I'm getting fed up with cleaning the brake dust off my wheels every other day and I heard that switching to ceramic/organic pads will greatly reduce brake dust.

Will braking performance be affected by switching from OEM (asbestos/fiberglass/whatever) to ceramic...for example, agressive braking in a rally course or hard braking on the streets?

 

I didnt know they still made asbestos pads. And guess what there hot on fiberglass particulates now . steel bodied corvettes again , no.

 

Ceramics dust considerably less, but you will sacrifice some braking performance in the process.

 

Brown or tan dust instead of black dust. For normal street driving ceramic pads are fine only about 5% longer to stop your car. for any sort of performance drving and hard stops forget ceramics, they take much longer to stop with they are hot.

Asbestos pads have not been made since the 1950s and early 60s. That is what Drilled rotors were for, to out gas the asbestos gasses. and we all know that when asbestos gets into the lungs it does not come out and caused all kinds or lung problems.

Best bet is just wash the car more.

 

The brake pads on my '02 Z06 dusted SO bad it distributed back over the whole car, particularly down the sides from front to back.
Had to clean EVERYTIME I drove it even if it was just a trip into town and back.

Changed to the ceramic pads and the dust problem went away.
In normal driving, I could not tell the diference in braking performance.
Pedal pressures and stopping distances seemed to be unchanged but there were no 'max performance' trials with the ceramic pads.

Overall, I'm MUCH happier with the ceramic pads than I was with the original pads.
This would be the first mod I would do if I bought one with the regular brake pads on it.

 

you probably mean semi-metallic vs ceramic

Ceramic for me, very little dust, best stopping car Ive ever owned (not my first vette even)

My buddy has the factory pads on his 03 with 12K and his fronts are dirty all of the time, comapred to mine with ceramics for 5K miles theres no campare. Spend the extra jack and get ceramics

 

Hi Z06 KOS -

I apologize for being this late in reply to your question.

I put drilled, slotted rotors on my wifes 99 coupe, along with ceramic pads.

i was not happy wit hthe ceramic pads, they made grinding noises and made the swept area on the rotors look crappy.....for about 400 miles.

After they "broke in", they became quiet and are great.

I don't track my cars (drag only) so I have not noticed any reduction in stopping power as compared to my Z06.

I can tell you that brake dust in almost non-existent with the ceramics, whereas the Z's front wheels looks like crap by the time I get it home after spray-washing it.

When I replace the pads and rotors on the Z, I will go wit hthe same setup as on our coupe (sportbrakes rotors and ceramic pads).

best regards -

mqqn

 

It seems most agree ceramic is the way so I guess i will follow the crowd

 

Another vote for the ceramic pads. Went w/Gm pads last year and 95% of the dust went away

 

 

I just received a set of new pads from Carbotech (XP10/XP8), and noticed for the first time (shows I don't read directions) that all their pads are ceramic compounds. This seems inconsistent with the general assumption that all high friction track pads are metallic compounds. Is this unique to Carbotech, or, is the notion that ceramic compounds can't be track worthy just incorrect? Or, should I be using other pads?

 

Auto Zone store brand ceramics are great for street use and are dirt cheap. I switch to Carbotech race pads XP10/XP9 for track duty.

Rick

 

I've been looking at the Hawk ceramic pads. Has anyone tried them? Is Gm a company, or just General Motors?

My only problem with my Yellow Z06 is that I spend more time washing than I do driving due to the brake dust.

 

Ceramic pad manufactures have different levels or amounts of ceramic material in their pad. There is no set amount min or max level of ceramic material for a brake pad to be called ceramic.

Most street or stock use pads have higher compesition of ceramic material and the pad apperars to be more tan / light brown then black or dark brown.

Carbotech pads are considered ceramic. Carbotech has severl different compounds of brake pads. track pads tend to be the XP10, XP11 and XP12s. Where as the XP8 or panther and panther plus are street pads.

PFC, Performance Friction Company's brake pad are also consideded ceramic. Carbon Ceramic vs carbon metailic.

Brake pad material is made for certain temperature ranges. Standared street driving to hard racing.

In general street pads have a cf ( co-effent of friction of about .4 to .5 and temperature range in 400-500*F.

Where as racing brake pads will have a Cf of .55 to .7 and temp ranges up to 1000-1300*F.

there really is no compound that can do both. street pads are good for street use but melt or glaze over and do not stop under repeated high braking tempeatures of 800-1000*F

on the other side race pads seldom work well at the lower street brakeing temperatures of 400-500*F.

This is an EXTREEM over simplifcation. Do your own research. If you going to the track ask the GUYS who run on the track what brake pads they use and what is there braking style??

Most common race pads are ( no particular order)

CarboTech XP10, XP11, XP12
PFC -01
Wilwood H, Wilwood A for C4s
Hawk - Blue, Black or DT70s ( there are a few others too - HP and HP+ are NOT track / race pads, but very good street performance brake pads)

Brake pad information

http://brakepads.wilwood.com/01-selection/index.html
http://www.carbotecheng.com/prod-ct-compounds.htm


Is there a brake pad that can do double duty, street and limited track use?? From years of experience with many many differnt guys and pads tested, the ansewer is YES. The stock ACDelco C5 ZO6 pad is that pad.

I use the PFC01 and most recently the Wilwood H. In the past I have used the Hawk HP, and HP+ way too much dust on my yellow car.

HTH

 

No racing, just some spirited street driving. I'm really interested in little or no dust, no squeek, with as little performance decrease as possible over the OEM.

Thanks for all the good information.

 

I can't stand the loud squeaking everytime I stop from the stock pads, so I'm switching to the GM ceramic pads.

 

Excuse me if this is a dumb question. My car has less than 15K miles and I want to go with ceramic pads. Do I need to turn my rotors?

Thanks

 

Akebono pads here, very little dust, stops geart and are wearing perfectly.

http://www.racepages.com/brand/akebono.html

 

Nope. Just take so brake cleaner and spray it on to both sides of the rotors to clean them. Then put on your new pads and go bed in the new pads and your be set to go.

 

I also have ceramic brake pads (don't know which brand off the top of my head) and I must say that brake dust is the last of my problems.

With my car being yellow, I don't really mind the 5% decrease in braking performance. Washing the car daily sure takes a toll on my back, even at my tender age, hehe.