Owner reviews for brake pads

I have a bunch of BMWs and swear by Zimmerman and Akebono. The akebono metallic pads don’t produce dust and they brake as well as the more expensive ones.

I love love love the Akebono ceramic pads for daily drivers. Little fading. Low (almost no) dust which keeps the wheels nice and clean.

I’ve used that combo on every car I’ve done brakes on and have had no issues. Great stopping power, very quiet, low dust.

Zimmerman rotors and ferodo 2500ds pads. 5 months old and used in 4 hpde. Im upgrading to a more track duty pad (hawk dtc 70)

The biggest difference in stopping power for me was installing hawk hps 5.0 pads. I have a lot more confidence driving my prius fast with these pads. I feel like I’m slowing down faster than I ever thought was possible. Honestly have to watch it cuz if you have people behind you they can’t slow down as fast. Someone break checked me today and it was a non issue stopping faster than the car in front of me but I have good tires as well. (avid ascent GT) Only problem with the pads (for gen 3) is they were too thick for me to install both pads with new EBC rotors so I had to rotate the pads in with one old oem and to shave them down (or you can sand them down)

Wagner OEX or Bosch Quietcast

Both are ceramic brake pads that will last longer. Brake fade is experienced in all brakes used excessively but it takes a lot longer in ceramic pads. The only draw back is stopping distance is slightly increase when cold but when warm it's decreased. Bonus is they produce less dust & its very light in color so your wheels look cleaner.

Akebono pads if they make them for your application.

They are quiet and can tolerate cheaper chinese steel rotors.

For normal use, I recommend ceramic pads like ATE Ceramic, EBC green/red stuff or TRW D-TEC, since they're lower dust, and lower heat. Otherwise, go with Ferodo Premier eco friciton.

Brakes don't squeal, but, at least when they're cold, they seem to grind/shudder/skip (not a warped rotor type of shudder) at low speeds.

I stepped up to Brembo pads on my A4 and they are nothing to write home about performance-wise. They also dust like no other pad I've used.