I need pads and was wondering if you guys had any favorites. Also any places to pick them up cheap.

Autospeciality Evolution or Axxis Metal masters for a stock brake system
and I think this is the best place to get them www.internetautomart.com

I personally have Ebc Green stuff and absolutely love them. Just a word of warning though if you dont turn or replace your rotors these things will dust like no other. But if you change the rotor or turn it, there is hardly any dust at all.

I can get the Greenstuff too

Question... can you get the green stuff for the fronts and backs? I tried several places and they said they can only get the fronts. Let me know if you can, then i can take these autozone p.o.s's back. I just got some brembo slotted/cross drilled rotors

they don't produce a rear pad for our cars, we're too old

I like my Axxis Ultimates, but they dust like crazy too.

Axxis = Autospeciality = Me direct

this might sound like a dumb question... but what other materials are brake pads made out of... ive heard of ceramic...and even organic i think... whats best?

i have AXXIS carbon metallic pads. The most expensive, yet the most efficient pads on the market. My car stops very very well for having the stock calipers. I do have cross drilled and slotted rotors to aid in my braking and I also upgraded from DOT 3 brake fluid to DOT 4.

Whats the difference between dot 3 and 4, boiling temperature?

yes. there is a DOT 5, but it is silicone based and once you go DOT 5; you can't go back,due to the silicone that builds up in the break lines.

i second greenstuff..all my nissans have had them and their great..new rotors are a def. though..good point

i put on ceramics and they are pretty good.

I think this is actually a good topic.

I have not replaced the brake pads on my car and I would like to know what some of the best choices are. My current ones dust pretty bad, but the seem to stop the car pretty well.

Maybe some of you (I would especially like to hear what Matt has to say on this) could give opinions on brake pads, including:

-brand name
-stopping ability (poor, average, above average, excellent)
-type of material used in pads (ceramic, organic, semi-metallic, etc)
-dusting (heavy, moderate, light, none)
-price (give a ballpark figure, include shipping if it's something exotic)

thanks,
chris

Ebc Green Stuff
Excellent stopping ability
I believe Organic Pads
Light Dusting (With new rotors, otherwise heavy)
Price 45$ a set from pepboys

essentially yes

that's why there is dot 5.1

Matt has replaced his rear brakes a bunch of times. But consider this, since I have about 130k on my rear brakes and they aren't even 25% worn (same with my old maxima) how much work can they actually do? Thus debating about what pads to use is almost a moot point IMHO.

I think brake pad recommendations are guided by exactly what you are looking for in a brake pad, so take the suggestions given here with a grain of salt. Try to do some research too, since opinions may vary.

Personally I want low dusting brake pads to make cleaning my wheels easier. Given some of the earlier recommendations around the .org I'm going to replace mine with Raybestos Quiet Stop pads (ceramic based). Apparently they are available for all 4 corners (my rears are almost gone). I don't do a lot of hard braking or track my car, so I think this may be an appropriate choice for my application.

While we're on the subject of brakes...

Are any of the brake pads mentioned better or worse for rotor wear and/or pad longevity and stopping power? What are the tradeoffs?



With brake fluid, one of the unfortunate qualities is that it absorbs water, which, over time, will corrode brake components. Is there a difference between dot 3 and dot 4 in this trait? In other words, is there a tradeoff between boiling point and water absorption to consider? Or is the only difference boiling point and price?

All dot 3-4 fluids absorb water. That's why you change it every 1-2 years. Rule of thumb. As the performance of the fluid increases the more water attracting is becomes. Just use dot 4 and flush it every 2 years.

For more information just google for more information. I could write a book on this stuff

Yup, you can get them for all 4 wheels. I dont' remember the price though. they work fine for everyday driving and a little bit of spirited fun, but not something I'd put on a track car.

Do you have these? If you do, how are they noise-wise for low speed (or gentle) braking or when cold? I just spoke to a parts guy an hour ago and he said that they might squeal at these times so he didn't recommend them... I thought that was weird because I heard most people on the Org liked them.

At another place I was quoted roughly $65 (IIRC) front and rear Cdn, so that's like $50 US.

The solution to them squealing is very simple. Find an empty parking lot, place the vehicle in netural and get to about 15-20mph in reverse and get on the brakes really hard. Do this 1-3 times and the squeaking should stop.

Umm.... no. I don't have self-adjusting rear drums..... I don't have squealing, I was just wondering about the Quiet Stops' propensity to squeal or not. Thanks though.

I've had my 93 SE since new and have always used Nissan OEM's cuz they don't SQUEEK! I don't race my vehicle so I figured the OEM's were good enough. As a side note, I just put a set of Performance Friction Carbon Metallic pads on my 99 Ram pickup. It's a 4x4 extended cab so the thing is a tank and stopping distance and brake pedal feel are much better than the dodge OEMs. If I were doing the SE again, I'd look into a set of those.

nissan OEM are Ceramic, that's why the don't squeak.
The Quiet stops are a ceramic blend and they do squeal sometimes, and that's on my minivan!
Next time I do my max's brakes, I'll be using the Autospeciality Evolutions. They're are a true ceramic pad.

Interesting... I read that somewhere earlier today too. How sure are you of this? I always thought or heard they were semi-metallic type, but I guess their noise levels and dust don't support that...


Anyone know anything about the Bendix CT3 brake pads? They're also supposed to be ceramic, but some of the vibration insulation features built into the pad backing seem interesting.
Sorry this .pdf is the only thing they have on it right now. http://www.bendixbrakes.com/en_us/bendix-ct3.pdf

I have used Evolution Ceramics and they are pretty good. They are also affordable.......~~~~~$30

according to several of my catalogs, the max were all ceramic fronts from 89 on.
The bendix Ceramics (CT3) are not significantly different than the evolutions, but they cost a good chunk more.

How are the Evolutions for dusting and noise? (aminus21?) Apparently those are available even up here.

they're made up there I think

well I've had them on for about 2 months now, and they seem to be pretty ok. I dont have aftermarket rims though, but I can tell you that they dust much less than the bendix semi-metallics I had before... and yes on the pads, it says made in canada...

Hahaha, cool... I'm still not decided now, but I found another page to read about these pads. From what I read UBP is the parent company or something like that.... too bad they don't say anything substantial and the online catalog seems to be down. http://www.universalbrake.com/

What do you want to know about UBP?
The president of the Company is Yehuda Tzur, you want his cell phone #?
they do have an online catalog, but it's in PDF format.
I have a copy of the Powerstop catalog in PDF too, they haven't released it yet to the public
Let me know what you want to know, and I can get it. I have a very long standing relationship with them. That's why one .orger got his order shipped directly to him from autospeciality rather than from me.