Performance Brake Pads Is anyone making performance oriented pads for the front of our cars? It seems Hawk and EBC don't. Autozone and Advance only have organic. There are some semi-metallic and ceramic pads at Rockauto. I found some Disc Italia and XBrakes pads at brakeworld.com. Anyone have any recommendations or experiences? I'm not as concerned (if at all) with brake dust as I am with increasing stopping performance.
This is a good topic. I run Carquest ceramic on all my vehicles. Have also used the Delco ceramic. Definite improvement in stopping under load. My Jeep with the boat on it is noticeably improved. Since it improves the braking under load I have to assume that it improves it in a panic situation. They have no brake squeal and minimal dust which is nice to keep the wheels cleaner. I've had a few customers that I've sold ceramics for one reason or another and they are always happy with them. I install ceramic on all my families vehicles as well as my own. If you can get them at trade price they are about the same as list on good semi metallic. The ceramics on my Mav came from Carquest. Only had one set at the warehouse so I grabbed them.
I have used ceramics and HATED them. Yes, stopped on a dime, and much improved stopping when hauling my boat, but they squealed horribly. Then, they ended up wearing out faster than my stock MOPAR ones (on my truck). They had a lifetime warranty, but I threw them away and went back to the MOPAR organics, or semi-metalics or whatever they sold stock with my truck. I spent the 8 months those ceramics lasted doing all sorts of things to calm the squeal, but nothing worked for more than a couple days. I put duct tape behind the pads, and that worked best, but eventually melted away. The next best thing was this red rubber stuff I bought from O-Reilly, but it also melted away after a week or so. They were also MUCH more dusty than stock. And these things were called Thermo-Quiet and advertised less dust, noise, etc. This is just my personal experience, but I highly recommend them if you can handle the squeal and dust.
I got Semi Metallic Raybestos and they worked awesome! got them almost free from the brake shop down the street for $10. according to rock auto these pads interchange: AMERICAN MOTORSAMX1978 AMERICAN MOTORSCONCORD(1978 - 1979) AMERICAN MOTORSGREMLIN(1976 - 1978) AMERICAN MOTORSGREMLIN CUSTOM(1976 - 1978) AMERICAN MOTORSHORNET(1975 - 1977) AMERICAN MOTORSHORNET SPORTABOUT(1975 - 1977) AMERICAN MOTORSPACER(1976 - 1979) AMERICAN MOTORSPACER DL1980 AMERICAN MOTORSPACER LIMITED1980 FORDGRANADA(1975 - 1980) FORDGRANADA GHIA(1975 - 1977) FORDMAVERICK(1974 - 1977) JEEPCJ5(1978 - 1981) JEEPCJ7(1978 - 1981) JEEPSCRAMBLER1981 LINCOLNVERSAILLES(1977 - 1980) MERCURYCOMET(1974 - 1977) MERCURYMONARCH(1975 - 1980) MERCURYMONARCH GHIA(1975 - 1977)
Strange. I'm on my 5th set of ceramics on my vehicles and have never had a brake squeal. Thats one of the selling features. The Carquest pads are guaranteed not to squeal or they replace them. The biggest advantage is the reduced dust on my 18 inch wheels on the 300. Almost no brake dust. The early ceramics like in our Mopar line were terrible and over priced. I never used them due to the price. Your 2 complaints are the opposite of the selling features of Ceramic pads. No noise and less dust. Weird.
I agree. The brand I bought was called Thermo-Quiet (I think that was it?) from NAPA. Advertised less dust, no noise, better stopping power. The power was there, but so was the noise and extra dust. And they wore out QUICK. I don't have a carquest around. Do you have the brand name? I would love to run them again for hauling my boat, but I need to find a brand that is quiet. Don't care much either way on the dust, but if there is less, that would be nice.
