# Brake Pad Question



## spandy (Apr 24, 2014)

This is my first Lightweight restoration, been on the balloon tire craze.  Just picked up a 52 Schwinn World Traveler.  It’s got everything (except saddle bag). The brake pads are dried up, is there a way to bring them back to life so they work again?


----------



## jpromo (Apr 24, 2014)

Nah, nothing that I know of. Rubber on pads dries out and hardens just like it does tires. Only these become about worthless if they're hardened and end up just damaging the finish of the rims. Replaced brake pads are highly forgivable; I'd just search for some NOS wienmann pads on ebay. If you see talc powder on them, that's all the better as it preserves the rubber.


----------



## Andrew Gorman (Apr 24, 2014)

Nothing will bring them back, and they won't work well.  I'd just get a set to kool stop pads and put them in the original holders:
http://www.koolstop.com/english/rim_pads.html


----------



## videoranger (May 7, 2014)

I didn't realize koolstop made all those replacement pads now. Great to know. I love the red koolstop pads; stop great and don't junk up the rims. They also resist hardening caused by brake heat. Thanks for posting the link.


----------

