deore M525 disc's.. a bit weak

i've tried a bike with BR M525 discs and was a bit unimpressed with their performance.
On tarmac they were reasonably powerfull, but on an offroad testride they were pretty poor, no real power or modulation.
As is they are stock from new with little use, will they bed in or will a change of pads straight off be better?


From what I've read changing to sintered pads makes a big difference but i'm kinda swayed with changing the levers and calipers should i buy the bike

(seen some XTR ones for a good price)

they work well for my dad
maybe give em a bleed?
change of pads could work
i think i run semmi sintered in our climate

oh and if theyre only a couple rides old they could do withsome more bedding in

I've got 525s on one of my modern bikes and I don't have any problems with them.
I'm running a 180mm disc up front and a 160mm on the rear, with sintered pads. The standard organic pads aren't good in the wet.

As with all discs they do need bedding in properly to get them to perform properly. With new pads make sure you cure them by generating plenty of heat with some hard braking on the road. A few sessions of braking before you get them really dirty will make your pads work and will stop them disintegrating at the first sign of mud.

Once they are cured, if you do get any performance drop off from disc contamination etc. I've found that stopping and smearing some fine sandy wet dirt onto the disc will soon clean it up and bring the brakes right back up to full power within a few wheel revolutions.

This has 160's up front and back.


I swapped the pads - originals which had seen naff all use but my guess were glazed over or had just naturally deteriorated.

New Aztecs fitted but it'll have to wait till i can see if they are improved.