Brake pads Akebono or Raybestos

I always buy akebono ceramic pads. They are made in japan and are great quality for the price. Dead silent too.

I prefer non-OEM pads (Akebono) so I go with my Indy for that, though the value service pricing is super competitive and honestly impossible for Indys to really match? $99 oil change is so low margin

If you're keeping the vehicle (make sure you're keeping it), then I second getting the raybestos from Rockauto. Make sure you get the raybestos element 3 fully coated rotor and pad sets.

Even if your friend's dad does it free, maybe drop him $100 or $200 for the labor.

So $200 total. And less dust than OEM with decent stopping power. I went with this combo cause it's balanced stopping power and rotor longevity.

I use Brembo rotors and Akebono pads.

Best combo I've found so far

I'm going with Akebono ProACT for less dust.

The OEM rotors wear very quickly. The OEM pads are Akebono semi organic which are actually pretty good. However the OEM pads create a ton of brake dust which makes the wheels look terrible. When I replaced mine about a year ago I went the aftermarket route and used Raybestos rotors and pads.

Akebono is Toyota OEM, plus they're the best pads on the market in my opinion, super quite and the dust is super fine

The best overall for my use are Raybestos “Truck and Medium Duty”.

I replaced the pads and rotors on my Jetta this past spring. I put on Raybestos Element3 pads and coated rotors, and I've put maybe 6k-ish miles on them since then. Everything was fine for a while, but lately a squeal started to slowly develop until now it's every time I use the brakes. It sounds exactly the wear indicator noise I'm used to hearing when pads are low.

Depends on what you mean by 'best'. I own a repair shop, and have had the opposite experience with Akebono. IMO, they're junk. They don't stop worth a damn.