# Why Are My Alloy Rims Being Defaced?



## SolitaryRider (Oct 20, 2011)

Hey, Guys,

O-K, I don't have 25 miles on my Bikesdirect bike yet...and my rear wheel has all the black scraped off of it on the sides where the brake shoes do their things!

Took the shoes off today to see if there was something sharp lodged in them or something....nope.














































Sheesh! What is causing this??!! The bike is bone stock- the wheels and pads that came on it. Front wheel has a few scratches already, but nothing like this! These things can't be THAT delicate!


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## AndrwSwitch (May 28, 2009)

Ummm...

If there's a black finish on your braking tracks, it shouldn't be there. Aluminum braking tracks in good condition have a polished appearance, and are the natural color of the material.

To me, it looks like your brake shoes may have been installed upside-down and misaligned.

Here's an article.

Park Tool Co. » ParkTool Blog » Sidepull Brake Service

Those little fin things typically point downward. Sometimes they claim to dissipate heat, but I think they do make it a little easier to get the wheel in. The brake pad surface is also asymmetrical in a way that should match the shape of the brake track on the rim.


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## AndrwSwitch (May 28, 2009)

In other words, yes your rims are defaced. The black stuff is the problem, though. The polished silver is fine.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Normality*



SolitaryRider said:


> O-K, I don't have 25 miles on my Bikesdirect bike yet...and my rear wheel has all the black scraped off of it on the sides where the brake shoes do their things!
> 
> Took the shoes off today to see if there was something sharp lodged in them or something....nope.


Unless your braking surface is ceramic, then any color will wear off quickly.

It appears that your brake pads were not adjusted properly and were probably on upside down as AndrwSwitch noted. The little wings on the pads are to make wheel installation easier and they should be facing the ground. 

The pads should be adjusted so that as much of the width of the pad as possible contacts the rim surface. It looks like yours were set so that only half of the pad surface was contacting the rim. Just don't set them so high that they contact the tire sidewall.


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## Newnan3 (Jul 8, 2011)

AndrwSwitch said:


> Those little fin things typically point downward. Sometimes they claim to dissipate heat, but I think they do make it a little easier to get the wheel in. The brake pad surface is also asymmetrical in a way that should match the shape of the brake track on the rim.


I always wondered what that fin thing was there for......

But yeah it looks like your brake pads were upside down.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

Also, get that glazed-looking stuff off the pads with some sandpaper and a bit of finger work. Clean pads work better. The rest of the cheap paint or whatever that was on the rims should wear off pretty quickly.


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

Agree that the painted (and wearing) brake surfaces are normal. Also agree with Creaky's suggestion to sand the pads. I sand top to bottom, running counter to normal braking. 

Also, FWIW, I periodically clean the rim braking surface and pads with a rag/ paper towels and denatured alcohol. If the rims get really bad, I use a no-scratch pad doused with the alcohol, then wipe with a rag/ paper towel.


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## SolitaryRider (Oct 20, 2011)

Thanks, everyone!

Heh...as you can tell, I haven't been around modern bikes much!

When I got the bike, one set of pads was fully installed...the other was just loose and flopping around. The ones thatc were already fully installed, had the fins pointing up...which I why I thought that was the way they go- although from the shape of the pads, I would have guessed that they went facing down.

It's ironic that the rear wheel would be showing this, while the front which does most of the braking, isn't. (And half the time, I don't even use the rear brakes)

So why the heck do they bother painting rims black? 

Well, I'm glad that I really don't have a problem...... I'll orient all the pads correctly tomorrow!

(Youse'll be glad to know that I installed everything properly when I replaced the pads and rotors on my van last week!)


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## AndrwSwitch (May 28, 2009)

If I wanted to sell the same set of rims to fixie kids and road riders, I'd get some with a brake track and paint them. For the fixie kids: look, no brake track! For the roadies: machined sidewalls.


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

SolitaryRider said:


> So why the heck do they bother painting rims black?


Because (to some) they look cool... till the first time the brakes are applied. 

If it makes you feel any better, machined surfaces fare no better. Well, at least not in between cleaning. As you can see, I've done more riding than cleaning lately.
View attachment 246524


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## Mr. Versatile (Nov 24, 2005)

The rims on your bike MAY have been a mistake. I can't remember seeing a road bike that didn't have a machined braking surface. Those that don't are usually track bikes or bikes with disc brakes. It's not hurting anything & eventually the black will wear completely off & your rims will look uniform.


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

For the remaining skeptics out there, here's a link to the OP's bike. If you click on the images, you can then zoom in on the (painted) braking surfaces.
Road Bikes, Roadbikes - Mercier Galaxy AL


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

i find it hard to believe that any product manager would spec rims that are 'painted' for use on a bike w/ rim brakes. pretty sure they're anodized, which will wear off from brake use just like the OP's photos. the OP can tell very easily by take off the tire and rim strip and having a quick look.


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

cxwrench said:


> i find it hard to believe that any product manager would spec rims that are 'painted' for use on a bike w/ rim brakes. *pretty sure they're anodized*, which will wear off from brake use just like the OP's photos. the OP can tell very easily by take off the tire and rim strip and having a quick look.


To a degree semantics, but yes I agree that 'anodized' is a more accurate description.

Bottom line, the wear is normal.


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## SolitaryRider (Oct 20, 2011)

Thanks for the pic, PJ352 -it is indeed worth 1000 words! 

I was assuming that the wheels were anodized (they do appear to be)- but even that seems stupid if they're going to use metallic brake pads on the bike. I'm still perplexed as to why the front rim is still virtually untouched though (but even the front has knicks and scratches already, even though the bike isn't even broken in yet).

I hope youse don't think I'm being too fussy with a $300 bike (I still think the bike is a great value, and the only other real complaint I have is the brifters- but I don't know if that's because they're Shimano's ghetto line...or if I just don't like brifters- hard to say, as these are my first).

It just seems so silly. I mean, it's not like I'm going to loose sleep over it, but I'm thinking now, if I bought a $2K bike and it started looking like this...I'd be pretty disappointed. It won't be bad when the braking surface is completely and evenly worn down to the bare metal, and ya just see a silver strip around the rim- but the way it is now, it just looks scratched, and neither here nor there.

Ah well, at least it's just looks....and at least now I know that I did not get something defective or abnormal. Speaking of looks, picture this bike with indexed stem shifters, 'cause I have a feeling, one day I'll be installing such! [Collective forum members: "No, not stem shifters! ]


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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

Not much of a consolation, but this was commonplace back in the day with anodized non-machined rims. And not only did the ano rub off—you also got an indication of how the spokes affected the rim. If you look closely at the photo, you'll see that the areas under the spokes are worn in a different pattern than the areas between the spokes. Didn't affect the braking, so it was of no concern.


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

SolitaryRider said:


> Thanks for the pic, PJ352 -it is indeed worth 1000 words!
> 
> I was assuming that the wheels were anodized (they do appear to be)- but even that seems stupid if they're going to use metallic brake pads on the bike. I'm still perplexed as to why the front rim is still virtually untouched though (but even the front has knicks and scratches already, even though the bike isn't even broken in yet).
> 
> ...


ftfy...
the pads aren't 'metallic' at all, they're hard rubber. this 'problem' has been happening for decades. ever since rims have been anodized, brake pads have been rubbing through the finish. in the 70' and 80's, and somewhat into the 90's, virtually every race bike and most road bikes you would see had this issue. one rim manufacturers started machining rim sidewalls for better braking performance it became a problem w/ some people. just think of it as your bike looking a bit 'oldschool'...it's definitely not a mechanical issue. your brakes will work better as they wear through the finish more. no idea why the front and rear are not the same...maybe you use more rear brake (not the right way to slow down)? maybe the pads are different? hard to say on the interwebs...


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## SolitaryRider (Oct 20, 2011)

Wim, I like things retro, so I guess I could put a positive spin on this!

CX, Hmmm...these pads sure look metallic. I don't see how hard rubber could do this in the little riding I've done (and using the brakes very little...especially the rears- I often don't even use the rear).

That's a positive though, that the brakes will work better once the sides are down to bare metal....as they did seem a little vague to me. 

I'm glad i posted here first- when I saw the wear, I was almost ready to email Bikesdirect and say "What gives?"!

Live and learn... (I was once considering buying a watch with an anodized case/band...glad I didn't now! It would have been ruined in a week [which was why I didn't buy it])

I take it you don't like the term "brifters"?


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## TWB8s (Sep 18, 2003)

Brifters. 

You'll eventually see wear on the front, the reason the rear is wearing first is most likely dirt/dust attracted by lube splattered by the drive train as you ride. There's no way around it. Even my super hard annodized Campagnolo Omega Strada XL and Mavic Mach 2CD tubulars show pad abrasion. Granted the pads I'm using are Campy so I'm running either very hard or very soft pads. But those are ~$100 rims and even they wear. 

As for machined braking surfaces, I'm trying to remember when I first saw them. I think it was 1990 or 1991 and I'm not sure but it may have been Mavic with their SUP "technology." I might be a year or two off on that, but machined side walls are pretty recent and still aren't uniformly done by the manufacturers. While they're nice, there's no true need for them given the tolerances a bike will function within.

Enjoy the new ride and keep an eye on the spoke tension since those are new wheels. At some point a mechanic will need to double chech them, but you should get about 500 miles on them first. I linked up a pair of machine built wheels (Bonti Race Lites) and the rear spokes were very loose after maybe 100 miles or 2 days. I tensioned them and the were fine the rest of the summer.


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## SolitaryRider (Oct 20, 2011)

Do I see a spoke wrench in my future???


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## TWB8s (Sep 18, 2003)

SolitaryRider said:


> Do I see a spoke wrench in my future???


Only if you know how to use it or hand it to someone who does. It's easy enough to learn how if you're patient or have a good teacher. But that applies to most things.


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## SolitaryRider (Oct 20, 2011)

TWB8s said:


> Only if you know how to use it or hand it to someone who does. It's easy enough to learn how if you're patient or have a good teacher. But that applies to most things.


...or if your nearest LBS is an hour away......

Messing with wheels always seemed to be the one "not-so-user-friendly" aspect of bike repair....but I'm sure I could learn- like everything else. (Just wish I had an old wheel to practice on- that's the best way to learn)

You'd think after rebuilding engines and all, anything on a bike would be a snap- but it's as if you need a different mindset when working on a bike. It was a little tricky just adjusting my front derailleur for the first time, recently- and I still am a little intimidated by thought of it.....

There's something nice about working on bikes, though..... maybe it's just the facts that ya don't have access issues/have to take half the bike apart to get to one part....and that ya don't get covered in grease! It just seems so wholesome...simple...basic....real....


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## AndrwSwitch (May 28, 2009)

SolitaryRider said:


> Ah well, at least it's just looks....and at least now I know that I did not get something defective or abnormal. Speaking of looks, picture this bike with indexed stem shifters, 'cause I have a feeling, one day I'll be installing such! [Collective forum members: "No, not stem shifters! ]


My expensive bikes usually look chewed. It happens if you ride them other than on sunny days.

So what don't you like about your shifters? I ask because my experience of stem-mounted shifters is that they're the single worst shifter type I've used out of downtube shifters, STI levers, stem-mounted shifters, bar-end shifters, and trigger shifters. On a road bike, STI shifters are easily my favorite. After test-riding a really cheap one on Thursday evening, I have to grudgingly admit that Sora/2300 shifters, with the funky little button, are still more convenient than downtube (or stem or bar-end) shifters, at least for me and my riding position.

It's your bike and should be a reflection of your preferences. But when someone wants something that is, to me, somewhat off-the-wall, I usually wonder if they're not presupposing it as a solution to a problem that may be better solved another way. To put it another way, I met a systems engineer a while ago who said that clients usually came to him with problems that they presented as a system they wanted, and that the first part of his job was to figure out what the problem was and if their system was even the right direction.


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

Shifters


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## SolitaryRider (Oct 20, 2011)

I hear ya, Andrw,

What I don't like about these STIs, is that they require a lot of travel to actuate them- which translates into a lot of time to get into the gear I want. Plus, there's a little lag, even after you've "ratcheted" them. 

Not to mention the hassle of shifting if you want to skip several gears- which is often a necessity here where I ride- as road conditions change quickly and drastically. It seems here, I just don't have the luxury of going through the gears one-by-one. It takes a long time to ratchet that handle 3 or 4 times to get to the gear I need when I need it...and by the time I'm there, I need a different gear.

I know downshifting is a little faster, as it'll skip some gears...trouble is, sometimes I don't want to skip those gears....but it seems that it does it anyway.

In short, it just seems like it's a lot of trouble to get the rear derailleur to do what I want it to, when I want it to. (It's not as big an issue with the front- except I still don't care for the lag).

It seems so much faster and easier just to flip a lever. Want to skip a gear or two? Just move it two or three clicks, and VIOLA[sic]!

I don't know if the problems I described could be eliminated by merely having better quality STIs....but I'll be interested to hear your feedback on that.

Now if I may ask you: What don't you like about stem shifters? (It's probably been over 30 years since I've ridden a bike with stems, so I may not remember the negatives....) .

I would love downtube shifters (The simplest, shortest, least-moving parts is usually the best....) but it definitely is a pain reaching down there to shift- especially when you shift a lot. If we could just graft downtube shifters onto the brake hoods..... 

One thing is for sure though...these 2300's have to go! It's not that big of a deal now.....but hopefully by spring I'll be in good enough shape to start doing some serious riding...and this bumblephuk shifting will get old real quick.

[The one thing I do like about the brifters is the convenient location!]


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## Drew Eckhardt (Nov 11, 2009)

SolitaryRider said:


> I hear ya, Andrw,
> 
> What I don't like about these STIs, is that they require a lot of travel to actuate them- which translates into a lot of time to get into the gear I want. Plus, there's a little lag, even after you've "ratcheted" them.
> 
> Not to mention the hassle of shifting if you want to skip several gears- which is often a necessity here where I ride- as road conditions change quickly and drastically. It seems here, I just don't have the luxury of going through the gears one-by-one. It takes a long time to ratchet that handle 3 or 4 times to get to the gear I need when I need it...and by the time I'm there, I need a different gear.


So switch to Campagnolo with either second generation levers (Chorus and Record are still available new) or NOS 2010 Centaur Ultrashift levers (Powershift levers have a crippled design like Shimano/SRAM and only go down one gear a click). They'll go five cogs smaller or three bigger with one lever push. A Jtek Shiftmate could be used to pair it with your existing derailleurs and cassettes.

I'm currently running 50-34 x 13-14-5-16-17-18-19-21-23 which the mathematically inclined will note results in one overlapping gear (50x21 and 34x14) when you eschew the big/big and small/small combinations. Anything less than about 17 MPH and I'll shift to the small ring; anything more than 18-19 MPH and I'll shift to the big ring. About half my time commuting is spent over 18MPH and half below so there's a lot of double shifting.

Going from big to small ring with Campagnolo ergo levers I push both thumb buttons at the same time and drop from 50x21 to 34x15 in less than one crank revolution. Back in the other direction I work both front shift levers at once then add two clicks to the right shifter to go from 34x14 to 50x19 which is slower but still on the order of 1 second.


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## AndrwSwitch (May 28, 2009)

Come to think of it, I do drop multiple gears at once on occasion. Tiagra and above (in Shimano) definitely have this ability, for the rear derailleur. I actually find I shift multiple gears more than I'd like to with indexed shift levers - if I'm riding a bumpy piece of road, for example.

Stem-mounted levers are my least favorite because I find it really awkward to reach something at that location if I'm in my usual riding position. I fit my bikes to make the hoods or ramps my preferred position. So I'm having to come back and in pretty far - with downtube shifters, I feel a lot less cramped. On my commuter, downtube shifters landed a little back of the drops, and maybe a little lower. The Great Sheldon Brown commented on stem shifters being right where someone can plow into them doing a hard stop. I can't say I've had that experience on a road bike.

The big sell, for me, with STI levers is that I can get to them when I'm out of the saddle. I know some riders could operate shift levers during a sprint, but I haven't developed that ability. Having a shifter I can operate on a rough surface or when standing is a nice thing, to me. I like them a lot for 'cross too, but that's a somewhat specialized circumstance.

I noticed I got shorter shifter throws when I stuck some fancier shifters on my road bike a couple of years ago. Between being able to raise cable tension by multiple clicks in one throw and how quickly I can click the little release lever (easier to use, IMO, on Tiagra and above shifters) I've always been able to shift fast enough with STI levers. I bet the long throws are at least partly a design choice - probably Shimano trying to make their design robust enough for looser tolerances. I could see that being annoying. Aside from throwing money at the problem, I can't think of any way to fix it - alongside gaining the ability for any idiot (like myself) to shift successfully in a multitude of riding positions, some of the ways that shifters could be finessed get lost.

As far as bad shifts - the same people who assembled your brakes cut the cable housings on your bike. This is one of my pet rants - inexpensive bikes usually come with really poorly executed cable housings. To work well, the shifter housings need square ends. There's usually still a little break-in and tuning period, but IME, once they're consistent, they stay consistent until something starts to wear out. Which takes thousands of miles. Luckily, this is something that's cheap and easy to fix yourself, possibly even with your existing housings, although you'll probably need new cables regardless.

Cables
Park Tool Co. » ParkTool Blog » Rear Derailler Adjustments (derailleur)

You may wish to have the alignment of your rear derailleur hanger checked too. I seem to have better luck with them than many people on the internet (knock wood) but they don't have a brilliant reputation for arriving straight.

Anyway, if you tune up your shifters so they work right and put in another couple hundred miles on them, they'll grow on you or they won't. I wish frames still had downtube bosses on them but, at least in general, that seems to be gone.


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## PlatyPius (Feb 1, 2009)

1. That's what anodized rims do. 

2. The pads were upside down.

3. The "fin" is a guide to guide the tire back in for faster tire changes. If you look at older brakes, there's a metal fin mounted with the brake pad that mimics the integrated fin you have. It's just for guiding the tire.


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

SolitaryRider said:


> CX, Hmmm...these pads sure look metallic. I don't see how hard rubber could do this in the little riding I've done (and using the brakes very little...especially the rears- I often don't even use the rear).
> 
> 
> 
> I take it you don't like the term "brifters"?


trust me...those pads are not metallic. some disc brake pads are made w/ metallic compounds, but not all. rim brake pads have never been made from metallic coupounds. it would destroy rims in no time. 

and no...i don't like the 'b' word. i'm a race mechanic, and that word is joked about on a regular basis. no manufacturer uses it, so we don't use it. at this point, it's become a way for certain posters here to poke fun at the few of us that really hate it (mainly me). trust me, if you worked in the business, you'd find 'brifter' annoying too. everyone knows that the shifter is also the brake lever, there is no need to put the 2 words together.


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## velocanman (Jul 15, 2011)

Clean the rims and sand the pads. This is routinely required since the pads pick up aluminum shavings from the rim.


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## SolitaryRider (Oct 20, 2011)

Well...I installed the brake pads the RIGHT way today! Turns out, they have markings on them....a little arrow (which I assume points forward) and even a little L and R.... Turns out, the front pads were reversed! They had the left on the right and vise-versa!


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## MySpokeIsABroke (Sep 24, 2011)

Solitary, I am concerned not that you only have 25 miles on your rig, but that the nibs and fuzz haven't worn off your tires yet !!! 

My BD came with Alex rims. My pads are installed correctly and my rims are scathed also. Thanks for sharing. I Haven't dropped any weight yet......


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## SolitaryRider (Oct 20, 2011)

Hey, MySpoke, what model did you end up getting? 

Hehe...yeah...up until today, I was doing virtually all my riding on grass...... now that I'm getting out on the road.....those nibs'll be going bye-bye! (And hopefully the mileage will start increasing drastically!)

I lost a whopping 2 lbs. since the last time i weighed myself. Maybe more...as it's been a few days since that weigh in..... I'm very solid, not flabby. I have a feeling that it's gonna be a slow process to lose weight- a very slow process.


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## MySpokeIsABroke (Sep 24, 2011)

I purchased pair of Windsor Wellingtons for my wife and I. Got hers from BikeIsland..... She has been out once. These are the toughest tire nubs I have ever seen !!! They last forever


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## SolitaryRider (Oct 20, 2011)

MySpokeIsABroke said:


> I purchased pair of Windsor Wellingtons for my wife and I. Got hers from BikeIsland..... She has been out once. These are the toughest tire nubs I have ever seen !!! They last forever


Good deal! 

Things sure have changed since my last bike- when brake pads were those red rubber knobby thingies. (Ya know...all the gazilliion miles I rode as a kid though- those pads never wore out- I don't think I ever had to replace a set!)


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