Tired of cleaning!

2371 Views 13 Replies 13 Participants Last post by agreif, Jan 31, 2010

fasttigger

Discussion Starter · Jun 5, 2009

Hi,

I just became tired of cleaning the wheels every second day :bomb:, and browsing Tire Rack found this brake pads:

http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/brak...lar=18+in.Tire+Performance+Package&perfCode=P

Has anyone tried them?... What are your impressions?... Are this pads less dirtier than OEM's?

Thanks!

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crystal_red

· #2 · Jun 5, 2009

Yes and yes! I had ceramic pads on my 300M with Mille Miglia wheels and the difference in brake dust build up was remarkable. Most OEM pads are going to be dustier as they are cheaper and I don't believe they are going to spend the extra $$ for ceramics if they don't have to. Another good choice in pads are the Bendix titanium. I switched to them also and was very happy with their quietness, stopping power, and cleanliness. I was using them against drilled and slotted rotors as well.
GO FOR IT!

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Domasac

· #3 · Jun 5, 2009

According to my dealer your car already has ceramics on it. Cheaper? Yes, but ceramics nonetheless. I would've bit the bullet months ago, I hope they were blowing smoke up my #%! and they aren't ceramics though.

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cts_mark

· #4 · Jun 5, 2009

Domasac said:
According to my dealer your car already has ceramics on it. Cheaper? Yes, but ceramics nonetheless. I would've bit the bullet months ago, I hope they were blowing smoke up my #%! and they aren't ceramics though.

I have an 08 with the 18" tires and the high performance brakes and the dust is terrible. I called my dealer a few months ago and talked to a service advisor asking if there were ceramic pads available for the CTS and he said that there were (as of that time) no GM approved ceramic pads for the J55 CTS.

I am following this thread and thinking about getting these though.

-Mark

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yatesd

· #5 · Jun 5, 2009

The CTS does not have Ceramic brakes from the factory. My 2002 Oldsmobile Bravada came with Ceramic brakes from the factory. It had 113,000 miles when I traded it in on the CTS and the brakes were never changed (and I drive aggressively).

That being said, this issue has been discussed before. The J55 Performance brakes dust the most. These brakes stop the car incredibly well.

I will consider ceramic pads when my brakes wear out, but I don't want to give up anything on performance. Probably won't switch unless independent test show similar stopping distances and fading characteristics.

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jcr_CTS

· #6 · Jun 5, 2009

I have the FE3 package so I get a lot of brake dust. This car has the best braking of any car I have ever owned in my life. I won't be changing to anything other than what came from the factory unless the performance and feel of the factory brakes can be duplicated.

In the meantime, I'll keep cleaning my beautiful factory wheels!

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Gristle Boy

· #7 · Jun 5, 2009

I don't seem to have this problem (FE2). Maybe cuz I don't use the brakes:bigroll: My G35 was brutal.

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Bandit1

· #8 · Jun 5, 2009

Domasac said:
According to my dealer your car already has ceramics on it. Cheaper? Yes, but ceramics nonetheless. I would've bit the bullet months ago, I hope they were blowing smoke up my #%! and they aren't ceramics though.

He was blowing smoke up your A$$. GM only makes ceramics for the rear (I think) but not the front yet. Its one application and not the other yet. They are trying to catch up with the new generation CTS applications. I did change out the factory pads on my 06 Z51 vette to GM ceramics and am very pleased. For those of us who don't track our cars, the ceramics offer pretty good street stop performance, no fade, and best of all little to no visible dust. If you want the oem ceramics, be patient GM will have them out soon. If not, look at Raybestos Quiet Stop, Brembo, Eradispeed or some others.

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fasttigger

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jun 5, 2009

jcr_CTS said:
I have the FE3 package so I get a lot of brake dust. This car has the best braking of any car I have ever owned in my life. I won't be changing to anything other than what came from the factory unless the performance and feel of the factory brakes can be duplicated.

In the meantime, I'll keep cleaning my beautiful factory wheels!

I felt the same, but I got enough of that black dust..... I wash my car on mondays and by monday night rims are kind of dusty, one more day and they get black.... tired of that...

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Loveldos

· #10 · Jun 7, 2009

Forum member RAB discussed this issue early-on, and even arranged for a group buy on Ceramic Brake Pads for Forum Members, and I participated. I've had the ceramic brake pads on my CTS-4 with the Performance Brakes for over a year, and there is minimal detectable performance change, but they are have virtually eliminated the brake dust problem. I don't even buy brake dust/wheel cleaner anymore. Instead, just my "wash mitt" with car washing soap (DuPont No.7) and then blast with the hose, and my polished rims sparkle! You might want to search for the past thread on this.

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RAB

· #11 · Jun 7, 2009 (Edited)

Loveldos, thanks. The front ceramic brake pads (specially manufactured by an Ontario firm I had contacted in early 2008, and which I applied to my vehicle about a year ago) are still on my '08 J55-equipped CTS4 and are still performing extremely well. As you say.. minimal performance change (I can't really detect any degradation in braking performance), and the brake dust problem has been virtually eliminated.
BTW... the past thread you mentioned.. the one that had documented my investigation into obtaining ceramic front brake pads for my J55-equipped CTS4.. was removed/deleted by a forum administrator within 2 or 3 weeks of the group buy finally coming together last year.
There have been a couple of other threads on the subject (i.e. brake dust on front wheels of '08/'09 CTS vehicles equipped with J55 brakes), however those threads don't contain much detail with respect to solving the problem. Perhaps an authorized/supporting vendor at this forum site would be interested in making available some 'J55' front ceramic pads for interested forum members. If any forum vendor has interest in this.. note that the FMSI number for the front brake pad on a J55-equipped CTS is 8443 D1331. The drawing for the pad is (or was) available on the web. I have a copy of it on my computer.
To date, I am unaware of a national supplier that offers a (correct) ceramic front brake pad set for a J55-equipped '08/'09 CTS.
Cheers,
RAB.

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ranton

· #12 · Jun 7, 2009

I also bought the ceramic pads in the group buy RAB put together. They have been great. Brake dust is a thing of the past now. Performance is just very and i mean very slightly less but for 99.9% of drivers should be no problem.
Thanks RAB!!!

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70eldo

· #13 · Jun 8, 2009

I just had the insides of my rims painted black

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agreif

· #14 · Jan 31, 2010

Guys, bringing this one back from the dead. Anyone tries these on their CTS? Wife is getting close to needing new brakes on the front of her car and am looking to turn down the dust creation knob. On tire rack it looks like they have these pads for the 09's too now. It looks like summitracing has some ceramics, but their vehicle selection doesn't ask for anything past the model (18" performance package etc), so I'm not sure it's for the J55. Thoughts? My concern is when you put in a CTS with the standard suspension on tirerack.....the same pads come up?

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