I have put a lot of miles on my Akebono Ceramic replacement front brake pads, and really like them. Low dust, noise free, have very good bite, and don't fade (We drive steep roads a lot). What else can you ask for? And while I don't believe that they wear the rotors faster than other pads, I found I can buy new rotors for the Ody for $32.99 each anyways.
However my first try at Ceramic pads, Raybestos Quiet Stops was terrible. After installing them I noticed softness in the brakes and that I had to press down much harder to get them to stop.
When my wife first drove out of the house and down the hill she nearly panicked!
(and she was warned!)
Those brakes had no initial bite. It was worse for her since she is much smaller than I and can't generate the pedal force that I can.
After some substaintial research I found a report on brake pads for police cars where the Hawk brand pads were the best! From further reading I determined that the Akebono were also very good, and that the Satisfied PRO ceramics were as bad as the Raybestos.
I was happy that my local Kragen store gave me a 100% credit on the used pads
and special ordered the Akebono's for me. Meanwhile I removed the Raybestos on the same day - I felt that these things were plain unsafe - and put my old used pads back on. I didn't even want to drive to the Auto Parts store with them. And now I am very happy with the Akebono's -- better than OEM.
Show Printable Version | 
Subscribe to this Thread
08-28-2005, 02:45 AM
