Had An Idea Tonight (Disc Brake ‘Pads’ That Are Abrasive Material?)

[jm2e]

Riding long steep trails can fuck a rotor. The less of a badass you are, the more you're dragging brake the whole time. And sometimes they just seem fucked out of the gate. Some pad/rotor combos just don't play well together. I've had downhill seasons where I'm cursed with squealing. I've had bed ins that never resulted in quiet stopping. I've had successful bed ins where the brakes started squealing 2-3 runs later. Considering a ballpark average of $160 to replace front & rear pads & rotors, it's hard not to want to fuck around a bit when the rotor's fairly new or the pads still have a lot of meat on them.
I've spent a fuck ton of time sanding pads, soaking pads in alcohol, torching pads with a mini propane torch, sanding rotors while spinning the wheel, sanding rotors by hand to achieve the recommended against the grain rub, sanding rotors with a random orbit sander, cleaning rotors with auto brake cleaner, cleaning rotors with alcohol. It's fucking maddening and a humongous waste of time and energy. And inevitably irritates the fuck out of my arthritic thumbs. So yea, I've got a ton of empathy for rideit on this one and I've also thought about a padset with diamond stone instead of sintered pad material. These things even look like brake pads!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but when an auto shop turns brake rotors, they're scoring the rotor in the direction of travel. So why would it be different with bikes?

[XXX-er]

Riding long steep trails can fuck a rotor. The less of a badass you are, the more you're dragging brake the whole time. And sometimes they just seem fucked out of the gate. Some pad/rotor combos just don't play well together. I've had downhill seasons where I'm cursed with squealing. I've had bed ins that never resulted in quiet stopping. I've had successful bed ins where the brakes started squealing 2-3 runs later. Considering a ballpark average of $160 to replace front & rear pads & rotors, it's hard not to want to fuck around a bit when the rotor's fairly new or the pads still have a lot of meat on them.
I've spent a fuck ton of time sanding pads, soaking pads in alcohol, torching pads with a mini propane torch, sanding rotors while spinning the wheel, sanding rotors by hand to achieve the recommended against the grain rub, sanding rotors with a random orbit sander, cleaning rotors with auto brake cleaner, cleaning rotors with alcohol. It's fucking maddening and a humongous waste of time and energy. And inevitably irritates the fuck out of my arthritic thumbs. So yea, I've got a ton of empathy for rideit on this one and I've also thought about a padset with diamond stone instead of sintered pad material. These things even look like brake pads!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but when an auto shop turns brake rotors, they're scoring the rotor in the direction of travel. So why would it be different with bikes?

yeah its a lathe like m/c that skims off metal as the disc or drum rotates , you can only take so much material off , the more you take off the thinner/ more easily they overheat and warp again SO I think that was something they did back in the day of big American cars, I beleive they just get replace discs & drums now days

IME sanding discs or pads cleaning with a solvent or brake clean is something to try but I don't find it real satisfying but if it works great

If you havent got any sandpaper taking out the pads and scuffing them on a concrete basement floor works pretty well

I try to give the brakes a break by pumping them to let them cool instead of riding them all the way down

[rideit]

Riding long steep trails can fuck a rotor. The less of a badass you are, the more you're dragging brake the whole time.

I feel seen.

[Meconium]

Honestly, I've had the best luck with just rubbing new pads together under running water and perhaps finishing up the rub with a bit of isopropyl before installation. Typically caliper alignment is a bigger issue for me. I'm intrigued with a gummy Stone idea or just for fun.

[rideit]

Yeah, this is more of an idea to get some more life out of heavily glazed, well used pads and rotors. New bed in is simple.

[SJG]

I do a lot of very steep and long descents (LCC, BCC, Skidders stuff), and do have to de-glaze my pads every 30k' descending or so. A day at Deer Valley can be 15k' descending, so that's every other time. 3-4 sec on a belt sander to remove glaze and they are as good as new.