Please recommend brake pads for 2018 Mazda CX-5
- Thread starter Dave Hess
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Was going to recommend this as well since dust is not a problem but bite / stopping power is. Now that I'm older I'm not using it anymore. Akebono ProAct or Wagner Thermo Quiet now, they are about the same to me.
Do you know the procedure for retracting the parking brakes into maintenance mode?
I put Raybestos Element 3 pads on my Mazda 6 and find them to equal or exceed factory braking performance.
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- Jul 10, 2022
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tempted to try them as they are significantly less costly than ProACTs. But I've been using ProACTs for 15 years now....and actually still have them in my basement for 2 cars....
ProACTs are gentle on rotors and basically dustless but are behind in initial bite and some might argue linearity. To me they feel wooden. they used to be my goto pad until about 6 years ago. I was towing often and they simply couldn’t cut it in my application. I found the raybestos EHT pads which have much more bite and a good pedal feel. I’ve installed them in several vehicles now.
the only place where EHTs didn’t work great was in a vehicle with extra large performance rotors and brakes, and the driver wasn’t aggressive… the EHTs never worked hard and had to be occasionally re-bed.
they do make a squeak at the first stop of every day, and are quiet after that. If you’re interesting in stopping power, while still being easy on the dust, I’ll offer the EHT as a good choice.
I haven’t tried the akebono performance pads. I expect that they may be similar to the raybestos. I looked good and hard at them yesterday but in some pictures it looked like the pad material was more narrow, smaller, not filling the backing plate, as much as other brands like Bosch. As such, I ordered a full set of the EHTs both for my wife‘s crv, and my son’s 4Runner.
I’ve found one bad review of EHTs where the material crumbled apart for an unknown reason. I’m sure there are better boutique pads out there, but it hasn’t been worth the risk for me to start doing that again.
I suspect they have some small amount of metallic property to them, or at least used to.
the only place where EHTs didn’t work great was in a vehicle with extra large performance rotors and brakes, and the driver wasn’t aggressive… the EHTs never worked hard and had to be occasionally re-bed.
they do make a squeak at the first stop of every day, and are quiet after that. If you’re interesting in stopping power, while still being easy on the dust, I’ll offer the EHT as a good choice.
I haven’t tried the akebono performance pads. I expect that they may be similar to the raybestos. I looked good and hard at them yesterday but in some pictures it looked like the pad material was more narrow, smaller, not filling the backing plate, as much as other brands like Bosch. As such, I ordered a full set of the EHTs both for my wife‘s crv, and my son’s 4Runner.
I’ve found one bad review of EHTs where the material crumbled apart for an unknown reason. I’m sure there are better boutique pads out there, but it hasn’t been worth the risk for me to start doing that again.
I suspect they have some small amount of metallic property to them, or at least used to.
Ever since pad formulas have shifted to low or no copper, this has been a common issue....mostly with aftermarket pads. It seems like OE pads generally don't have this issue since they spend more resources with managing NVH issues during development.
