Brake pads OEM Toyota or Duralast

My oem brake pads, (‘23 A-91MT) are getting low ish after a year of driving her and going to the track. OEM ones seem expensive but they did last a hpde 1/2 driver a year.

I'm on my second one, a '19 Prius Prime I bought new has 507k miles on it today. About to do the first brake job on it soon.

Sure OEM pads and calipers can stop a loaded truck on the street, but what about when your loaded truck is on a long downhill rough trail? Your brakes get very hot and you can get brake fade and too much heat can damage components, warp rotors, etc (especially after hot brakes meet cool puddle or creek crossing). I went with Dynamic Friction Ultimate Duty pads and I am glad I did because i hit a bunch of those downhill trails the next trip and they got hot, could smell them, but no brake fade and no issues since.

My 2017 is a bone stock daily driver and I have no plans to do any major upgrades or track my car. That being said, I've never had an issue with duralast gold pads and rotors from autozone. Reasonably priced and the pads have a lifetime warranty, meaning you buy them once and can trade the used ones back in for a new set at any time, no questions asked. The rotors have a 3 year warranty and even though mine are only showing some very minor wear, I'm going to take advantage of the warranty and swap them out for a new set in the next few months befor my 3 years is up.

2012 Prius, 202k miles, still with original brakes.

2017 Prius Prime, 110k miles, still with original brakes.

Both inspected annually by our mechanic. Both still going strong.

I'm using Dynamic Friction pads from RockAuto and they haven't let me down, grey performance and heat barely affects it.

Lasted through two track days and still have a ton of pad life left.

AutoZone Duralast Ceramics have basically lasted forever. They have a lifetime replacement for free, so I paid like $100 for front pads once, and gotten em free since. Easy DIY.

I just put Duralast Elite Ceramic pads and Duralast Gold rotors on my 2017 5.0 and have been very pleased with them. While not physically measured I’m of the opinion stopping distance has been reduced. Everything you need is in the box and rotors are coated to resist corrosion and have no film to remove before installation.

I'd avoid the cheaper duralast stuff but the gold is usually OK.

I went to the Toyota dealership to get my free oil change, brake pads were nearly at EOL. Went back to the same Toyota dealership for my next free oil change, same brake pads suddenly had 4mm.