Is there a difference between ceramic pads?

[doitmyself]

Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite


I would go with a mild metallic or non metallic pad rather than "sandpaper" ceramic.


According to the article below, you have things backwords: " ceramic brake pads use adherent friction (think adhesive or sticky) and semi-metallic brake pads use abrasive friction (think sand paper on wood)."

http://www.cquence.net/blog/ceramic-vs-semi-metallic-brakes/

That people equate "ceramic" with hard ceramic floor tiles is laughable, and often ceramic pads give rotors longer life.

 

[Cujet]

I have some of those awful ceramic pads made by stoptech. They are unsafe, as initial braking performance is half what it should be.

The major performance brands make better ceramic pads. But I’m absolutely convinced high quality semi metallic pads are best.

 

[Lethal1ty17]

See if EBC makes some Redstuff pads for it. They are by far the best pads I've tried.

 

[zzyzzx]

Some of the cheaper brake pads cheap out by making the brake surface take up a smaller amount (%) of the backing plate. I would avoid these.
Some of the cheaper brake pads don't come with shims or wear indicators; please stay away from these!!!
I've used plenty of cheap brake pads that otherwise looked right, and came with shims and worked just fine. Last set I installed was some semi-metallic Monroe branded pads on a 2000 Camry and they work fine.

 

[nthach]

No such thing as a true "ceramic" brake pad. Akebono, Federal-Mogul, TMD(Textar/Pagid) and MAT/Roulunds all supply the OEMs with NAO with ceramic content. Roulunds is now making a majority of pads for O'Reilly/AutoZone/Carquest-Advance, if the pad's edge or backing plate code starts with DB(for Dan-Block) and the pads are made in Denmark/China/India, it's a Roulunds product. MAT also bought out Bendix brakes from Honeywell and put it under Roulunds.

From my experience, I've had better luck with Akebono on Toyota/Honda/Subaru products while Wagner does better on American cars and I've had hit or miss with Centric, Bendix(under Honeywell's control) and Monroe. I personally liked Monroe out of that three - made in Canada or the US and they worked fine on picky cars like Hondas.

Right now, I have Wagner ThermoQuiet Ceramics on a friend's beater truck and he says so far, so good. Another friend has semi-metallic TQs on his Explorer and they are doing good. I have Toyota's service-line Akebono pads on my parent's van and I haven't heard a complaint. I've got a private-label version of Bosch's QuietCast pads on a friend's Subaru and he says they're better than the Wagners I took off were.

 

[blupupher]

Originally Posted By: nthach
...

From my experience, I've had better luck with Akebono on Toyota/Honda/Subaru products while Wagner does better on American cars and I've had hit or miss with Centric, Bendix(under Honeywell's control) and Monroe. I personally liked Monroe out of that three - made in Canada or the US and they worked fine on picky cars like Hondas. ...

I have heard a lot of good about Akebono on Toyota as well.
I actually just ordered a set to put on my wife's Scion (a basically a Toyota Corolla). It is not quite due for them yet, but I have a little over 43,000 miles on it and will probably be due soon.

 

[Jake777]

+1 for Akebono. I have had the best success with multiple applications. They are the best IMO. Even sealed out a set of cheap autozone pads after two days with my last accord because they sucked so bad. Soon as I switched them out to the Akebono. Boom better. They are OEM for like half the car market.

 

[SilverFusion2010]

Akebono are what I’m running on my fusion. I chose the ASP line because they are GG with max cold bite. The ProACT are good as well, I put a set of those on a 2000 Honda Accord and the braking performance improved significantly over the midline gold series pads. The ProACTs are FF or FG depending on application. They last and are easy on rotors.

 

[RitcheyRch]

I run Akebono Ceramic Pads on all my vehicles.

 

[mightymousetech]

Originally Posted By: cheesepuffs
Originally Posted By: Reddy45
Any specific reason you want ceramic pads?

I know they tend to run cleaner but for general driving purposes, I've felt like semi metallic had better bite when stopping.


Yeah I want the low dust properties of a ceramic. I know it’s a sacrifice, but how much worse have ceramics been in your experience in terms of bite? I don’t want to completely ruin my braking response either


Tried ceramic on my Mazda3. In the winter slush, I essentially had zero brakes until they dried off and warmed up a bit. After driving on the highway, would have to drag the brakes for a bit just before hitting the off ramp, or the end of the off ramp got a little, um, intense. I was using Hawk Ceramic BTW. Took them off after driving a couple months like that.

 

[nthach]

Originally Posted By: mightymousetech

I was using Hawk Ceramic BTW. Took them off after driving a couple months like that.

From what I've read, Hawk and other "race-bred" pads need to warm up before they can stop as intended. Same applies to some semi-met formulas and the more racy compounds from EBC/TMD/Hawk/Porterfeld/PBR.

I had PBR Metal Masters on an old car - the braking was fine at highway speeds and after some stop and go. But from a cold start it left a little more to be desired and it was noisy until then.