Brake pads Akebono or POWER STOP

I put Powerstop geomet brakes on my '15 over the winter and they have been solid. I've been pretty happy. They also don't look rusty at all so far.

Akebono pads and zimmerman rotors are just about the best brands you could have picked, good choice.

the Akebono pads take a bit to get used to because the initial bite is softer which basically just means for the first couple seconds you brake you have to apply more pressure or at least it feels like you do. Its more of a feeling tho and the benefits of quality ceramic pads far outweigh any downsides.

I installed PowerStop Drilled & Slotted Rotors with PowerStop Pads on my front brake setup. VERY powerful brakes and never had any issues with dust, noise, etc.

I found PowerStop quite good for aftermarket pads. Their Z17 ceramic will be a reasonable OEM-like, low-dust, long-life alternative to your Elantra.

The fronts already feel so much better than oem brakes.

I just bought and installed the power stop z26 street warrior front and rear pads and rotors kit from rock auto for about 460 after taxes and shipping.

Installed smoothly, followed the steps and cleaned the bracket and whatever the rotor mounts to with a wire brush and brake cleaner. Having no issues whatsoever.

Almost 20k miles and still brakes super smooth.

if the "powerstop track day" pads are offered in your application, those are the cheapest things I've found that will sort of work for a track day. and by that, I mean at novice or slow intermediate pace for my platform.

Ford brake pads have consistently sucked ass, they stained up the wheels on my focus st and just destroy rotors and make a huge mess in general. I switched to power stop ceramics and slotted rotors, and they have lasted years on with no visible signs of wear on the rotors, and a pad slap on the rear set once.