In my experience Akebono is one of the best, but not in all applications. They have been great in several cars I look after, but were only ok in the volvo and were not acceptable at all in the tundra. In fact I want to say they were FE rated in the truck. I was surprised at how poorly they worked in the tundra-- even with 4-piston calipers. The tundra isn't known for outstanding brakes, and the akebonos made it worse - I swapped them for Hawks after maybe 10,000 miles.
-m
-m