It's been just about 500 miles since I installed the new Kool Stop KS-D635K brake pads on my Vado 5. The original Shimano organic pads lasted just 500 miles in our hilly terrain so I've been checking these new ones regularly. The front pads wore the fastest. I pulled the front Kool Stop pads this afternoon for an "apples to apples" comparison with the originals. The good news is that there is substantial pad left.
View attachment 55872 New KS-D635K pad on the left, pad with 500 miles on the right.
I could see a small amount of wear on the worn pad as compared to a new pad. The new pad/heatsink thickness averages 4.01mm, measuring at each corner. The worn pad averages 3.96mm, less than 2% pad wear in 500 miles. Even allowing for the spring arm thickness that sit alongside the pad, I'm expecting over 2,500 miles from these pads. Others have reported comparable life from these pads. Quite an improvement over the original.
These pads are described as 'semi-metallic' and like sinthered metallic pads they do require bedding-in to get them to quiet down and reach peak stopping power. Once properly bedded, they're still not as quiet as the organic pads, put the minor noise is worth the extra life these pads are delivering. Besides, who doesn't like red heat sink fins on their brake calipers...