Do brake pads designed for both carbon and Alloy rims exist? I had in interesting question today that got me thinking. Are there any brake pads that are marketed specifically to be able to switch between alloy training rims and carbon race rims? As in switch wheelsets but using the same pads.

Generally i would think this is a bad idea as an alloy material that made it's way into the pad could then utterly destroy a carbon brake track. 

Then i saw this on competitivecyclist.com 


  SwissStop makes it clear that there's no need to swap out pads from carbon-specific to non if you switch wheels from your carbon race-day gems to your aluminum training set. However, we'd recommend always checking your pads and removing aluminum debris before installing your carbon race-day wheels. 


However after checking Swissstop's site for their yellow carbon compound pads, there was no mention anywhere of them also being compatible with alloy rims. 

I would also tend to think the specific compounds like differ quite a bit and something that stops quick and quiet on carbon or basalt brake tracks would not have the same attributes when used on alloy. 

Has anyone ever heard or seen such a thing?
Unfortunately not. Carbon pads would work on alloy rims but not effectively so you might end up in a pickle if having to stop quickly. If you tried to use alloy pads on a carbon rim then you'd have the same performance issues with the added effect of squealing like hell and leaving serious scores on your rims due to the material hardness.

Since its so easy to change out pads, i'd just keep some spares and swap out at the same time as your wheels.