Owner reviews for brake pads

Wagner OEX brake pads are some of the best around. They're built on a galvanized steel backing plate to reduce rust and the pad material is connected to the plate with a mechanical attachment system instead of glue. Wagner is a Tier 1 supplier to several carmakers.

I have Red Stuff pads and I feel that they have more initial bite than the stock pads, and once you're deeper in the pedal they feel pretty much the same as the stock pads. On the street I feel they are very comparable to stock and dust much less. More importantly, the dust is gray and doesn't turn rusty colored so it doesn't look as bad between washes. Red Stuff wouldn't handle track events like OEM though. Also no issues with brake noise.

On my street bmws I have been using akebono pads whenever possible. They dust a fraction of the OE compound. Zimmerman/textar and even akebono rotors are good from what I’ve seen.

I’m my 2019 Forester, I hit 70k miles without changing either fronts and rears. The fronts now need to be done. Hard to argue against OEM with that performance.

I use the Akebono pads on a 2013. Those are spring retention clips. I think the idea is to push the pads away from the rotor when you aren't braking. It's a weird design because the spring clip is only on one side of the pad. I've seen other cars use spring clips on each side of the pad The setup in those pics looks right to me where the clips are on the bottom. Also the factory OEM pads (Akebono too) have a similar design.

If your just daily driving the car, with some spirited back road runs, Hawk HPS 5.0 should do the trick. Low dust, low noise, good bite, and consistent performance.

ATE ceramic. low dust and good braking

I use the Ferodo DS2500. I track my car several times a year, but it’s also a daily driver in New England winters.Been very impressed with these pads as they are absolutely silent and still bite in the cold. The only noise they make is a clunk when changing direction front to back (like reversing, then going forward again).Dust isn’t any worse than OEM, may possibly be better actually.If you don’t really care about better performance, find a ceramic pad like PosiQuiet.

I've used hawk hp+ all last year and my first event of this year; they do serve as a pretty good intermediate pad, if I were you I'd go after something similar to it or slightly more track-oriented, but as I understand it the "HPS" pads are not designed for track use, more of just a capable street pad. The HP+ feel great for street driving, but be aware that they do create a fuckton of dust, and oftentimes they squeal like a school bus as you come to a stop. On track, I'd say they do fine for a beginner. I tend to brake on the early side and not as hard as I could, it's an area where I could certainly improve. I have noticed some brake fade at my most recent event, and for that reason I will be installing some G-loc r8's tomorrow, with a backup set of R12's for the front.

I just replaced my rear pads (Powerstop) 3 weeks ago and they already have excessive rust. I know that rust is normal on all brake drums, but my front ones which are still original, don't show a tremendous amount of rust.