On Feb 6, 2012, at 6:32 PM, brian feltovich wrote: > Wondering if anyone else has experience with the VO Raid rims. The polished > surface looks pretty but I'm not impressed with braking performance. Brakes > are old-school Campy single-pivots with orange KoolStop pads. > > Can/should polished rims be roughed up a bit? I had someone tell me to use > acetone to clean off pad material left on the rims post-ride, which I've > done, but that seems extreme as a required bit of maintenance. > > Any other tips or tricks to improve performance or should I just start > hunting for rims that are less shiny and more brake-y?
Polished sidewalls tend to not brake as well until they've worn in a bit. They're also more likely to squeal. A Scotchbrite pad or something like it was a traditional approach to addressing this back in the days of shiny rims; dragging the brakes on a wet, perhaps slightly muddy ride will usually also do the trick. Or just ride 'em. I find my old MA2 rims- shiny all around with just a bit of dulling on the sidewalls from braking- stop as well as my rims with machined sidewalls. Also, if the brake pads were used with other wheels previously, taking a file and cleaning the braking surfaces down to bare pad material may help. The aluminum dust and other dirt ground in the the braking surface may reduce the coefficient of friction, similar to glazing car brake pads. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
