What brake pads are best?
The answer here is subjective. Only you know what you want out of your braking system. Some want more performance - some want less dust, etc... Every manufacturer that we carry is a 'class of the field' performance brake pad manufacturer. If there was ONE pad or ONE compound that was better than any other - then we wouldn't have all of these different manufacturers - would we? In general, we always recommend using a high-quality, semi-metallic pad. Semi-metallic pads offer premium stopping power and fade resistance. Many of the semi-metallic or hybrid pad compositions also offer very low dust and are noise free.
Lastly, I can tell you this: BRAKING IS A TRADE-OFF!! You cannot have better braking performance with less dust and/or less rotor wear. If you want better stopping power - then that comes with the price of potentially more brake dust and more accelerated rotor wear. If you give up a degree of performance - then you can have less dust and less rotor wear. You cannot have your cake and eat it too! Well - actually - you can - but we don't sell them - the product you need can be found here.
Why don't you recommend Ceramic Brake Pads?
Let's start by saying that ceramic brake pads have a place in the automotive industry. They were designed to be a low-dust, noise-free brake pad. They came into popularity after the discontinued use of asbestos-based brake pads. At that time, semi-metallic pads exhibited problems with higher noise and dust levels. That being said, I can tell you that Ceramic Brake Pads were NEVER designed to be a performance brake pad! Some companies have done a terrific job marketing their higher-priced, ceramic pads to the consumer as a performance pad. Ceramic brake pads typically have lower friction coefficients, and act as an insulator - raising rotor temperatures in cast-iron disc systems. When you have a vehicle that has persistent braking problems - the last thing you want to do is install components that have a LOWER friction coefficient and that RAISE effective operating temperatures! We have an entire section on our website on how this can cause "Warped Rotors".
Premium-grade semi-metallic pads are more effective for handling elevated temperatures and dissipating heat away from rotors. Most, if not all, semi-metallic pads have a degree of ceramic content already in the brake pad. Furthermore, after poking around with some people in the industry that should know the answer to ANY brake related question, we could find NO industry standard for calling a brake pad a "ceramic" brake pad. Premium-grade, semi-metallic pads can offer LOW-DUST, NOISE-FREE Performance without sacrificing stopping power and increasing rotor temperatures!
Most organizations with fleet vehicles and other extreme-service applications already know what we're telling you: High-quality, semi-metallic pads offer the best combination of stopping-power and extended wear of any brake pad type on the marketplace today!
