I swear I saw, and commented on, a long thread discussing heat management for brakes but now my searching skills have left me so feel free to merge if it does exist!
I’ve used uberbike race pads on my MTB Shimano and Formula brakes in both finned and unfinned options but for 200mm discs I worry less about cooking things, I’m looking at new pads for my GRX brakes now.
For normal use in some where with lots of short sharp descents running 160mm rotors (not finned ice tech ones) for a 66kg rider are folks paying extra for the finned varieties? The finned versions are about 7 quid more but the fins are separate so can be reused. Currently on stock finned GRX pads and not experienced any overheating yet.
Ive been running non finned on my grx since finned were out of stock. I havent notice a change in how the brakes feel. My gravel has long technical descents were you get on the brake a lot.
Currently, I have used finned Shimano brake pads on my mountain bike, my road bike has SRAM brakes whose brake pads are compatible with its XC 2-piston brakes. No issues with heat management, even on 1,000+ m elevation descents.
In the past I have had finned brake pads on my road bike, because hey, heat dissipation with fins can only be better. Quality third-party brake pads like SwissStop also don’t have fins. I am inclined to believe they aren’t that important, although I haven’t tested them back-to-back.
Id really question how much the fins actually do, real world. The braking system is always exposed to moving air. The rotors are probably going to be the most important heat sink. Im sure its been tested and it dropped the temps a few degrees. The question is did it drop it enough to matter or just to market it and were the non-finned ones out of their operating temp? Ive run both, not even realizing it, and ive never been able to tell the difference
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