VO polished rims, performance issues

[brian feltovich]

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?

Brian
Cold but snowless Park City, UT

[Bertin753]

I've found that new rims take a while to "break in" to the pads and that braking markedly mproves wifh use. How long have you used these rims?

Patrick Moore

iPhone

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[Mojo]

My experience matches Patrick's: rims break in after awhile. To help this along, I have run some fine sandpaper tangentially along the break surface of a new squeeky rim. I think it helped a bit, but it just took some time in use to make it behave properly. 

[Brian Feltovich]

Have put at least a couple thousand miles on them. Kept thinking they'd get better and so far they haven't. 

Hmmmm. 

[Brian Feltovich]

They don't squeak and I've tried a touch of sandpaper. Have put maybe 2,000 miles on the wheels, more or less. 

Still pondering. 

On Feb 6, 2012, at 7:51 PM, Mojo <gjtr...@yahoo.com> wrote:

My experience matches Patrick's: rims break in after awhile. To help this along, I have run some fine sandpaper tangentially along the break surface of a new squeeky rim. I think it helped a bit, but it just took some time in use to make it behave properly. 

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[Tim McNamara]

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.

[Phil Bickford]

Along the same line - switch to a harder, coarser brake pads. I've
got some free stock Tektro pads that might help.

Lemme know.

Phil B

[Bill Lucas]

Brain,

Try maroon scotch-brite, 7447. This is the normal stuff. I use it to
clean rims.

Regards,
Bill