Just some helpful info... I found brake pads with ZERO BRAKE DUST!!!

[DTS_BOI]

I kept trying different pads until I hit the jackpot!! I went to AutoZone and got their highest quality ceramic pads. They were about 69 bucks I think. Anyways, they are by far the GREATEST PADS I HAVE EVER HAD...

Seriously guys, these pads stop great and have ZERO BRAKE DUST!!! When I say ZERO, I mean absolutely NONE AT ALL. I have taken 100 mile round trips to Ohio, and when I got home my wheels looked brand new. Im so impressed with these pads that I thought I would share with everyone my findings.

I tried about 4 different pads, and all seemed to have brake dust. These however, have Zero dust at all....

Enjoy!

[BaTu]

That sounds Great! Brake dust in Such an annoyance BUT,,,,,, How do they STOP? (after all, it IS the Most important thing brakes do!)

Even Hawk will tell you their "Street Performance" pads will stop significantly better than their Ceramics but produce a little more dust. For me, "dust" shouldn't be the Only criteria.....

[DTS_BOI]

Great question.. I did a few test panic stops and stuff when I first got the pads put on. I really tried to work the pads hard to see if they would "dust" easily. After about 30 minutes of aggressive city driving, the wheels had no dust at all. I even ran my finger across the chrome wheels and found no dust on my finger at all.

In regards to the stopping power, I did not find any difference between the stopping power of these ceramics, and the factory pads. They seem to have signifficant less braking fade, but the stopping aggressiveness seems to be the same. When my Dad drove the car, he did not know the pads were changed with ceramics until I told him...

The only downfall I have discovered is that the pads work best when they are warmed up. I live in Michigan, and the past few mornings have been 20 degrees or less. They stop best after about 5 minutes of city driving during my commute to work once they have warmed up a bit.

In the rain, the pads work very strong. Once again, one cold rainy morning I noticed the first 2-5 minutes of cold wet driving that the pads seemed "weaker". Once they warmed up, everything was perfect again. Also, please keep in mind that when I say "weaker" I do not mean horrible. I simply mean less strong than when they are warm.

All in all, I am very happy. I went through about 4 sets of pads and I was disappointed with all of them. These proved to be the best. Im putting them on al of my cars now, especially since they are fairly cheap and easy to install.

[sweetdivel]

hi;
did you bye them online or from a store?
can give me a website plz?
thnx

[DTS_BOI]

I just went to the nearest Autozone store in my area. Autozone has the pads in stock. If your store does not have them in stock, they will order them for you for free. They have multiple pads, so make sure you ask for their "highest" quality ceramic pad. Their top quality ceramic is only around $60 bucks or so. I cant think of the name brand off hand, but I remember they were Autozones highest quality and most expensive ceramic pad.

Good luck. Let me know if you need any help...

[05+CTS+V]

Was the brand 'Performance Friction' in a blue box? Thats usually autozone's top of the line carbon metallic pad.

Do you have JE5 or JL9. I don't think Autozone has them for the JE5 systems...I thought I remembered looking there.

I'm in the same boat with hating the factory pads. I'm leaning towards going with the Hawk pads.

Interested in any other info you have on them.

[DTS_BOI]

They caryy both brake pads. If you have the performance pads, just tell them that you have 4 wheel ABS and they will get the pads for you. I dont remember the exact name brand of the pads, but I do remember they were their most expensive ceramics at about 69 bucks or so. I know for a fact that my store had pads for both brake systems however...

Good luck!

[luciano23]

thanks alot for the info

[Kaluminatius]

How much did it cost for a full set of brake pads?

[coati]

It's my understanding that the best brake pads to consider in terms of stopping ability first and dust second would be either Hawk (HPS) or EBC (Red Stuff).
They are premium pads along with a premium price (around $200+) for front and rears.

[BaTu]

Check out RaceShopper they were the cheapest I found for Hawk pads (unfortunately Hawk doesn't make JE5 rear pads...)

[cocaines]

yea i realized that today when i order mine from tirerack.com, so i just order the front JE5 and a rear set from another ceramic brake company that had similar ratings on tirerack. since front brakes do most of the work i wasnt really to concerned about mixin and matchin... i should get everything thursday and everything installed on friday. so i can test them out with my 22s to see the major difference they make with stopping power and dust... they OEM pads was ruining my chrome wheels with baked on dusted...

[Regulator]

The ceramic don't seem to have as much bite as the Raybestos semi-metallic they replaced. The dust is very low compared to that of the Semi-metallic and much easier to remove.
Either set up is plenty of brake for the STS. The fronts with the dual piston design are mammoth.

[clyde714]

Ummmm...... I installed Autozone's "best ceramic" on my SRX about 6 weeks ago and they have been the dirtiest, most dust-producing set of pads I've ever installed on a car (and we're talking about 50 brake jobs over 25 years on who knows how many cars I've worked on)! I'm shopping today for a replacement set of pads.... May try Pep Boys "ProStop" brand (which is think is made by Raybestos); not sure if I'll go with semi-metalic or ceramic yet. I can tell you the OEM pads on my SRX were excellent - not a speck of dust in sight... unfortunately @ 19K the front right rotor starting scoring so I had to get it turned and decided on doing the pads at the same time.... Needless to say, I'm really upset with Autozone's pads. I won't ever use them again!

[Lifer]

Pep Boys ceramic on the front, Akebono ceramic on the back. Dustless, noisless, stops on a dime. 2006 STS V8 1SG JE5.