Tips for reducing wear on wheels?

That's what you get for using those new fangled sandpaper brake pads. I've never heard of a pair of rims wearing so quickly. Are you using stock brake pads or are they non-stock replacements? You might check with whoever makes Alex AT-400 Rims and ask them about the expected life of a rim. It may be that the urban riding that you are doing is causing them to wear more quickly. If this is the case, I would buy a cheap wheelset for city use and have a good wheelset for rural use. I would check with Alex though. Sometimes they will replace a set of rims if they failed way prematurely, or at least give you a pro-rated discount on a new set.

Brake pads that's too hard? Brake pad with embedded alloy shaving or road grit? Poorly adjusted brake caliper?

deedubya said:

I busted a spoke on my morning commute, and after being originally convinced that I needed a rebuild instead of a replaced spoke (the wheel was very recently repaired), I asked about options for a new wheel to compare to a rebuild. Upon an inspection of the wheel,the store employee said that this (replacement) was actually a good idea, considering the amout of wear on the wheel. Seems the rim (Alex AT-400) was worn past the "wear mark" on one side, and approaching this on the other side (I've yet to inspect the other wheel as I only took the rear into the shop).

I was surprised to learn that my rim's wall was worn so quickly - I've only just gone through one set of pads, and they have maybe somewhere around 3,000km on them (city cycling, with lots of stopping at lights and stop signs, mind you). Actually, I'm surprised to learn it was worn at all. I've never heard of this happening. I'm pretty sure I've read comments in this forum about people having been happy with their wheel set for "many years".

Other than avoiding breaking, does anybody have any suggestions for reducing wheel wear? I don't want to have to replace them after another 3,000 km.

Kool Stop "Salmon" brake pads. They resist picking up/retaining grit and other abrasives that wear down the aluminum rims, while giving good braking.

If possible measure the side wall thickness of the 'worn out' rim and compare the measurement to an identical new rim. I am very interested to hear the answer.

I suspect that the high clamping forces of cantilever and vee brakes can deform the sides of the rim into a hollowed shape, and it might not all be due to wearing away. I might be way off, but it's a nagging possibility that remains to be proved or disproved.

kdelong said:

That's what you get for using those new fangled sandpaper brake pads. I've never heard of a pair of rims wearing so quickly. Are you using stock brake pads or are they non-stock replacements?

I don't know what you mean by "sandpaper brake pads".

The original brake pads were stock with my Specialized Sirrus Elite. They are make by Tektro, I think model 824.12 or 827.12. I only recently (couple hundred k's ago) replaced them with Mountain Equipment Coop branded cartridge-style pads.

Akadat said:

If possible measure the side wall thickness of the 'worn out' rim and compare the measurement to an identical new rim. I am very interested to hear the answer.

I suspect that the high clamping forces of cantilever and vee brakes can deform the sides of the rim into a hollowed shape, and it might not all be due to wearing away. I might be way off, but it's a nagging possibility that remains to be proved or disproved.

They're worn for sure, not simply "deflected". The original surface was a series of small concentric grooves, which have all been worn away but the outside few (the brakes don't touch right at the edge of the rim to prevent rubbing against the tire). I don't have any calipers to measure the wear, but the bike shop pointed out that there is a deeper "wear groove" in the centre of the braking surface. The rim is worn down at least this deep on one side.

sogood said:

Brake pads that's too hard? Brake pad with embedded alloy shaving or road grit? Poorly adjusted brake caliper?

Road grit is the likely culprit, I guess I needed to wash the wheels more frequently. I would say they were adjusted properly.

daveornee said:

Kool Stop "Salmon" brake pads. They resist picking up/retaining grit and other abrasives that wear down the aluminum rims, while giving good braking.

Seems like a good tip. MEC carries Kool Stop. Interestingly, they claim the Salmon coloured material causes FASTER rim wear (mec.caproduct detail.jspOpen ↗)

Hey Deedubya, I know the feeling. I've just worn out a Bontrager (road) rim in about 2600km due to commuting in the wet (not to mention the numerous brake pads). This was dispite cleaning the brake pads and rims on a daily basis. Here in Perth, Aus, it's like living in a giant sandpit and you're not 30m down the wet road and you have course sand between the pad and the rim (oh, that horrible grinding sound...). From then on, it's like super-sanding your rims all the way to work and the heavy braking on the descents and the numerous stop-starts as a result of commuting just eat up the rim. The funny thing is that the front rim and pads look like almost new as I find I use rear braking so much more due to down-shifting at stop streets.

This is coming from somebody who, before commuting, has used the same rims for years with negligable wear, and all I can put it down to is riding in bad weather, and the numerous stop-starts which generally commuters are exposed to (... and living in a sand-pit).

Bring on those weekend rides when you "never" have to touch the brakes...

Mike-the-Bike said:

Hey Deedubya, I know the feeling. I've just worn out a Bontrager (road) rim in about 2600km due to commuting in the wet (not to mention the numerous brake pads).

Thanks for letting me know it's not just me.

Interestingly, the weather this commuting season has been very dry. Also interesting to me is that I only wore out one set of pads. I would have figured to go through several sets of pads before the rims were worn. I have decided to replace my pads with some Kool Stop inserts, and be more careful about listening for any strnage noises coming from the brakes.

Oh well, my replacement wheel was not too expensive. I'm sure much less than your Bontrangers. I chose a wheel that was deemed suitable for loaded touring (36 spoke MTB hub on heavier 700c rim). Hopefully I won't have any more broken spokes for a while, which was my bigger concern anyway.

Install disc brakes? They add some weight but whats a few g's.