Do brake pads mark fixed gear wheels?
Any brake pad will mark the braking surface to some degree. This applies if the surface is steel, aluminium, carbon fibre or a painted surface. Steel rims are the ones that will probably show the least wear marks (stainless being very good at not showing wear), a painted surface will probably show the most, if the brakes will work on the paint. The pad should be suitable for the rim material. I doubt that the pad colour will make any difference as the marks will be the wearing of the rim, with little deposit of the pad material onto the rim. I use aluminium, steel and carbon wheels on my fixed wheel and fixed gear bikes and there is little marking to any of the rims, but obviously there is signs of wear.
