Brake Pads White Paper

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Well I have questions about this. One is that I have Akebono Performance street brakes pads on my front brakes of my Altima. They have a GG friction rating which means they have a higher coefficient of friction at both hot and cool temps. So are the pads semi metallic or ceramic? I believe they are actually ceramic pads. Also, I be read that the pads rated GG very rarely get overheated or fade. Just seems to run contrary to what this paper states. I'm going to check about these pads and see IF they are ceramic.

Yep these Akebono Street performance brakes are advertised as ceramic brake pads. I just verified that from AAP. So, maybe they are actually a mix of both and that they aren't truly all ceramic or is it they are all ceramic?? Makes me wonder. And aren't GG rated brake pads have a higher coefficient of friction than say EE or FF?? I'm just curious now. Because those letters represent cold and hot performance.
 
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Yes GG is higher on cold and hot than FF, EE, and etc. For my daily drivers, FF is pretty dang good, and is considered a premium brake.
 
Well if GG rated brakes have a higher coefficient of friction than wouldn't they stop a vehicle say 10-20 feet shorter going from 70 mph to a dead stop? And that could easily be the difference between hitting a car in front of you or not making contact at all. The Akebono Street performance brakes were $72 for a front set. Really only $25 more than the FF rated AAP ceramics. Not much more at the end of the day if you think about it.
 
All this time I thought semi metallic created the most dust.

My Jeep has been suffering from excessive front brake dust ever since I put the mid grade Oreilly pads on back in 2011. I know it isnt my caliper slide pins because both calipers are fairly new.

I can't wait to put my Akebono ProACTs on. (Rock Auto clearance - $25 per axle)
 
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Originally Posted By: bbhero
Well if GG rated brakes have a higher coefficient of friction than wouldn't they stop a vehicle say 10-20 feet shorter going from 70 mph to a dead stop? And that could easily be the difference between hitting a car in front of you or not making contact at all. The Akebono Street performance brakes were $72 for a front set. Really only $25 more than the FF rated AAP ceramics. Not much more at the end of the day if you think about it.




Correct! Maybe prices will be low enough where some can buy what they want and not just get whatever has the lowest initial cost in the bottom line on the bill of laden.



Costs are upside down to some. They seemingly will drive across thecounty to save a nickel per gallon on gasoline.



Bite when cold and bite when warm are important to consider. Bite when hot is probably not since the streets do not resemble the superspeedways.

Low dust, environmental smells and breathing the asbestos into our lungs are other factors to look into.
 
Originally Posted By: bbhero
Well if GG rated brakes have a higher coefficient of friction than wouldn't they stop a vehicle say 10-20 feet shorter going from 70 mph to a dead stop? And that could easily be the difference between hitting a car in front of you or not making contact at all. The Akebono Street performance brakes were $72 for a front set. Really only $25 more than the FF rated AAP ceramics. Not much more at the end of the day if you think about it.


No, the limit is always tyre traction. What you get is more ABS action with higher friction rating.

But all the guys buying the highest friction rating brakes use 80,000 mile tyres...
 
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Originally Posted By: Jetronic
bbhero said:
No, the limit is always tyre traction. What you get is more ABS action with higher friction rating.

But all the guys buying the highest friction rating brakes use 80,000 mile tyres...


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Thats a great observation, and is very true. Another BITOG pearl of wisdom pops into existence.
 
So the coefficient of friction does not matter at all?? The tire part is understood and granted. I will definitely say this with zero hesitation... my car brakes WAY better with these GG rated brakes when going from 105 mph down to 50 mph than the prior brakes. No judder. Smooth as can be. I also find i can drive into corners a far amount farther with these brake pads as well.
 
Well yeah that's understandable and valid no doubt. I know that's why it's rated at cool and hot temps. All things being equal does the higher coefficient really matter in cold stops? It would seem to be that if tires are properly inflated, have good traction, not raining cats and dogs.... does it make a difference with the higher rating when cold? It just would make zero sense if it didn't matter at all. Then why bother with the first part of the rating? Why bother even mentioning the higher coefficient numbers if it doesn't matter whether it be cool at all?

It used to be in NASCAR races at Martinsville, Richmond and Riverside that brakes were a real issue. Furthermore, if someone had a better brake package they could drive deeper into the turn and out brake their competitors and make a pass. The best the brakes were at the beginning of the day. Whoever had the "best" brakes at the end of the day had a good chance to win. So, this would have been demonstrating the cool/hot function of the brakes. The better brakes I would surmise have had a higher coefficient of friction in both temperatures. Aka giving better stopping power or ability to drive with more speed into a turn. Whether it be cool or very hot.
 
It matters in the amount of effort you have to put on the brake pedal.

Now if your car has a tendency to trigger the ABS on the rear axle first, you could fit a higher friction rating at the front, or a lower rating at the rear and end up with better performing brakes.

But with repeated heavy braking (like racing) you're likely to go way beyond the hot spec as seen on roadgoing pads, and it then comes down to the useable temperature range. Even Nascar cars have enough brake power to lock those slicks up any time they want...
 
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