Dahon Mu P8 performance tweak: brakes

Right from the start, the brake pads on my Dahon Mu P8 were quite noisy.

Initially they were squealing when the rim was cold and wet, just like it would with almost any brake pad.

But more recently, roughly after riding 150 miles, the squeak increased to a point it was becoming embarrassing when stopping at junctions.

I tried aligning them a couple of times to try and reduce the noise, but I just couldn't silence them enough.

Luckily, Dahon fitted standard V-brakes to their folding bikes.

So I went online and purchased a set of pads that could not just reduce or eliminate the noise, but also perform a bit better, especially when the rim was wet.

I bought a set of BBB BBS-14T brake pads from online retailer Wiggle

The actual rubber pads can be replaced without the need to remove the supporting shoe.

I then proceeded to install the new pads by first removing and examining the old ones:

And installed the new pads both at front and rear:

Taking care of aligning them to the rim and centering them to the wheel, so as to give the best performance:

The black finish of the shoe happens to complement the looks of my bike quite nicely too!

Performance

The BBB BBS-14T brake pads resolved the squeal problem completely.

Their braking performance is also vastly superior to the original equipment brake pads, especially in the wet.

I am satisfied and will purchase replacement pads when these ones wear out.