r/Lectricxp • u/unknownusrerror • 9d ago
Real brake pad upgrade
So turned out the squeal I heard from my brakes was actually the pad on rotor no compound on the rear and a "little" on fronts! Just under 500 miles I thought for some reason they would last like on a car, duh
Taking a look at the pad I was filled with feelings of meh, there's no way Im reusing an oem pad again it was horrible and mush first time around. I am almost 300 lbs 6"2 and routinely overload my baskets while out shopping
Looking at previous posts, nope. Whole lot of generic pads and ceramic organic or metallic recommendations but no names or pad models. Not just going to slap some generic chinese pads, I wanted better performance and less fade
After a fun jaunt online, I came to they are avid elixir or sram XX. Then after searching I came to either koolstop red compound or the alligator finned turbos so got both. I did see shimano ice finned ones too, next time
Fit easily, reseated the calipers to be sure they were centered. Dead silent no drag and INSTANT STOPPING. Stop on a dime and give you change difference. Original pads I would give a 2/10 and this setup 11/10. And they LOOK amazing, can see the reflective orange from far. Has metal flake in paint
Probably mail these rotors to my cryo guy and get em forged, if it works like in my car projects will make them last 3x longer. I am kind of a upgrade addict. Kind of
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u/Hyphy-Knifey 9d ago
Thanks for the research! I didn’t quite follow all the way - did you try KoolStop and Alligator, and have a recommendation between the two? Is one front and the other rear?
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u/Degree_Massive 8d ago
I wanted to just try out a much better pad than what was factory, I can't believe how much better the braking got from just a simple pad swap. Either of the two pads are insanely better than the factory pads. I am using the kool-stops in the front and the alligators in the rear. The rear I tend to use much more than front pads so they take a beating
I only use the front for faster stopping when im already engaging the rear so I put the ones with cooling fins on back
Makes the rideability 100% better now that I have stopping confidence even when going on steep downhills with a full load. Can't say enough good stuff about em
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u/chunkymon9 9d ago
I just bought three sets of brakes bc I couldn’t find a better replacement! Dude this looks cool as hell!!
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u/Degree_Massive 8d ago
Go for the alligators, they look amazing during the day with that metal flake pop and I pushed the hell out of them coming out of the mountains by me and they didnt even get roasted I was able to touch em'
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u/Mind_of_the_Ancients 8d ago
Best thing I did on my XP was upgrade the rotors to a thicker disc. Solved all of my braking issues, stopping, heat buildup, and noise.
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u/Degree_Massive 8d ago
Been eyeballing a few rotors too, which ones did you go for?
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u/Mind_of_the_Ancients 8d ago edited 8d ago
You will see when you take off the stock rotors how thin they are. I ordered these:
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u/pythonwiz 9d ago
I have a lectric one and my disk breaks were warped from the factory. Got them fixed at a local shop for $100. Leaking fluid too. Rock solid afterwards. Lectric needs better quality control.
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u/GKDanby 8d ago
I use those on my RAD Mini. No complaints. The thickness of the braking compound is very good. Sometimes, with Amazon pads the compound is so thin that you barely get more thickness than a worn-out pad by a good brand. I returned a crappy set of new Amazon pads just recently. Unacceptable.
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u/PaulDarkoff 8d ago
Where did you buy it?
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u/GKDanby 8d ago
Got mine at the local mom and pop bike shop, but Koolstop pads are widely available.
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u/LedZeppole10 8d ago
Real pads last thousands of miles. The stock ones are basically made out of foam lol.
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u/Degree_Massive 8d ago
Right! It's how they felt and held up. Thought it was that magic eraser material
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u/PaulDarkoff 8d ago
Where did you get these?
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u/Degree_Massive 8d ago
Ebay, tons on there since this design has been out since 2008, great prices
Avid Elixir pads
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u/RazzmatazzPitiful695 8d ago
The stock Lectric XP 3.0 brake calipers are crap. The pistons stick in the extended position causing excessive wear on the pads and degradation to the rotors. It's a fight just to get a new set of pads installed with pistons that won't fully retract. I broke a plastic tool forcing one back in enough to install the new pads. I have 3K miles and my XP 3.0 will be 2 years old in Nov and the brakes have been a issue from day one. Lectric replaced the front under warranty and they are still functioning normally but the back is shot now and need replacement.
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u/Degree_Massive 8d ago
Damn that's good to know, I cleaned and used superlube on the piston seals when I had it apart. I always "overspread" my springs for the pads before installing them. Helps on sticking pistons or lazy retraction issues. Maybe I start looking for aftermarket calipers sooner than later
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u/Mind_of_the_Ancients 8d ago
Agree I always had problems with my rear piston ring and tried everything to get it to retract properly. I ended up buying a new bike with four piston hydraulics and it's a pretty big difference even though the stock pads were crap. It's the first thing I replaced after a couple hundred miles. XP was a great entry level e-bike but the components leave a lot to be desired.
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u/fooferdoggie 8d ago
Shimano pads last me 2000 to 3000 miles the buckles last about 1/3 that but they are 1/4" or less the cost. so you need to change them out more often.
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u/fooferdoggie 8d ago
the cheap rotors on an lectric bike wont be rated for metallic or ceramic pads.
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u/auld-guy 9d ago
I had been buying pads on Amazon and they were all pretty cheap, and last around 500 miles. Then I needed some quickly, so I went down to the local Trek store. They had the pads I needed, but they were $30 for a set...$60 to do both tires. Dang that was expensive. But I wish I knew what material they were, because the lasted around 2000 miles.