Brake pads Bosch or Centric

Centric pads and rotors are pretty good. As said above Akenono is OE for pads, maybe rotors too. I run Akebono pads and Brembo standard rotors on my cars. Nice and clean and never any noise and I swear the standard brembo rotors stop harder the centrics drilled/slotted rotors.

Fourth I would make sure you are using high quality pads and rotors. Use name brands like raybestos, centric, Bosch, etc. Lower quality brands will have more issues.

A few years ago I went with Centric Posi-Quiet Ceramic front pads - CENTRIC 10505690, currently $25.79 on RockAuto, and some Pagid front rotors from there. I know Pagid is a VW OEM and I have no reservations about their brake parts. I’ve run the posi-quiet pads on MK7 Golf and GTI and they’ve been fine.

Depending on the tier of pads Autozone does source from Bosch. The big benefit to Autozone is that you only pay once as they do a lifetime warranty and it covers wear. I have their most expensive pads on my car and have replaced them twice a year for 5 years now.

I've been running Bosch pads for about 12 years now never an issue on any make or model.

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.

Ceramic pads Bosch Quietcast BC1047 or Wagner OEX for longevity, cleaner wheels and reduced stopping distance when warmed up.

I got a nice upgraded pad and rotor kit (all 4) for around $340. If you already have a set of wrenches, you can probably just do the job yourself; so many youtube tutorials. I did a full brake job on my other car for the first time ever so bought all the tools needed (maybe $150 worth) - wrench set, torque wrench, breaker bar, wire brushes, grease, brakleen spray - and still very much under what I would have spent at a mechanic. If you have the space and time, it's really not that bad and can actually be enjoyable with some beer and tunes. Would never go to the dealer for something like that unless I had money to burn.

I've got an alltrack (same brakes as the standard gti) and I've got ate rotors from fcp with bosch quietcast pads from rock auto. I was just looking for stock replacement and they have 10k miles on them so far with no complaints.

I went for Bosch models. Fronts have faired much better than oem. Rears I had some other issues (didn’t use service mode) that destroyed them prematurely