Hello all. I am former competitive rider coming back into this 20 years later and struggling to understand "all the new Sh--" as Lebowski put it. I have a new Mavic R-SYS SLR wheelset and I'm wondering if a my other Wheels (Kryserium SL's) will be OK with those mandatory Exalith brake pads. It's great to be back BTW... Will post this elsewhere apart from the introductions...

from what I understand NO

the mavic pads are extra hard to work with the rim coating and they will damage the softer alloy rims.

I have a new Mavic R-SYS SLR wheelset and I'm wondering if a my other Wheels (Kryserium SL's) will be OK with those mandatory Exalith brake pads. Maybe the better way to ask is: Does anyone know this is NOT OK? Thanks

If they are the green swiss-stop pads, yes. Swiss-stop makes a green pad for alloy rims, it's the same compound as green exalith pads (just a different shape)

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Think I just answered my own question. The Exalith pad is in fact made by Swiss Stop and provided to Mavic for the Exalith rims. That exact pad is elsewhere sold as the Swiss Stop Full Flash Pro GHP - fully compatible with alloy rims. Mavic engineers feel free to chime in here if you disagree...

I partially disagree - from what I've read they're the same compound as the GHP II pads, just a different design to cope with the noise of the brake pad on the Exalith surface.

However, like carbon rims, getting shards of alu from your non-Exalith rims in the pads might damage the Exalith surface. It is just a coating and does wear off and that might happen quicker with the extra help of those little bits of aluminium.

Merged the two topics you started about this.

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This is correct. You can use the Exalith pads on other alloy (non-Exalith) rims, but they're made from a relatively hard compound and won't offer as much stopping power as standard pads with a softer compound. And as noted, if the Exalith pads pick up metal shards from softer alloy rims (non-Exalith), they can score/scratch the Exalith coating.

FWIW - for the 2013 Exalith pad compound is changed. "Exalith 2" systems get new pads that are now black in color, and the machining on the brake track surface is very subtly different. Both slight changes to help reduce break-in time and brake squeal. The new pads are backwards compatible to original Exalith, and the new pads constitute 90% of the noise reduction. So if you have Exalith wheels and still having noise probs, try the new pads!!!

Thanks all - z

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Nice discussion!

I have the R Sys Exalith and have faced huge problems about noise and brake power when descending steep mountians in Italy last summer. Under strong rain they didn't brake, a nightmare feeling as a passenger on my own bike.

The brake pads or slide or suddenly blocked. Someone had the same problem of lack of brake power under the rain?

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deleted the quote. please read this: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=104377
Thanks, Frank

So you're saying noise + ineffective stopping...WITH the prescribed brake pad? Yikes. Having raced in Europe myself, I can empathize. I am thinking this is a whatever-it-takes situation i.e., if the softer conventional pad stops you effectively without making a cosmic racket but it wears out fast, oh well. Cycling seems to be going toward motor racing and sailboats at the point of delicate, expensive gear that gets replaced...often.

danielbahia's comment above is interesting (and surprising) because if there's on thing reviews of Exalith have consistently praised, it's braking power. I can't help wondering if there's something abnormal about the setup if it's lacking.

I was also riding in the mountains in Italy this year (on my alu clinchers) and the experience made me realise that my carbon wheels just aren't suitable for some conditions. There's just no way I could have descended at the speeds I was hitting with my alu wheels, because I wouldn't have had the confidence that I could brake hard in a well controlled fashion coming into corners.

I really like black wheels though, so Exalith is very tempting. The jury still seems to be very much out as to whether it's any good...

+1....looking forward to he jury's verdict when it does come back as on paper exalith looks like a great answer to my needs.

Update for anyone interested: the answer to my original question is NO PROBLEM. The Exalith pad is simply a Swiss Stop pad stamped with the word "Mavic". The older version of the Exalith is Swiss Stop's green GHB. This was updated to a black compound for 2013 and is reportedly less noisy on the SLR rim. In any case, the Exalith pad is not some exotic proprietary thing and thus incompatible with "normal" rims. I have been riding the green Exaliths with the intended SLR rim as well as conventional smooth alloy rims. The Exalith pad, when stopping a smooth alloy (Mavic Kryserium SL and R-SYS SL clincher) rim is not appreciably less effective as compared to the stock Dura-Ace pad but I do make a little firmer input. The compound is more dense than the Dura-Ace pad so, presumably, the coefficient of friction is smaller. The SLR rim IS noisy with the green Exalith pad but this seems to be subsiding. Stopping effectiveness with the paired Exalith/SLR setup is very good. This is what I would want bombing down alpine switchbacks or for any serious speed. I have not experimented with this setup in the rain.