Brake pads Brembo or Project Mu

Couldn't answer your first two questions, but the last question about Brembo being reliable is a very solid "yes".

Brembo directly supply Mercedes with their brakes.

The camaro SS uses brembo pads which are really good hence the price tag (imo the quote you got is pretty reasonable). If you want a more cost effective alternative, hit up MSW autoparts and ask for Zlatko. They have EBC brake pads which are also really good aftermarket pads.

Red stuff are absolutely NOT track worthy. Will fade in like 1 lap. Any pads advertised as "low dust" tend to fade pretty fast. Yellow might be ok but I think they're still more of a performance street pad. Project MU HC+ are a good streetable track pad, maybe the best, use them on my Megane RS, no trouble with 20 mins sessions on high speed tracks and trackday tyres (Yokohama AD09). A little squeel at low speed on track but quiet enough to live with IMO.

Brembo make some fantastic road-orientated sintered pads, they improved my Street Twin loads.

Running coated rockauto rotors (rust belt life) and brembo ceramic pads. Stops well for under 250 for all 4.

Brembo Z04 is very expensive but is the strongest pad you can buy

Vesrah RJL-ZZ is cheaper and can offer decent bite and is fairly linear pad, XX is stronger but also more progressive

EBC GPFAX is a good pad and cheaper, kind of similar to the ZZ but slightly less feel and weaker

Project MU HC+ pads. These have a higher operating temp range than Ferodo DS2500 and are perfectly streetable too. I get very minor squeal when coming to a stop if it's been a while since they were used hard. they also have great braking feel IMO, nice and sharp, and perfectly controllable. I use them on a Renault Megane RS 280 Cup, I've used them on track with semi-slicks (AD09s) and they held up great in 15 min sessions. Some minor vibration after the day but that fades away with use (or another hard besdding session). Do not recommend Ferodo DS2500 especially with semi slicks. Might be ok for your first day if you're slow, but you'll almost certainly cook them on your second and get deposits on your rotors. Great performance pads or the street though. On my car I only use them on the front, rears are stock.

They wanted like 3k for Brembo front brake pads and rotors for my scat pack at the dealership. I just got power stops instead and had them installed for less than 1/6th the price. The dealership told me Brembos are always on backorder so they jacked the prices, idk if that's the real case... But they were disgustingly expensive. Imo, the power stops feel the same and the rotors are holding up better. My brembo rotors warped before 20k miles of daily driving (mostly highway)

PMU HC800+ was my dual duty pad and was a solid compromise. But end of the day it’s just that - a compromise

I have Brembo brake pads and they are very noisy.