I thought Hawk made some good brake pads.

 

In a warranty dispute, of course OEM is the way to go. However there a lot of consolidations made in OEM parts vs performance parts.

OEM pads dust very little, don't squeel, and are not very harsh on rotors. but at the same time, they are not track pads, they don't do well with high heat, they glaze over quickly, and perhpas more I can't think of.

Performance pads will be able to work in higher heat environments, and not glaze so much. They are also more prone to dust and squeel more as well. They could also be harsh on rotors, depending on the compound used. My hawk ones do on cold days until I drive a bit and get them warmed up.

But you do not have to "redo" your braking system to just have a third party brake pad in there.

I went with hawk pads because of the loads I carry and the terrain I will go into with those loads, I'll know that the pads will not overheat and braking performance will be consistant.


But in general, for every day driving, just about any pad will do that you can get fom your local napa, car quest, pep boys, etc. Raybestos pads for $30 ar efine for about 90% of th market. The remaining 10% will tow or do aggressive track driving that may necessitate a higher peroformance semi-metallic pad.

 

I've heard that if you're going to keep the stock rotors (which are very good for OEM rotors, and what many of the slotted/grooved rotor manufacturers use for their blanks to start with), that Hawk HPS pads are a very good upgrade. As has already been said here, be prepared for more dust (at a minimum) and perhaps some more noise.

 

Lets put it this way: if it's a daily driver, and you don't want to spend an arm and leg, the Thermoquiet are the best I've seen. I've been selling auto parts for 11 years and I've handled/sold/competed against Raybestos, EIS, Bendix, OEM and these Wagner's are the best I've seen (without going to a performance pad like the Hawk.) They don't tear up rotors, they don't dust much at all, they don't squeal if you follow the instructions. Period. I have a customer that road races a T-Bird at Road America, he can destroy a set of brake pads in one day! He's tried every brand out there and the Wagner's actually held up for a whole weekend and still had some room to go. He also commented on the stopping ability. He was sold and will not install any other pad on any of his customers cars, and he is a very picky individual.

 

I have used Wagner thermoquiets and they are excellent pads.

 

These were recommended to me by my alignment/brake shop.


If you are really into performance, you'll email CarboTech and see what they have to offer.
http://www.carbotecheng.com/main.htm

These guys make top grade stuff for any application. I had great success with them and my past car on track days, auto-x, and driving schools. There is nothing like running a highspeed track at speeds over 110MPH, and slowing down to 20MPH for a tight hairpin.. Repeatedly. Instant orgasim.

 

OE never squeeked or layed dust,tried cheaper titan lifetimes for 1 month dust and squeek bigtime(full credit back) ,went with durastop OE replacement,stops great no squeek and some dust.I believe the durastop has a bit less ceramic than OE.

 

Get some Napa Ceramic brakes they work really good & have a lifetime warranty!!!