I have searched through the forum and have read more than I ever wanted to about brake pads, but I couldn't find an answer to my question. Has anyone here ever tried the EBC Red Stuff brake pads? My 05 MT is needing new pads. I think that I have narrowed it down to these two pads. Here is my only concern with each pad:

Hawk: I have read that they squeak, I don't want squeaky brakes. I have also heard that they chew rotors.

EBC: They wear down too quickly. I read that someone on another forum replaces his twice a year. Also rotor warping.

I don't do any crazy driving, just back and forth to work and an occasional trip. But I want a pad that will last. I have been to heeltoe's website and also excelerate's although I couldn't find any brakes on excelerate's. And looked into what was there, but couldn't make a decision. Any help would be appreciated.

 

If you don't need a performance pad stick with the oem. All the performance pads will have some draw backs. More dust, noise, chew up rotors, long stopping distances when cold. If you have to add performance I liked the freodo ds2500 as a street pad. A little noisy when you are just about to stop and more dust but better braking. If you want a little better pedal feel change out your brake fluid. I like Motul. good luck

 

OEM is the way to go...Unless u get Brembos...

 

I got the EBC red stuff pads. The guy I bought the car from installed them so I've never really used the OEM pads (except when I test drove). They definitely perform better but there is a slight squeaking noise at times when I apply them gently.

I also heard they are "harsh" on the stock rotors.
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182345

 

I ran both, EBC and Hawks...

You will notice an improvement in braking especially in wet conditions.

Do they squeak? Yes, sometimes. I wouldn't recommend performance pads with stock rotors.

Warping? Only if you always drag your brakes when they are hot, otherwise this is not an issue.

Do you need performance braking system for casual driving? Not really.

OEM is what I would go for in your case. You will have quiet brakes, and they will last much longer.

PS I would go with EBC, Hawks are good, but they squeak the longest and have more dust.

 

On my other car, I had terrible cold-bite with the Hawk pads.

Our TL is currently wearing akebono ProACT ceramic pads. I can't tell the difference between them and OEM as far as performance is concerned. However, they dust MUUUUUCH less... I also have zero squeak.

 

I run EBC Red's all around and can say they are much better at grabbing the rotor and seem to perform well under all conditions.

EBC Red's also wear out much quicker! Front pads had about a 9 month life to them and I drive about 25k a year. The rears lasted about 1 year.

OEM's last much longer with my rears lasting about 70k miles and my fronts lasting about 35-40k miles.

I'm not sure it's worth going full ceramic with our cars. I'm continuing with the EBC Reds for now to see what, if any, wear I get with my new front rotors. Ceramics are softer than semi-metalic and I'm thinking they won't wear the rotors as much.

In the end...it's cheaper to replace rotors than a set of pads every 9 months.

 

Some of the information seems contradictory. If Red Stuffs wear out quickly, that would imply that they are a soft material. Softer materials won't "chew" rotors". If a rotor gets chewed, it's because the materials in the pads are harder than the materials in the rotor. That would mean that the pads wouldn't wear as quickly, as harder pads would wear out the rotor quicker than the rotor wears out the pads.

Unless I"m just missing something

I'm also not sure how it's cheaper to replace rotors than pads every 9 months... If you replace pads every 9 months, than after 2 years, you spent maybe $200 tops, if you got expensive pads.... However, if you have to replace rotors every 2 years because of your pads..... Well, the slotted rotors I installed a while back were around $400 including shipping. I wouldn't want to be replacing those that often.