AlanW

I would like to get some of you guy's opinion on the merits and drawbacks on the various type of brake pad materials out there-ceramic, carbon metallic, semi-metallic, organic, and whatever else. Things like :
Best/worse stopping power
best/worse heat & fade resistance
best/worse brake dust on your wheels
best/worse brake noise.

I am especially interested in ceramic vs carbon metallic in terms of stopping power & brake dust. I have been using some PFC carbon metallic pads on my vehicles and I like them, but would like to hear other opinions

My impressions are that the carbon metallic probably stops a little better than ceramic, wears well, is easy on the rotors and makes some brake dust.
Ceramic probably has superior heat resistance and almost no brake dust, but are hard on rotors and can be noisy.
Fire away and thanks!

twistedwedge

napa makes a pretty cool set of pads called adaptive one. They are hybrid. Check it out.

http://www.adaptive-1.com/


I installed these on my wifes odyssey. She is bad about last minute stops (warped rotors), and they are working great for her.

burijon

I had the original front rotors on my 04 TSX with what looked like recent OE Honda pads. They had Nissin/Honda stamped on them. The rotors were EXTREMELY warped but still had good bite on them.

I replaced them with some Wagner rotors and Wagner ceramic pads. I replaced the rear pads(worn all the way) only and kept the stock rotors. Rear pads also Wagner ceramic. Braking is very smooth now like brand new. I would say there is less initial bite and absolutely no noise.

I do miss the bite of the other pads so I might put on the old front pads to see what that feels like with rear ceramic. I was just tired of the dust so I may just live with it.

Question:
Will pads taken from warped rotors do anything weird to my new rotors? I don't think they should but wanted some informed opinions. The pads looked new as they had a lot of material still on them even compared to the new pads I just installed.

01tl4tl

are they flat and no uneven heat showing? give them a try if really near new- otherwise pads are cheap - braking is important!

Derk's K24

Ceramics can sometimes squeal and leave more dust than usual.

grip

i use oem pad's, and napa rotor's....oem pads seem to be the lowest dust i have found...napa rotors are failry cheap.

totaledTL

I thought ceramic pads generally produce LESS dust-

SodaLuvr

To answer the original question, it really depends on what the pad was built for.

You can build a high-performance semi-metallic pad. You can also build a high-performance NAO ceramic pad. (Axxis ULT for example) Therefore, it'd be inaccurate to make blanket statements with regards to the characteristics that you mentioned.

Also, carbon metallic is just a fancy marketing term for a semi-metallic brake pad.

fsttyms1

And to add to that the Axxis ult pad i wouldnt touch f you gave to me. It was the worst pad ive ever driven.