What's good, and not so good, in brake pads these days?

[zray1]

have used ebc redstuff pads for about 20 years on many different vehicles, both my own and for customers. Have yet to find a brake system that was not substantially improved with the ebc’s vs the OEM pads. They are also a better performer than the Hawk line, or anything with a Raybestos label.

note: I really don’t care how long a pad lasts, I just want it stop the car in the minimum possible distance without chewing up the rotors. The ebc red stuff pads lasts me about 50,000 to 60,000 miles on my 2002 Jaguar XKR that is driven about 50/50 city-highway. With some spirited 2 lane driving whenever I get the opportunity. The car is on the heavy side for a 2 door coupe, and should be hard on the brakes given the way I drive, but the ebc’s have exceeded my expectations in this area. The ebc’s are very easy on the rotors. I’m on my 2nd set with no measurable rotor wear.

 

[live_to_hunt]

I have started using Dynamic Friction 5000 and really like them. Over the years my Tundras are real picky with brakes. These pads and rotors work great.

 

[hrv]

On all of my Hondas I use the OEM pad kit...all the parts I need are in the box and they fit and give me around 70000 miles of stopping power out of them...

 

[nthach]

Put these front ceramics on the 2017 Tahoe today - first surprise was how good the OEM’s looked at 84k …
(O’R’s made by Bosch) …

View attachment 179136

I’ve been curious about those - made in Mexico or China/India?

 

[nthach]

I have started using Dynamic Friction 5000 and really like them. Over the years my Tundras are real picky with brakes. These pads and rotors work great.

I just hung a set of DFC Geospec rotors and 5000 Advanced pads on a Genesis. Owner says so far, so good.

 

[4WD]

I’ve been curious about those - made in Mexico or China/India?

Bosch India …

 

[nthach]

Bosch India …

What’s the AMECA friction code? Bosch doesn’t make pads in India IIRC?

 

[4WD]

What’s the AMECA friction code? Bosch doesn’t make pads in India IIRC?

Did not keep box

 

[JeffKeryk]

I have started using Dynamic Friction 5000 and really like them. Over the years my Tundras are real picky with brakes. These pads and rotors work great.

Our 2001 Tundra shudders at times; I need to find the right combination. The early Tundra brakes are somewhat undersized. Thanks for the post.

 

[meep]

have used ebc redstuff pads for about 20 years on many different vehicles, both my own and for customers. Have yet to find a brake system that was not substantially improved with the ebc’s vs the OEM pads. They are also a better performer than the Hawk line, or anything with a Raybestos label.

note: I really don’t care how long a pad lasts, I just want it stop the car in the minimum possible distance without chewing up the rotors. The ebc red stuff pads lasts me about 50,000 to 60,000 miles on my 2002 Jaguar XKR that is driven about 50/50 city-highway. With some spirited 2 lane driving whenever I get the opportunity. The car is on the heavy side for a 2 door coupe, and should be hard on the brakes given the way I drive, but the ebc’s have exceeded my expectations in this area. The ebc’s are very easy on the rotors. I’m on my 2nd set with no measurable rotor wear.

How is the dusting? Like you, I’m not so concerned with long life, and really not even rotor life - mainly performance and to some degree dusting. Hawk LTS were messy and flung ruddy brown sticky dust quicker than my typical wash interval, so I stopped using them.

 

[meep]

Our 2001 Tundra shudders at times; I need to find the right combination. The early Tundra brakes are somewhat undersized. Thanks for the post.

Jeff, I had an 06 and it saw tow duty and yes, the school bus on the high school trip could stop faster than me with a 5x8 equipment trailer by a significant margin. A few things I learned.

I really wanted the gently slotted raybestos advanced technology rotors to work on the tundra. And I supposed they did. I had the same rotors on our gen 1 MDX and they were excellent in that application. However, when slotted rotors are worked hard they do make noise and those had some pedal feedback. I rarely asked them to work hard in the MDX. In the undersized Tundra, however, they worked hard if I was carrying milk from publix. So those made noise daily and I didn’t like them at all. Amazon even warrantied me another pair since I thought something must have been wrong, and it was not any different. Constant warping was an issue with that truck also - so I’m all about good, heavy, rotors for this. Brembo High carbon? Centric Cryo treated?

OEM shoes in the rear. I tried the others. OEM has the most bite. And yes, those shoes cost $125 msrp at the dealer. They took a few dollars off for me when I asked, but dang man I’d pay full dollar since they do have more bite.

I tried akebono, Hawk LTS and Element3 (EHT), and I think one other front pads. Hands down, the Element3 pads made the win.

It is very nice that mine had 4 piston calipers on the front. They aren’t shabby, and I don’t quite understand why they couldn’t make it happen - the gen 1 tundra seems to have more brake material than my ‘18 F150. Mine was a TRD with tow package. I’m hoping yours has the larger brakes as well?

 

[JeffKeryk]

Jeff, I had an 06 and it saw tow duty and yes, the school bus on the high school trip could stop faster than me with a 5x8 equipment trailer by a significant margin. A few things I learned.

I really wanted the gently slotted raybestos advanced technology rotors to work on the tundra. And I supposed they did. I had the same rotors on our gen 1 MDX and they were excellent in that application. However, when slotted rotors are worked hard they do make noise and those had some pedal feedback. I rarely asked them to work hard in the MDX. In the undersized Tundra, however, they worked hard if I was carrying milk from publix. So those made noise daily and I didn’t like them at all. Amazon even warrantied me another pair since I thought something must have been wrong, and it was not any different. Constant warping was an issue with that truck also - so I’m all about good, heavy, rotors for this. Brembo High carbon? Centric Cryo treated?

OEM shoes in the rear. I tried the others. OEM has the most bite. And yes, those shoes cost $125 msrp at the dealer. They took a few dollars off for me when I asked, but dang man I’d pay full dollar since they do have more bite.

I tried akebono, Hawk LTS and Element3 (EHT), and I think one other front pads. Hands down, the Element3 pads made the win.

It is very nice that mine had 4 piston calipers on the front. They aren’t shabby, and I don’t quite understand why they couldn’t make it happen - the gen 1 tundra seems to have more brake material than my ‘18 F150. Mine was a TRD with tow package. I’m hoping yours has the larger brakes as well?

I appreciate your guidance!
Toyota did use a bigger caliper/pad a couple years after our 2001; they are a direct fit; you just have to clearance the backing plate a little.
I am thinking a high carbon and decent pad is in the near future. Raybestos offers the bigger new caliper for a good price.
The truck sees less than 5K per year nowadays. 2001 Tundra post #68.

 

[drtyler]

I appreciate your guidance!
Toyota did use a bigger caliper/pad a couple years after our 2001; they are a direct fit; you just have to clearance the backing plate a little.
I am thinking a high carbon and decent pad is in the near future. Raybestos offers the bigger new caliper for a good price.
The truck sees less than 5K per year nowadays. 2001 Tundra post #68.

I had an 04 for 17 years, 216k miles. It had the larger calipers. The best parts were the OE Toyota pads 04465-35290 and rotors. 150k out of the original rotors, so OE Toyota went back on.

With your trucks mileage and use profile, the OE parts should last a long time. I think it would be worthwhile to install the bigger calipers used on 2003-2006 models.

 

[zray1]

How is the dusting? Like you, I’m not so concerned with long life, and really not even rotor life - mainly performance and to some degree dusting. Hawk LTS were messy and flung ruddy brown sticky dust quicker than my typical wash interval, so I stopped using them.

ebc’s website redstuff comparison with its other pads describes its dust as “low”. I would agree, but that’s just my subjective thinking.

 

[The Critic]

I appreciate your guidance!
Toyota did use a bigger caliper/pad a couple years after our 2001; they are a direct fit; you just have to clearance the backing plate a little.
I am thinking a high carbon and decent pad is in the near future. Raybestos offers the bigger new caliper for a good price.
The truck sees less than 5K per year nowadays. 2001 Tundra post #68.

Get the larger calipers.

 

[Navi]

I drive for livery/car service and put 70000 miles per year on my vehicle. I tried a lot of pads. Basically with Raybestos EHT hybrid pads it will stop well but it wont last like OEM pads. The pads which last the longest will be the OEM ceramic pads usually made by Akebono. Of course the pedal feel on the OEM Akebonos wont have a lot of "bite" and best described as spongey but they do last the longest.

NAPA Adaptive One, Raybestos EHT and Wagner OEX are all of the same theme. Im not sure which works the best.

For professional use every time you have to change the pads then a mechanic gets involved and the car goes down for a day or so. It also adds to costs. So the longer lasting pad is usually the better choice for professional use.

"Fleet" or "severe duty" pads usually work and last well but the dusting is off the charts. Police vehicles have steel black wheels for a reason which is brake dust from semi-metallic "fleet" pads.

 

[zray1]

My ebc redstuff pads last about 50,000 to 60,000 miles .
Those miles are about a 50/50 mix of highway and city driving. I work the brakes and the accelerator pretty aggressively. What’s the point of having a well handling British car if you don’t give it exercise at every opportunity ? At 3,900 lbs the car is pretty heavy for a smallish coupe, and that adds to the brake wear as much as my driving style.

I change them with about 3-5mm of friction material left. I could go a little longer, but the brakeing performance worsens when the pads are very thin.

The redstuff pads put the OEM, Raybestos, and Hawk performance pads all in a distant 2nd place in stopping distance comparisons.

I was part of a brake pad comparison test a few years ago using two vintage cars, a Shelby Cobra and a Shelby GT-350. Both cars came with excellent (non ABS) braking systems, and drivers well experienced on the cars. The redstuff pads consistently stopped the cars several car lengths sooner than the other pads. Only the Porterfield R4-s pads were close . All the pads were street use pads, not a racing compound.

The safety advantage with a pad that can stop the vehicle quicker is the most important factor for me. A pad that lasts 100,000 miles is false economy when you can’t avoid an accident using them due to the poor friction coefficient of the more long lasting pads.

Surprisingly to me, the pads are very easy on the rotors. Additionally, the red stuff compound is a low dust pad, which matters to some more than it does to me.