Brake pads Brembo or Akebono

Very little dust. Excellent grip. They do take a few min to warm up when cold/wet but it’s not noticeable at all.

I swapped front pads with a 13mm socket, hammer and drift pin. In about 30 mins in my driveway. $210, parts delivered from Amazon. Took the opportunity to scrub out calibers free from all the caked on brake dust. Cleaned the inside of the wheels while I was there. Dealership wanted $787 just for the front pads and quoted more than $1000 installed. Easiest job ever and saved $500-$700.

I paid < $250 for brakes/rotors (Akebono ProACT pads + Raybesto Element3 coated rotors).

I’ve used dozens of different pads on VWs and other makes, for regular driving with low dust and massive pad and rotor life? I’d use Akebono, made in USA and no pads are higher quality but some can be equal. Are you running it really hard? You’re gonna be replacing whatever you put on so semi-metallic can't be beat,cheap and has the best feel as well because it wears the rotor and pad together!!! Pagid or Bosch QC are hard as a rock and fade free with great feel but dusty. More importantly you need to do the job correctly, the pad is the least of your worries if you’re new to doing it, find YT brake vids for your car if you are, I still watch them to find my mistakes.

I believe if a VW dealer replaced your pads they’d be semi metallic, stop quickly, and have a good amount of brake dust. I went with Akebonos and yes they have a tiny bit less bite. But I have virtually no brake dust and I hear they last a fair bit longer. I’m happy with them

If you DIY and have the tools I did front and rear brakes on my 340i with brembos for $725ish

I use my s4 for dd, and use Stoptech cross drilled with Akebono ceramic. The lack of brake dust is unbelievable, and this set up generally gets me tons of miles out of them

I personally use OEM rotors direct from Mercedes and Akebono ceramic pads to eliminate brake dust. Those work just fine for me.

Akebono ASP1347 rear, ASP1346 front. Ceramic pads for the sport package brake system. They uhh, like to sing when wet though.

Same! This was after they quoted me over the phone that it would be $800. Fuck the dealership. Try to find you a good, honest mechanic. When you do, hold on to them tight and never let go.

Ended up paying $1,600 for all 4 pads and rotors on my 2016 STI.