Brake pads TRW or Raybestos

Replaced my front and rear brakes about a year ago with Raybestos (ceramic) and have been happy with it. Stopping power has been great. Didn't realize how bad my brakes were until I put these new ones in.

I got the ceramic TRW pads from FCP euro. You can find them from ShopDAP, VW dealership, etc. There’s multiple OE suppliers that all work great: TRW, Pagid, Textar. You can also go for the semi metallic equivalent if you want a little extra bite. I believe they all come with the wear sensor, you can simply cut it off at the base and pull out the wire. I’ve done this twice now, no problems. I suppose you could use the advance auto ones if you already have them, but just know they probably won’t give you as much bite as the stock pads, and may end up causing some warping over time since they aren’t designed for the heat temps.

You got this. Just did the brakes on my wagon myself for the first time and it was breeze. Rock auto had a really good deal on raybestos brakes when I did mine. Worked amazing

I’ve had Powerstop Z36 Impression: just average

Hawk LTS. Impression: very good

Raybestos Element 3. Impression: similar to OEM

Now I run Raybestos “Truck & Medium Duty” front & rear. They’re very good: low dust, low noise, good performance & pedal feel.

I always recommend the Raybestos Element3 EHT pads and rotors. We use them at work and have very little comebacks. Low noise, low dust, great pedal feel.

I usually get aftermarket Raybestos pads if/when available.

Job got done in about three evenings Biggest time sinks were figuring out how to use the caliper piston compression tool and getting my overtorqued/rusted lug nuts off. Drove up from Maryland to NYC with no problems so I think I did the job right.

I have Raybestos AT's(96087) on my front, and Hawk HPS HB418F.646 pads. Don't think Hawk makes the HPS pads anymore though. I'm at about 2.5 years on mine, got 4 years out of the last set, after putting up with the OEM's for 4.5 years. Still on the factory rear drums.

Far better than OEM.

So I don't work for Raybestos but I do install a ton of them. Those EHT are really good for normal vehicles. The price is right, dust is low, pedal feel is great, friction is about on par with OEM and in some cases better. They will survive about 10-15 medium effort stops, and about 3-5 Hard ABS stops. I wouldn't put them in anything bigger than a 7-Seater V6 Crossover, and the weight of those is on the limit of what the pads can do, but over all very good.

Changed the front brake disc and pads (TRW brand) on my car (Opel/Vauxhall Astra J 2016) and noticed my car started to smell heavily burnt rubber after heavy braking when the car stops. I understood that brakes does this in the beginning but now it has gone s month and probably around 150km (100miles) and I also have made some emergency brakes from high speed to speed up this process. So two weeks ago I removed everything and really deep cleaned the caliper and checked the pads. From smelling the pads it seems like it is the glue between the brake pad and the anti squeak plate that cause the smell (?) I also checked the temperature of the brake disc after normal usage and they are all around the same temperature, so I doubt it is a frozen caliper. (Around 70c 155f) but still they smell, maybe a bit less.