Brake Pads: OEM or Aftermarket Ceramic?

sneaky98gt

sneaky98gt

10 Year Member
Apr 23, 2008
2,387
144
114
NC State University
#1
My front pads are almost wore out; I'd estimate less than 5k miles left on them. I put new rear pads in a little over a year ago, but I was dumb and bought the el-cheapo pads from Advance. They dust like a mo-fo and it's driving me crazy. I drive less than a hundred miles and the rear wheels are coated. So, I'm going to replace all 4 corners at once on my break over Labor Day weekend.

My main criteria is low dust (the lower the better) and quiet operation. Whatever is on the front now is what I like. I have no idea if they've ever been changed before I got the car, but the car has 100,000 miles and they are pretty much worn out.

Should I go with a set of aftermarket ceramics (Hawk, Porterfield, etc.)? Or stick with OEM? Aftermarket seems to run in the $150 range, while OEM pads go in the $130 range.

Gimme yo opiniones.
 

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#4
I ordered a new set of rotors and pads from ebay seller brakemotive. They use PowerStop rotors and pads. They offer inexpensive slotted/drilled & slotted/drilled rotors and good ceramic pad deals online.

I bought 4 rotors and rear pads (as I am running Hawk HP+'s, which are great but they dust like the el cheapo pads too) and it ran me less than $150 shipped. And I have Mach 1 front calipers too. The rotors were coated too so they don't rust other than on the area the pad sweeps, and I only got the slotted rotors because I don't trust any kind of drilled rotor.
 
#5
i bought a set of drilled/slotted rotors (gripforce) off ebay and went to my local ford dealer to buy a set of oem motorcraft pads. very happy with that setup. low dust and no noise.

on the other hand, i just recently bought a front rotor replacement set with generic pads for my explorer off ebay and im very pleased with them. price was cheap and pads were afermarket ceramic. no noise and the dust isnt bad at all.


my vote is still oem tho.
 
#6
joshjwc9 said:
I ordered a new set of rotors and pads from ebay seller brakemotive. They use PowerStop rotors and pads. They offer inexpensive slotted/drilled & slotted/drilled rotors and good ceramic pad deals online.

I bought 4 rotors and rear pads (as I am running Hawk HP+'s, which are great but they dust like the el cheapo pads too) and it ran me less than $150 shipped. And I have Mach 1 front calipers too. The rotors were coated too so they don't rust other than on the area the pad sweeps, and I only got the slotted rotors because I don't trust any kind of drilled rotor.
Click to expand...

Did you get slotted only rotors from this seller? I didn't see any that weren't drilled also. Great prices though, and I'm probably at least gonna get all 4 rotors from that seller. I was gonna get mine turned anyway, so it's really not much more to get brand new rotors that look better and are zinc plated.

fiveoho said:
i bought a set of drilled/slotted rotors (gripforce) off ebay and went to my local ford dealer to buy a set of oem motorcraft pads. very happy with that setup. low dust and no noise.

on the other hand, i just recently bought a front rotor replacement set with generic pads for my explorer off ebay and im very pleased with them. price was cheap and pads were afermarket ceramic. no noise and the dust isnt bad at all.


my vote is still oem tho.
Click to expand...

The only thing I saw that seller selling was clutches. :shrug: As I said above, I'm probably gonna get some rotors from ebay and OEM pads. But I haven't made up my mind just yet. It's hard to turn down those awesome deals from the seller josh posted up (4 drilled/slotted rotors and ceramic pads for $160 shipped).
 
#7
Yes, I got slotted only rotors. And trust me they are awesome, (except for the fact that wheel cleaner will streak the finish on the rotor hat and make it hazy) PM me if you want their number. I had to call and get a custom order since I have Mach fronts and stock GT rear calipers, and I think they only post fronts with drilled and slotted rotors or all 4 with pads and drilled and slotted order. I'm running Hawk HP+'s for roughly a year and I still haven't warped a rotor.
 
#10
joshjwc9 said:
Yes, I got slotted only rotors. And trust me they are awesome, (except for the fact that wheel cleaner will streak the finish on the rotor hat and make it hazy) PM me if you want their number. I had to call and get a custom order since I have Mach fronts and stock GT rear calipers, and I think they only post fronts with drilled and slotted rotors or all 4 with pads and drilled and slotted order. I'm running Hawk HP+'s for roughly a year and I still haven't warped a rotor.
Click to expand...

Yea, I'd like that number.

I'm probably not going to spend $170 on Hawk ceramic pads alone when I can get 4 new rotors and oem/ceramic pads for that same amount.

I guess my question now is whether to get the cross-drilled/slotted rotors or just the slotted ones. I've heard they are more prone to cracking and I know they are bad for racing, but my car will never see the road course. Only a daily driver with the occasional drag strip duty. I do like the way they look. They come with a 1 year warranty against cracking.

Are they (or slotted ones for that matter) worse on the pads? I'm not too worried about getting only 40,000 miles out of the pads instead of 50,000, but if the pad life goes WAY down, then I may need to re-think my plan here.
 
#11
Supposedly slotted and cross drilled rotors will slowly eat away pads faster than OEM rotors, but there is a reduced feeling in fade across the board. I feel as though this is negligible as these aren't $400 rotors and if they do kill some ceramic pads faster it won't hurt your wallet if you need to replace them a month sooner than normal.

My car is a DD too and I haven't had one issue with the pads or rotors. Their ceramic pads (evolution brand name) dusts very little and even at that, it is very light in color and won't black out your wheels like the HP+ pads I do. The HP+ pads I have a harsher against the rotors, but I haven't seen anything indicating they will need replacing anytime soon.

I didn't want to jump into cross drilled and slotted rotors (in part I don't really like their looks) but I still would trust them, because LaserSVT had something happen to his rotors (although a shipping issue) and they fixed it fast, so I trust them for my rotors/pads on my car. Personally I'd get whatever you think looks better.
 
#12
joshjwc9 said:
Supposedly slotted and cross drilled rotors will slowly eat away pads faster than OEM rotors, but there is a reduced feeling in fade across the board. I feel as though this is negligible as these aren't $400 rotors and if they do kill some ceramic pads faster it won't hurt your wallet if you need to replace them a month sooner than normal.

My car is a DD too and I haven't had one issue with the pads or rotors. Their ceramic pads (evolution brand name) dusts very little and even at that, it is very light in color and won't black out your wheels like the HP+ pads I do. The HP+ pads I have a harsher against the rotors, but I haven't seen anything indicating they will need replacing anytime soon.

I didn't want to jump into cross drilled and slotted rotors (in part I don't really like their looks) but I still would trust them, because LaserSVT had something happen to his rotors (although a shipping issue) and they fixed it fast, so I trust them for my rotors/pads on my car. Personally I'd get whatever you think looks better.
Click to expand...

That's the conclusion I've come to.

And that's good to know that they don't dust much; that's the main thing I'm concerned about.

My current plan is to order a set of the slotted/drilled rotors and pads from them. If I don't like the pads (which I doubt), then I'll get a set of OEM and swap them out. If the rotors crack within a year, they're under warranty; and if they crack after a year, then I honestly got my money out of them for no more than they cost anyway.
 
#14
i use the vatozone ceramic pads. they are called Cmax and i think they are great. very low dust, the pedal feel is excellent, and they stop better than the OEM pads on both vehicles. i have them on my cobra and my g/f has them on her 04 grand cherokee v8. my dad asked me to do the brakes on his 09 Lexus RX350 and i will be using the cmax pads on that as well.

the best part is if you keep the box and receipt...when it comes time to replace the pads again all you need to do is bring the pads back in the original box with receipt and they give you new ones at no charge.

i believe the price on them is about 50 bucks an axle.
 
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