Brake pads Zimmermann or WAGNER

I hate the brake dust and went with the Zimmerman/Akebono kit, it's amazing how clean the wheels have been since installing them.

The best pads out there right now are the Wagner OEX pads cuz they're built on a galvanized steel backing plate with a mechanical fastening system for the friction material instead of glue. They don't rust out like plain steel pads

Wagner OEX brake pads are some of the best around. They're built on a galvanized steel backing plate to reduce rust and the pad material is connected to the plate with a mechanical attachment system instead of glue. Wagner is a Tier 1 supplier to several carmakers.

That's probably the kit I'd go with for my GLI. Again, as a daily driver... it meets the needs. The semi-metallic pads work good in many different temp ranges. However, semi-metallic pads also produce more brake dust, so you'll get more debris on your rotors faster. One of the other downsides is that they're more aggressive on the braking rotor because they're metallic, so you'll need to check your rotors more often for thinning.

Wagner, Centric, Raybestos, Akebono are all very reliable brands. However, each one makes an economy, OEM and premium version. So don't go by brand name alone. Wagner OEX pads are premium quality. They're built on galvanized steel backing plates with mechanical attachment versus adhesive to keep the friction material on.

I put Wagner on mine. They have been good for around 35k miles on them so far. I don't see me replacing them for another 15k. I didn't like the OEM one and braking is really one of the weakspoints for the Mazda 6.

I highly recommend Wagner OEX pads. Galvanized steel backing plates. Quiet. Long lasting

I bought the Zimmerman kit with ceramic pads from FCPEuro for $530 front and rear and did the work myself.

Ok, so, at a particular location I worked at we used Wagner Thermoquiets. Decent pads, but this particular location seemed to get the worst quality pads ever. The only way we could keep the customer from coming back was to make sure everything was well lubricated, and we also used some sort of orange goop to stick the brake pads to the calipers. Then we took it out for a break-in session, I believe it was 5 stops from 30mph, gently using the brakes, then another 5 with moderate brake pressure. And if the customer was too hard on the brakes it might still come back.

I haven't had much luck with durability on Wagner brake pads on any of my cars, though I've not used these on the Passat.