REVIEW: VO Squeal-Free Brake Shoe and Pads
When I was offered the chance to test out a pair of VO’s Squeal-Free Brakes, I accepted it with a bit of a knowing smile. You see, I’ve been riding with Laura for the last four months and her brakes squeal like a banshee. I’ve tried everything to get her brakes to quiet down.
Her setup is a Deore LX V-brake rubbing against a Velocity Dyad. I’ve tried setting up the brakes with toe-in and no toe-in. I’ve tried abrading her brake pads with a file and a slight roughing up of the rim with some fine sandpaper. No dice. Whatever adjustment we make seems to work for a mile before they start squealing again. We’ve even tried different pads from the stock Deore pads, to Kool Stop Salmon’s to Yokozuna pads.
The photo above is of Laura squealing down a hill. For VO to claim a squeal-free brake pad was like throwing down the gauntlet.
The pads come with some handsome polished holders that are a good match for silver brake calipers or canti’s. They come in various permutations of just pads, to pads in various holders that will work with your brakes.
So the question is, do they work? Are these brakes truly squeal free even with the most troublesome of brakes?
Heck yeah they are!
I installed the brakes on Thanksgiving at my parents house. When we pushed off to go back to Long Beach there was an air of quiet anticipation to see if they would indeed silence the squeal that had been plaguing Laura’s brakes. We rode down 10 miles of downhill and not a peep out of Laura’s brakes. While having squeal free brakes seems like a luxury, on an extended bicycle tour it is a sanity saver.
The stopping power seems to be on par with Salmon Kool Stops. Though we haven’t tested these in severe wet weather, we are very hopeful.
Conclusion: Highly Recommend
These brakes work as advertised. If you have brakes that squeal and are slowly driving you to the mad house - these will help with squeal related insanity. The braking power is good. The holders are attractive. Simply a great product. When your brakes start to wear out, you should order these.
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Did you set these up with or without toe-in?
I have a pair of these also and I really like them. I have however gotten them to squeal a bit in heavy fog and wet mornings. Not a screech mind you just a small squeak just before stopping. When things dry out they are back to being quiet again. I’m starting to get a bit of hissing currently but I think that is just junk from winter riding getting in between the pad and the rim. I need to get in there and clean it out.
I’m glad to have your review on these! Enjoy the peace and quiet!
Cheers,
L
My LHTs stock rims and Kool-Stop pads are always squealing. I’ve done the same as you. Adjusted the toe-in and roughed up the rims. The fix only lasted the trip into work, by the time I was on my way home it was back. I’ve been wondering about these and it sounds like its worth a shot.
Thanks for the review,
Errin
Thanks for the review.
But, I remain a skeptic.
Talk to me when they haven’t squealed after 500 miles. Until then, they are still pretty new pads and we have all run nice clean squeal-free pads when new, then something changes and they start to howl.
Ron
Jon - we set it up with toe-in.
Ron - fair enough…we haven’t put that much mileage on the brakes and time will tell how it bears out…for now, i’m enjoying not having a high pitch squeal for 6 hours a day….i’ll do a follow up in a few weeks when we get into Texas.
Thanks, Russ.
I’ll be eager to hear your results.
Ron
The tried-and-true method of permanently eliminating brake squeal is to use a canti brake booster plate. It not only eliminates squeal, but improves braking feel.
I am with Ron on this one. Curious to see if they hold up and continue to remain silent…
I finally found out what the hissing was caused by: small metal fragments embedded in the brake pads (probably from the rim).
I never had this problem with the kool stops but it is a common problem with brakes in general. However a squeal free experience for my first 1000 miles is a good start.
I picked the metal out and sanded down the pads with good results. I’ll also try sanding down the rim to minimize the pitting caused by the prior use. Most likely these pads are just softer than the kool stop pads. I still prefer the VO “squeal free” pads over the kool stops. Brake cleaning maintenance is just a fact of life. 
Cheers,
L
Thanks for the great review Russ. I had seen VO gear before but had yet to buy from them. My cyclocross bike is used for my daily commutes and touring, and the front brake was always loud. Even with replacing pads with new and old ones, I got the same noise. I tried toe-in also to no avail. I love your sentence about throwing down the gauntlet, because honestly when I read the title I chuckled and thought “squeal-free, that’s just not possible!”
I bought 2 sets of these and installed them last week, and have yet to hear a squeal. I’ve been trying everything to make the front squeal and it just won’t do it. So far, I’m very happy with these. You forgot to mention that these are pretty cheap too. I was surprised that these were only $10 for a set of pads, and they are the replaceable kind, so I only have to spend half as much when these wear out. Major plus!
Can you report back on how those brakes are doing after some miles on them? Still silent I hope! Also, do you have a sense of if these wear any faster or slower? I assumed that whatever composes the squeal-free material is probably less dense and won’t last as long, but we’ll see.
Hey there Andy,
I’m going to be doing a follow up review soon. But the short version is that they are still squeal free after 500 miles! They seem to leave some light black streaking on the rims but no biggie. They don’t seem to wear appreciably faster than the KoolStops.
R
Bad news… about 100 miles of commuting, and on a lightly snowy day the noise came back, and loud too. The days after that squealed as well. I’m forever destined to a loud front end. VO has a money-back guarantee, but what’s the point of returning a product that was my last chance?
-Andy
Worse news, the squealing today was actually worse than with my previous brakes, which weren’t designed to be quiet. I emailed VO and got a one sentence response. I thought they were a personable company that cared about their products, but apparently not. Maybe these work well in warm, dry climates, but for northern winters I would definitely not recommend the VO squeal-free brakes.
-Andy
looking forward to your update on this. in it, would you mind mentioning whether or not these seem to abrade the rim any more or less than other pads? also, whether or not they are debris magnets, i.e., are bits of metal, rock, etc., easily embedded? thanks. hope the winter has been good to you and laura!
I’m interested in a follow up from him too. After about 200 miles my brake shoes were completely worn down. Metal fragments and bits of grit were stuck along the pads as well, which I had removed a few times only to have more sink in. I think what makes these brakes different is simply just a softer material. That probably works well when you don’t need the best braking power, and if you aren’t riding in winter conditions. In my case, it was a terrible combination that just didn’t perform or last.
One factor I’ve found to be fairly crucial in squealing cantilevers is the play in the brake arms. Some arms have a lot of play in the bushings. Some even have a bushing to cantilever stud interface and a bushing to arm interface with play in both.
I’ve had good results cutting shims out of very thin brass sheet stock and carefully reassembling the brake arms with the added shims. It takes some experimentation to determine if you need .001″ or .002″ sheet. Sometimes I have to use a .001 and a .002 shim but never any more than that. Soda cans are .004 and way too thick.
I’ve been able to shim the arms on all my cantilever equipped bikes (Shimano Deore, Suntour XC, and Tektro Mini-V) with good results. You need a lot less toe-in and the brakes feel better too.