You should check the wheel hubs. They may have too much free play. Take out the wheel and wiggle the axle. See Sheldon Brown's page here: http://sheldonbrown.com/cone-adjustment.html
The new brake pads may be closer to the rims than the old ones so that the fault showed up.

When turning a corner my rear wheel touches the brake pad, is this normal?
I plan to apply for PhD in Finance/Statistics next semester, and hence searched for potential supervisors.

An issue I have is that many interesting candidates are above age 60, and in Germany Professors retire at 65, such that a subsequent post-doc/habilitation would most likely require a different supervisor after PhD. One Professor just started his position at age 40, but so he has not many notable publications and I am unsure whether he might change university soon (he just changed it from another 4 years position).

Could someone advise me on the importance of age for selecting a PhD supervisor in context of a long-term future academic career?

The time for PhD would be 4-5 years, and PostDoc/Habilitation/AssociateProf usually again 4-6 years, with goal of potentially becoming Full Professor in Finance/Statistics.
