My brake pad experience...

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To each his own. I often don't fix what isn't broken. The Wagner ThermoQuiet ceramic pads I have on my 2002 Silverado stop more than adequately and have been on there for 6 1/2 years/60K miles. I had the wheels off back in November and the pads still have 2/3 material on them. I don't necessarily "take it easy" either.
 
Whatnext-
I think the electronic brake purporting is responsible for the even brake wear front and back. It applies more brake force sooner to the rears to avoid forward lurching under braking (?). Used to be the fronts wore much more than the rears.
 
Originally Posted by willbur
Whatnext-
I think the electronic brake purporting is responsible for the even brake wear front and back. It applies more brake force sooner to the rears to avoid forward lurching under braking (?). Used to be the fronts wore much more than the rears.


That's what I'm thinking too. Its the likely explanation for the even brake wear.
 
Basically there are different sensors and the computer in the car determines how much brake is applied to each wheel. In some circumstances it can apply more brake power to a single wheel.

It may not distribute the brake force evenly. It all depends on conditions...but I think you will find the front brakes not wearing first all the time like in the past.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_brakeforce_distribution
 
I have Wagner oex on my Escape. In the front only... It has drums in the rear. Anyway, they definitely perform well and have lasted fairly well but they do dust. Although perhaps my driving style is at fault, not the pads.
 
Originally Posted by willbur
Navi-
my experience exactly the same as yours regarding Akebono. Mediocre braking and feel from their top performance pads. But they are quiet and smooth.

Quiet and smooth - or in the view of a professional installer, no comebacks. That is what most drivers (and shops) are going for.
 
My wife has been driving FWD vehicles for years . The front brakes seem to wear out at least twice as fast as the rears . Same for tires , more or less . Often every ~ 30,000 miles .

Come to think of it , brakes seem to be lasting longer , now a days . ( But not so much with the tires . ) Do not know if they are better or if we are driving " better " ?

I usually purchase the cheapest pads , locally , that have life time warranty . If the pads / shoes wear out , I get them replaced free . :)

We do not drive like we are competing at the Indy 500 . We are senior citizens & drive like it . I very , very seldom need to replace rotors / drums . And we do not live in the rust / salt belt . Thank God !
 
Originally Posted by GoldDot40
To each his own. I often don't fix what isn't broken. The Wagner ThermoQuiet ceramic pads I have on my 2002 Silverado stop more than adequately and have been on there for 6 1/2 years/60K miles. I had the wheels off back in November and the pads still have 2/3 material on them. I don't necessarily "take it easy" either.


Well if a vibrating steering wheel and pulsing brake pedal due to pad transfer is acceptable to you, then it ain't broke.
 
Originally Posted by whatnext
Originally Posted by GoldDot40
To each his own. I often don't fix what isn't broken. The Wagner ThermoQuiet ceramic pads I have on my 2002 Silverado stop more than adequately and have been on there for 6 1/2 years/60K miles. I had the wheels off back in November and the pads still have 2/3 material on them. I don't necessarily "take it easy" either.


Well if a vibrating steering wheel and pulsing brake pedal due to pad transfer is acceptable to you, then it ain't broke.

Not sure what you mean. My truck does not experience either symptom. The only time it did, was the reason I changed the brakes the last time...60K miles ago. I put new rotors on all 4 corners along with new pads. They were the original GM rotors that came on the truck new. They had 140K miles on them before they gave any issues with pulsating/shaking.
 
Here in salt/dirt land, it doesn't matter what kind of rotor you use because they're all rusted by the time pad replacement comes around. I've tried the most expensive "coated" rotors and they're all shot when I do the pads.

Even calipers are pretty bad, although I can usually save them by regreasing everything. It's just a horrible environment for cars up here. Today I passed DOT who was spreading a salt and sand mixture. Last week they were spraying liquid brine with a sticky molasses additive. It's brutal.
 
well just purchased a full set of raybestos element 3 pads and rotors for the 2013 subaru $140+ tax and shipping

Hope my experience is good. Nothing could be worse than the Powerstop kit I had that was just plain AWFUL..

I had to do 3 break jobs in 18months with those.
1st. lnital rotor/pad replacement with powerstop kit
2nd grind pad ears they were binding and sticking after 3months of salt spray.. switched to using pastelub(great stuff)
3rd was swapping to akebono proact pads and I forget which "premium" rotors which lasted over 4 years.. which is decent how this car is driven.
 
Originally Posted by GoldDot40
Originally Posted by whatnext
Originally Posted by GoldDot40
To each his own. I often don't fix what isn't broken. The Wagner ThermoQuiet ceramic pads I have on my 2002 Silverado stop more than adequately and have been on there for 6 1/2 years/60K miles. I had the wheels off back in November and the pads still have 2/3 material on them. I don't necessarily "take it easy" either.


Well if a vibrating steering wheel and pulsing brake pedal due to pad transfer is acceptable to you, then it ain't broke.

Not sure what you mean. My truck does not experience either symptom. The only time it did, was the reason I changed the brakes the last time...60K miles ago. I put new rotors on all 4 corners along with new pads. They were the original GM rotors that came on the truck new. They had 140K miles on them before they gave any issues with pulsating/shaking.


You were saying/implying it was a waste for me to change the pads for the pad transfer I was experiencing.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by whatnext
Originally Posted by GoldDot40
Originally Posted by whatnext
Originally Posted by GoldDot40
To each his own. I often don't fix what isn't broken. The Wagner ThermoQuiet ceramic pads I have on my 2002 Silverado stop more than adequately and have been on there for 6 1/2 years/60K miles. I had the wheels off back in November and the pads still have 2/3 material on them. I don't necessarily "take it easy" either.


Well if a vibrating steering wheel and pulsing brake pedal due to pad transfer is acceptable to you, then it ain't broke.

Not sure what you mean. My truck does not experience either symptom. The only time it did, was the reason I changed the brakes the last time...60K miles ago. I put new rotors on all 4 corners along with new pads. They were the original GM rotors that came on the truck new. They had 140K miles on them before they gave any issues with pulsating/shaking.


You were saying/implying it was a waste for me to change the pads for the pad transfer I was experiencing.

Please go back, copy and paste ANYWHERE I said (or implied) it was a waste for you to change anything on your vehicle. I didn't even mention you in my original post. When I reply to anybody's post directly...I QUOTE IT...just like I'm doing right now. That's what the feature is for on most forums.
smirk2.gif
 
Originally Posted by GoldDot40
To each his own. I often don't fix what isn't broken.


It might have been a misunderstanding but you posted this right after my post. The common interpretation of your words is ‘I wouldn't do that'.
 
Originally Posted by whatnext
Originally Posted by GoldDot40
To each his own. I often don't fix what isn't broken.


It might have been a misunderstanding but you posted this right after my post. The common interpretation of your words is ‘I wouldn't do that'.

I was merely commenting the the topic of the thread. Again...it wasn't a reply to you. I didn't even read your post...still haven't. I only saw where you quoted ME in a reply. Are you new to forums? I'm sure there's a YouTube video on how to use them available.
 
The brake system does not send equal amounts of pressure across all 4 corners and there is definitely not the same amount of braking force applied to the tires from the front vs back (piston size, rotor radius, pad size, tire compound/size.)

The chances of a rotor actually being warped is extremely slim; unless you're doing professional racing and even then the chances are slightly less slim. What 99% of people think warping is turns out to be pad runout. Semi-metallic performance pads need heat in them to operate efficiently. They also need an even pad transfer layer on the rotor. With cold pads whatever transfer layer was there usually gets cut off until the pads can get hot again to transfer a new layer.

Except in specific cases (racing, manual proportion brake valves), people should keep their pads the same to the system stays balanced. A pad on the rear with too much of an initial bite will cause the rears to lock and the ABS to kick in the rear sooner.
 
Pew- I think you may have it backwards. Semi Mets stop by abrasion and don't need pad deposition on the rotors. "Ceramic" pads stop by adhesion and need the pad deposition on the rotor for them to stop.
If I am mistaken, please correct
 
Originally Posted by willbur
Pew- I think you may have it backwards. Semi Mets stop by abrasion and don't need pad deposition on the rotors. "Ceramic" pads stop by adhesion and need the pad deposition on the rotor for them to stop.
If I am mistaken, please correct


I'm not sure with ceramics since those didn't come up in the topic we were talking about [racing] but according to PFC and AP Racing engineers when referring to semi-metallics, a transfer layer is still extremely critical.

It might be that Ceramics don't need the transfer layer since they're designed to work at low temperatures with little to no warm up and the compounds are generally not harsh enough to scrape off the previous transfer layer when the pads are cold - but that's just my theory.
 
Originally Posted by Pew
Originally Posted by willbur
Pew- I think you may have it backwards. Semi Mets stop by abrasion and don't need pad deposition on the rotors. "Ceramic" pads stop by adhesion and need the pad deposition on the rotor for them to stop.
If I am mistaken, please correct


I'm not sure with ceramics since those didn't come up in the topic we were talking about [racing] but according to PFC and AP Racing engineers when referring to semi-metallics, a transfer layer is still extremely critical.

It might be that Ceramics don't need the transfer layer since they're designed to work at low temperatures with little to no warm up and the compounds are generally not harsh enough to scrape off the previous transfer layer when the pads are cold - but that's just my theory.


Thank you Pew-
I did a quick google search on semi-met pad transfer. Brake and Front End April 2016 (and several others) do indicate these pads rely on abrasion for stopping; not pad transfer as do the others. Not being argumentative but I wanted to know for sure.
 
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