Brake pads for Campagnolo Potenza/Record

Hoping someone can help as my LBS is in the dark!
I have Campy Record skeleton dual pivot brake calipers fitted to my winter trainer, though the rest of the groupset is Potenza. Does anyone know whether the Potenza calipers are likely to be an improvement in terms of braking performance (they are slightly heavier, but about 8 years newer technology)...also does anyone know of any really good brake pad inserts (esp. for wet weather) that will fit both or either set of calipers - I am assuming that Swisstop or Kool Stop could be better than the standard Campy replacements, but happy to be corrected?
Cheers!
Jon

I don't think there will be a huge difference in braking performance between these two calipers. I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't any. If you're looking for an improvement you should invest in a good brake pads. Swissstop Salmon are supposed to be really good. On the other hand you could also take a look at Shimano calipers - they're also supposed to be better. I don't know. I use Campy Record skeletons with Swissstop pads and they're all I need.

Thanks for that. Which pads do you use with the Record skeletons? With the Potenza calipers, there is a little grub screw on the back of the brake shoe, which secures the pad when you've slid it in from the front. The Record shoe looks different - no grub screw and no obvious way of sliding the pad in - I understand they are a friction fit or something like that? Cheers, Jon

...when I say which pads, I mean which Swisstop ones specifically? Thank you.

Unless Campag have changed the linkage to account for the trend for wider rims (like Shimano), the mechanical advantage will be the between Record and Potenza. Campag say nothing on the subject and they're not usually shy.

It's worth noting that Potenza uses a new pad compound which is supposed to be rather good: softer, which is what you want in the wet, so I would at least try them first.

Which is good news (if true) as Potenza pads appear to be a new shape: [Swissstop specify that their Campag pads aren't compatible] with Potenza.

Koolstop make a version of their pads specific to Super Record: according to Campag, Potenza is supposed to be Super Record made with different materials, so perhaps they're compatible. Then again, the SR pads are backwards compatible with post-2000 pad holders, which suggests otherwise.

In short, unless you're prepared to "suck it and see" with the Koolstop pads, you'll have to buy genuine Campag replacement pads for Potenza until the aftermarket companies release new versions.

If you stick with the Record calipers, you do have a choice though and Swissstop or Kool Stop are the recommended alternatives: Kool Stop salmon or Swissstop BXP.

Both are softer compounds which provide good braking and are kinder on your rims; the flip side is that they will wear faster and you need to be more scrupulous in keeping them clean and digging road debris out of them.

a little grub screw on the back of the brake shoe

That's just there to secure the pad, so that in the unlikely event that you're be rolling backwards at speed and apply the brakes, they don't get pulled out...

Potenza calipers (and now Centaur too) use Shimano compatible brake pads rather than Campagnolo ones (finally!), so any Shimano-compatible brake pads will work in those calipers. The brake pads that come with Potenza are definitely very good, but I haven't had experience with the Record ones to compare them to. In any case, I don't think you'd get an improvement in braking performance by switching calipers.

As Scily.Suffolk has pointed out, Kool Stop Salmons and Swissstop BXP pads are popular choices for good brake pads.

Potenza calipers (and now Centaur too) use Shimano compatible brake pads rather than Campagnolo ones (finally!),

Really?

You'd think Swissstop could mention as much, rather than just saying their Campag pads aren't compatible with Potenza.

I would've thought so too. The 2015 Athena and Veloce groupsets used these Shimano compatible shoes as well, so we're stuck in the weird situation where half of Campagnolo's brakes are compatible with Campagnolo brake pads, and the other half with Shimano. Hopefully in the near future that's extended to all groups.

I don't agree with any of these concessions towards Shimano. Campag should stay separate and as awkward as possible.

I use Swissstop Race Pro pads, they're as mentioned above Campagnolo compatible.

as awkward as possible.

Thats what they're doing. ;)

The Potenza caliper is actually an "unranged" brake caliper and is suitable for use with any Campagnolo lever. It's supplied for use predominantly with the entry level groups.

There is slightly more clearance under the unranged brake calipers, which are dual pivot front and rear only. There is no single pivot rear option as there is in the higher groups. Depending on the frame, if you want to run slightly fatter rubber, these calipers might do it for you. Depends on the clearances you need to achieve.

Campagnolo have supplied Shimano-pattern blocks since 2006 optimised for all of their rim materials, BTW ...

Brake shoes on the unranged brake are the current Shimano pattern and the most recent Campagnolo-manufactured Shimano-compatible brake blocks will fit these and all of the current Shimano shoes. All the other brakes use the longer, wider Campagnolo shoe which works better in terms of having a bigger contact area block to rim and a bigger mass of pad material, so better for resonance damping and a tiny advantage in heat dissipation than the more compact Shimano design. Not my numbers or Campag / Fulcrum's, BTW ... but actually a third party component manufacturer's findings when testing all maker's brakes on their rims.

Pad material - softer does not always equate to better - it depends a lot on the rim material as well - even different alloys have different requirements for optimum braking performance and sometimes extremely hard rims actually give better braking with extremely hard pads - Mavic Exalith, Campagnolo Mille, Fulcrum Nite and the new FSA rim are all good examples of that. It may be "intuitively" correct that a soft pad works better but it ain't necessarily so ...

efb ... if Campagnolo (or SRAM, or FSA, or whoever), wanted to just plough the same furrow, they might as well stick a big blue Shimano sign on the roof and have done with it - plain fact of the matter is that there are different and occasionally (shock) better ways of doing everything - long live the difference (or maybe we should all be using Windows PCs with Intel chips on BT "broadband"?) ..!

Fantastic, very helpful, thank you. I have bought some Swissstop Flash Pro BXP pads so will swap out the Record calipers for the Potenza and keep things samey-samey. Also removes the need for a star nut tool to do anything with the Record brake shoes, and might, as gfk_velo says, offer a little more clearance for my 25 and occasionally 28mm rubber.

I'll make sarcasm more obvious next time :) Anyway, useful information, I'm still on 10spd '15 Centaur, but it won't last forever..