alright. I hear on the forum that the oem pads are ceramic on this forum. I call the dealerships and they say their semi metallic. What are they? I think people here are probably right because we always seem to know better than most dealership boneheads. No offense to dealership dudes who are on this forum. I realize some of you dealership guys know your stuff as well. So how do we know they are ceramic or not? I know oem is probably quieter than Performance Friction Carbon Metallics. At least I'm suspecting all that noise is coming from my new pads.

i'm not talking about key value pads either.

 

My Hawk HP Plus pads say "ferro-carbon". Anyways, I think there's regular nissan pads and the "key value" cheapy pads. that's probably why you're getting 2 diff answers.
Here's my answer: goto your local chain autopart store and request performance pads. They're likely the same price as regular pads from the dealership.
Jae

 

I have the Hawk HPS pads that I installed about a month ago and they are just as quiet as my stock ones that I had before. I can't hear any noise coming from them . So other than stopping better, dusting a little more, I can't tell the difference.