joshoowa

iTrader: (1)

before i begin i must say i have only used OEM and wagner ceramic pads; i know my judgment is objective and may not hold to everyones preference. so i go to my local o'rielys/HiLo and ask them for pricing on a set of brake pads for my car, 01' gs300. he said there's two kinds we carry, ceramic and semi-ceramic. really not knowing much at the time about brakes, i asked him which one was better?. he broke it down too:
ceramic: quieter, a lot less brake dust, $$$, short life
semi-ceramic: louder, brake dust, cheaper, longer life
so i asked him again how much more he said just 5 bucks more, 5 bucks not being much i forked out the cash (roughly 37 bucks total) and was on my way. after resurfacing/ turning the rotors and installing the new pads i did a quick drive just to make sure everything was in place. it has now been about 10months and way more than enough pad left to finish this coming fall semester of school, i commute to school everyday which is about 60mi round trip mainly freeway though with traffic. most importantly i carpool to school with 4 people so you understand the constant brake and gas i do in the freeway with this much weight. heavy braking is still very smooth and there is no warping/ circular rings on my rotors, i check yesterday. there isnt much brake dust either. you know how OEM brake pads give off so much brake dust that if you dont wash your car you notice how dirty your front wheels are compared to the rear. well from my experience i can go two weeks of constant driving and still not notice how dirty the front is compared to the rear, and when i do wash the car im amazed at how much actual brake dust there is on the wheel. the only problem and i mean ONLY, is that when depressing off the brake sometimes i hear a sound. the sound can best be described as, when your rotors are wet/rusted from washing your car and u try to brake you get that funky noise because of the brake locking up or almost locking up. its almost like that sound but very nonchalant, very quiet not loud like rusted rotor braking. i must say that 37 bucks was well spent and have to say if anyone is looking for a cheap alternative to OEM these i highly recommend.

EDIT: BTW did i do good for my first write up?

engin_ear

iTrader: (1)

Nicely said. Thanks for the input.
I assume you have OEM stock rotors?

joshoowa

iTrader: (1)

well as of right now yes...but in due time all this will change

tytgs300

This would not be true for AEM ceremic pads. It gives out more dust than Bendix semi-metallic pads ($30) found at Advance Auto.