Tricks for making brake pads work well with mags. Options

[ace77084]

Is it just me and my friends or are there others out there? I have a 86 GT Performer with white mags and I've never been able to get the brakes to work on the mags. I always thought that maybe they just won't work so well on mags but now with youtube I've seen video of old school guys and even recent videos and their brakes seem to work perfect with mags. Is there a secret to getting them to work properly on mags?

When I used to ride I would wet the mags and after they would dry the brakes worked pretty good for a while but then they would go back to working like crap. I know it's just not me because my friends also had mags and their brakes never really worked to good. Is it something we did wrong??

Does anyone know of any secrets or tricks to get the brakes to work good???

Thanks!!!

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[mr coasterbrake]

#1 clean the rims and pads with Simple Green (on a regular basis).

#2 use current pads (vintage pads will likely have hardened by now, even if they are still brand new).

#3 use a quality brake/cable/lever (especially if you're using "calipers").

[wired]

Or, for $9.99 I'd recommend these: http://www.danscomp.com/products-PARTS-BRA...rake_Pads.html#

(IMG:https://images.danscomp.com/images/products/488014_White.gif)

Best pads for mags in my opinion.

[Homeslice]

I agree also that you need to keep your mags as clean as possible. But the brake pads will develop a dirty glaze eventually. I always used to remove my pads from time to time and rub them on a piece of sandpaper on a flat surface, or sometimes I would even scuff them up on the sidewalk a bit. I almost exclusively used mags back in the day and I always had the best working brakes in my crew.