Brake Pads: RAYBESTOS Element3 vs AKEBONO ProACT?

[Hyundai Respecter]

2 years ago I put Element 3 pads and coated rotors, front and rear, on my 2011 Soul and they have been great. They’ve been quiet and have good “bite”. When it’s time to replace the brakes on my 19’ Soul I’ll be using Element 3 again.

 

[JeffKeryk]

You can't go wrong with either. You might consider factory pads as well.
I think any decent rotors will work, if you need them.

 

[t1snwrbrdr12]

I have used Elements 3 for a long time and don't understand you comment about the shims, as can be seen in Nicks post the shims are identical in size and are decent stainless quality. Are you sure you got Elements 3 not the R line? I just put Elements 3 pads, calipers and rotors on my Outback and like every other install no issues whatsoever.

My own experiences with Akebono is they are not great, low bite especially when cold, short pad life and noisier than others. My Saab had them when I bought it and they sucked terrible, I put Textar on that one and ATE on the older Viggen and they are so much better. I cant decide which of those two is better, both are excellent.
If I didnt use the Elements 3 I would use Advics or OE on a Japanese car.

All four of these tabs were way larger than needed to be. You can only fold those in and take up that gap but so much before they’re at way more than a 90 degree angle and not really holding well at all. All of mine were like that.

 

[JeffKeryk]

All four of these tabs were way larger than needed to be. You can only fold those in and take up that gap but so much before they’re at way more than a 90 degree angle and not really holding well at all. All of mine were like that.
View attachment 93736

Those look like the R Line. I believe the Element 3 pads I have installed have the shim bonded and have "EHT" in red lettering.

 

[cb_13]

Since @Trav turned me onto them a few years ago I've done quite a few brake jobs with them and found them to be very good. I probably did a dozen or so brake jobs for family and friends with them and had zero complaints.

Same. No complaints on my vehicles or from the people I put them on for.

 

[t1snwrbrdr12]

Those look like the R Line. I believe the Element 3 pads I have installed have the shim bonded and have "EHT" in red lettering.

I just screen shot the picture someone else posted in this thread. I did get the element 3 pads.

 

[meep]

I’ve had both akebono and element3. I had both great and dismal results out of akebono depending on the vehicle installed in. Element3 has stronger stopping power by a good margin, at the sacrifice of minor dusting. Elements have been better for bedding issues, probably because they seem to be harder on rotors. getting more reliable results from element3 across different vehicles, they are my current go-to.

 

[Trav]

Those look like the R Line. I believe the Element 3 pads I have installed have the shim bonded and have "EHT" in red lettering.

+1 They could have been some of the original E3 pads, I remember at one point some years ago they had the E3 and the E3 Hybrid. Now the E3 is only available in the the better hybrid pads and the other is the R line.
Many of the new E3 pads have no tabs.

 

[doitmyself]

Delete. Oops.

 

[Trav]

R line looks very similar.

 

[2000Trooper]

I can’t directly answer your question but I’m guessing you’re buying from rockauto. They used to carry the akebono performance pads a year or so ago which I put on my Tacoma. Great pads. Zero complaints. Good life, virtually no rotor wear, quiet, minimal dust. I can’t say good enough things about them. They’ve won me over as a customer and I wouldn’t hesitate with the proact pads. I’ve used the element3 pads & rotors on other cars for friends and I havnt heard any complaints. But because I havnt daily driven them I can’t comment much other than they felt good and braked well in my quick test drive after the job.

 

[Zack1978]

I have used both on a variety of Toyota and Nissan vehicles. I much prefer the Akebono pads. Much like one of the earlier comments, I have found that the fitment of the E3 pads has generally been poor. The quality/fit of the hardware kits has been less than stellar, especially on my Xterra.
I have had ZERO issues with the Akebono pads and the quality of their hardware kits.
With all that being said, I am thinking about trying a Powerstop kit for my Titan, as the Titan's are notorious for warping rotors.

 

[Luftmasse]

I put Element3's on all 4 corners of my 07 Camry. I've been pretty satisfied with them, despite being GG rated pads, I still feel like they don't have quite as good of feel when compared to the OE pads, but they are the closest I have come across so far.

Do you have problems with the shims becoming loose with the Raybestos?

 

[Luftmasse]

Had akebono on my Sienna with no problems other than I thought they lacked a little bite as compared to oem pads. The very little dust they created was awesome and they fit perfect and we’re perfectly quiet.

Used element 3 on the next brake job on the Sienna as (1) everyone here seems to love them and (2) not sure how much longer we’re keeping the van. Verdict: I really don’t like them. The silence shims and hardware fits for crap. The shims on the pads were literally about 1/4” too big. You can only bend the retaining tabs back in so much. They also don’t fit the caliper bracket perfectly, so the first application of your brakes after changing directions (front or backwards) they clunk. They also dust significantly more than akebono, although not as much dust as most cheap pads.

I’d take akebono any day now after first hand experience with raybestos.

I had the same problem with the shims been slightly larger and I ended up bending the tabs to get them to fit tight. However, over time they would be misaligned and make noise. Raybestos Element 3 seems to a be a hit and miss and may not work for everyone. I ended up using the Toyota value pads. Perfect fit and no noise.

 

[DzoG20]

I removed my front Element3 after only 10k and installed ProACTs.

Originally I liked Element3 a lot, but they developed too much of the uneven deposit on the rotors after 5-10k. Same issue with few different fero-carbon pads I tried in the past on various cars. I do not have this issue with proACT after almost 40k.

 

[MalibuRam65]

Power Stop pads are also just as good as these 2 pads mention here

 

[Creekside]

I went with the Element 3 on my F250 along with their coated rotors. It was a “kit” from rockauto. It was around 1/3 of the price from local parts stores. I think they feel great and the fit was great too, they snapped right into the clips in the bracket. No removing paint or anything like that to install them.

I am biased though as I had one pad that was a few stops short of steel on steel so anything new is an improvement.