Description
Shimano 4 piston finned pads utilize the additional material to radiate heat away from the pad designed to improve pad life and reduce brake fade.
Shimano N04C Metal Pad with Fins
UPC:Â 192790382340
PRODUCT CODE:Â Y1XD98020
Metal pads are rated for high stopping power.
Shimano N03A Resin Pad with Fins
UPC:Â 192790382326
PRODUCT CODE:Â Y1XD98010
Less noise than Metal pads
Shimano N03A and N04C Compatibility
Compatible with Shimano 4 piston brakes including:
XTR BR-M9120
XT BR-M8120
SLX BR-M7120
Other Shimano 4 Piston Brake Pads
Shimano XTR M9120, XT M8120 and SLX M7120 use N03A or N04C finned pads on this page or the D02S and D03S non-finned options.
Shimano 4 piston pads without fins will work with brakes spec’d with N03A or N04C pads.
Shop other Shimano 4 piston brake pads
XTR M9120, XT M8120, SLX M7120 (this page)
XT M8020, Saint M820, Zee M640
Do You Need To Replace Your Rotors As Well?
The nature of brake pad and rotor interface means they will wear together. Ideally you will be able to replace your brake pads a few times before you need to replace your rotors. however there can be some conditions that make it necessary to replace the rotors sooner. Let’s look at a few.
Rotor Wear:
The easiest thing to check is the rotor wear limit.
A Magura rotor that is less than 1.8mm wide is considered worn. SRAM rotors less than 1.5mm are worn. Shimano rotors less than 1.5mm or if any of the aluminum “Ice-Tech” material appears are considered worn.
Running too thin of a rotor will compromise brake bite as well as heat capacity. In extreme cases it can lead to rotor separation which will cause damage and potentially severe injury.
Rotor Shape:
If the previous pads have worn shapes into the rotor your performance will be compromised. Whether the rotor shows knife edge, bulge or convex anything but parallel surfaces will cause contact patch issues.
These issues will create extreme “hot-spots” on the new brake pads which, in some conditions, can super heat the pad – glazing it and compromising the friction coefficient (bite, power, heat capacity are all effected).
We have seen cases where new brake pads become unusable due to this severe heat modifying the pad’s makeup glazing not just the contact surfaces but essentially glazing the entire pad material.
A rule of thumb is rotors should be replaced about every three or four sets of pads. It will pay dividends to check the rotor’s condition before installing new pads!
