I was servicing a road bike this week and this chap needed new pads. He had just finished a long ride in the mountains of Vermont and the descents got the best of the pads by the end of the ride. Aside from a wash, lube, and adjust to the bike I grabbed a full set of Shimano cartridge refill pads from the LBS. In the photo to the left (rider's left side pad) you can see how caliper and pad flex affected the pad's wear and contact against the rim's braking surface. The pad would slightly pull away from the braking surface at the leading edge due to flex at the brake arm and some from deformation of the pad during hard braking. Some mechanics would say the pad was ducking out or toe-ing outward. Toe-ing in can reduce the chances of brake squeal and if the pad trys to toe outward, it self-corrects due to the intial toe-in; providing you with more pad contact against the braking surface of the rim. I'm using a penny, a dime will work as well, to toe-in the re
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