# carbon rims screeching under braking



## tankbirdfinder (Jun 22, 2012)

My apologies if my question was already answered, I checked generally and was unable to find an answer.
MY question: I have a new set of carbon rims for my road bike, I'm new to carbon rims. I purchased the ZIPP F1 pads and installed them new on the new carbon rims. Maybe I did something wrong, these things HOWL under heavy braking. No loss of modulation, no lack of power, no concerns with heat, just NOISY. Like a semi stopping without a load.
Is this normal? I thought no, but friends tell me carbon rims make all kinds of noises. I'm wondering.

Would some of you ladies and gentlemen with experience on carbon rims clue me in on what I can do to quite these things down. It noisy enough to be embarrassing under heavy braking on hills. 

Your knowledge sharing or direction to hyperlinks for self study would be greatly appreciated.

Wishing you sunny bike weather and no headwinds.


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## Jay Strongbow (May 8, 2010)

I'd first check the brake set up. This can happen with aluminum rims also if the brakes are out of whack so it may have nothing to do with your rims in particular.


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## Zen Cyclery (Mar 10, 2009)

What kind of rims are you running? Sometimes certain rims require certain pads. Aside from that, check the toe of the pads. Also check to make sure that the brake track is clean and free of residue. A paper towel with some isopropyl alcohol can help to clean off the tracks.


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## bwbishop (Sep 17, 2011)

Many carbon rims have a very distinctive noise when under heavy braking. I noticed that during my first Crit. Howling could be a good description, but you could also have something wrong.


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## Carbon_NiHM (Sep 4, 2011)

its just the nature of having carbon brake surface, my shimano 7801 c50's do the same at heavy braking, you'll get used to it. Although I'm yet to experience braking heavily on a descent.


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## RoadrunnerLXXI (Jun 3, 2012)

I recently installed a set of Boyd 38mm carbon clincher and experienced the same problem. I toe in the brake pads and almost got rid of the noise. It still screech a bit if I squeeze the brake and hold them. So I now I squeeze the brake levers like as if I am pumping the brakes of the car, quick intervals.


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## dkilburn (Aug 1, 2009)

Hey, I have Zipp 303 FC and Reynolds Assault, both 2012 and use the correct pads on each bike.
Yes, each make a noise. Zipp noise is different from the Reynolds noise, but both have some noise.
I clean them about every two weeks with alcohol, wheels & pads. 
The Zipp free hub is makes a lot of noise.
So far, this is what I have found.
.


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## bobonker (Feb 12, 2011)

I had a set of 2012 Reynolds Assaults and with their cryo blue pads, they howled like crazy. Never bothered to toe them in.

Now I have a set of Reynolds Attacks (older set with black Reynolds pads). I set the rear pads up with about 1mm of toe in. I forgot to do it on the front. The rears don't howl, the fronts do. So, I'm going to the set the fronts up with some toe in, too. Give it a try and see if it works for you.

Bob


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## jackmen (Jul 24, 2007)

I recently got my first set of Carbon clinchers 23MM wide by 50MM deep. They came with the blue carbon brake pads. I didn't like the sound or the braking with these pads.

Read a little and switched to the swiss black prince pads and these are much quieter and also stop much better. Still not quite like an alloy wheel but much better than with the blue pads.

Give them a try, they are not cheap but they do work.


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