken it easy on the brakes. It does feel like the front lever is biting earlier now the slightly thicker pads are on the front.

I’m not sure whether I should swap them back again - but I’d have no idea which was originally inner and outer if I flipped the fronts back to the rears again.

you just change the set of pads that are worn. I had to change pads that were not worn because they were horrible noisy in the rain. so I labeled them front and back and right and left. yes as the pads wear your lever will move in more but not a huge amount.

 

[jason.flood]

I noticed a feint squeak from rear brake last night and this evening after work I removed the pads to find the pad material on one pad was worn in a wedge fashion virtually down to the backing plate. ODO is on 1689km
Looks like tomorrow morning will be hunting LBS’s for my first set of replacements pads.

 

[jason.flood]

What a kerfuffle brake pads seem to be!

Been a little frustrating today. I called the shop where I bought the bike and said “do you have tektro F10BS pads” to which the said “well look you bike model up and find the right ones and put them aside for you”

I rode 20mins to the shop to find they had put E10.11 pads to the side which I knew from reading this forum are the wrong size. I said I would prefer to keep the original pad but they didn’t have them and tried to convince me to to take some other compatible sintered pad which he thought was better for e-bikes anyway. I was very reluctant to change compound until I have a better understanding of the different types so eventually I took a set of F10RS pad which looked identical to the F10BS but painted red and with the Tektro’s TRP moniker.
When I checked the tektro/TRP website both F10BS on Tektro pages and F10RS on TRP pages are listed as “overall balanced resin pad”

Does anyone have any knowledge of if these are identical with just different monikers?

I’ve been scouring web today and starting to get a bit of an understanding of the pros/cons of different compounds. I’m getting the impression that riding in the wet/mucky/hilly conditions of Edinburgh roads/cycle paths in the wettest spring I can ever remember is going to eat through organic/resin pads really fast.
I’d like to consider swapping to something more durable like semi-metallic or metalic/sintered but I’m reading that they may not perform as well until warmed up and could be more noisy. To those with experience - Is it a really noticeable difference?

At the current rate, I could be spending nearly £100/year just on brake pads - which I think is nuts. I notice one can get plenty of cheap unbranded sets on eBay. - anyone had good results from such pads?

Going the other way I see gorilla pads which seem to be £30 a set instead of £10-13 for Tektro one from LBS’s another premium one seems to be swissstop. Are these third party premium brands really much better than OEM parts and worth paying double the price for?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

@jason.flood: Please let a bike mechanic inspect the problematic brake. Mine has just determined the front brake rotor was bent in my Vado SL, prematurely wearing the brake pads!

 

[jason.flood]

6.5months later and an additional 3100km I've just worn out my second set of pads which were Tektro F10RS on front and rear.

Front set have worn to 2.4mm to 2.8mm on one side. 2.1mm to 2.4mm on the other side.
Rear set have worn to 2.24mm to 2.35mm on one side. 2.31mm to 2.54mm on the other side.

So, it seems despite the mostly wet late Spring, "Summer" and early Autumn, my second set of pads (F10RS) have lasted 80% longer than the first set (F10BS)
I reckon I could have squeezed a bit more of of this second set but after spending some time cleaning calipers and freeing up one of the rear pistons I'm going to fit new (F10BS) front and rear pads.

I have been heeding @BlackHand advice to bias a little to the rear and that seems to have evened of the front/rear were compared to my first set.
Perhaps more experience with the bike has increased lifespan, perhaps the different F10RS compound. I will hopefully learn more from the 3rd set of pads.

I am starting to see a bit of scoring on the Rotors now so I'll be interested to see what my LBS says about that when I take it for a 12 month service in mid December..