Ceramic brake pads?

[Rattler]

I have been unhappy with the amount of brake dust I am getting on my front wheels. I thought about going to ceramic pads on the front. Any body changed to these on a 4th gen?

 

[Rattler]

Really. No body?

 

[Tryingit]

I have a 2010 with 46K and I still have 3/4 of my pads left. But I can't stand all of the break dust that accumulates so quickly... .

 

[Cummins12V98]

I was told by a NAPA guy Ceramic pads are not the best choice for our trucks. Call Geno's and talk to them. I have EGR pads on my 98 and they have very little dust.

 

[Rattler]

Did the napa guy give any particulair reason? I ran ceramics on my 99 and the wheels stayed clean.

 

[Tryingit]

ON my other forum a couple of guys are raving about Green Stuff #7000. The guy says he has zero dust. The company also claims almost zero dust as well.



http://www.summitracing.com/parts/EBC-DP71650

 

[JFought]

i had the same compliant, i wen with oriely wagner ceramic frt pads
And long story short they squaled all the time, ever after turning rotors and several other ways to make them quiet.

I eventually went back to the mopar frt pads and am happy to deal with the dust (vs the noise), cause the squealling was worce as a service vehicle.

 

[kkelley]

According to an in-house study done by EBC, the majority of brake dust is made up of rotor material. The pads used will wear the rotors more than some others, to increase stopping ability. European cars have been doing this for years, that's why any shop that actually knows the car will not "turn" brake rotors, they are replaced with the pads. They use brake pads that are very aggressive and chew up rotors quickly to increase the braking force. Dodge had to use a pad that stops well, lasts a long time, and is cheap to manufacture (or purchase from another company). Wheel appearance was probably not on their list of concerns. So a problem with changing pads is that they may not function the same as the OE pads. Some may work better, some may not work as well. Do lots of research on a particular pad before using it. Especially if you haul heavy. Some pads meant for low dust could overheat and stop working when you need them most. Personally I used a low dusting pad on my GTI, and the first trip through the twisty back road to work caused my fronts to start melting. I checked them that next day (since they stopped working right) and found what looked like cold butter smeared on toast. They were reccomended to me by quite a few people for low dust and stopping as well as stock, problem was none of those people drove their cars hard anywhere but the city streets.

 

[Cummins12V98]

Did the napa guy give any particulair reason? I ran ceramics on my 99 and the wheels stayed clean.

He said they are more suited for cars.



I had them on my 99 Tahoe and the rotors warped. They were United slotted rotors, NAPA's best. So I turned the rotors and installed the same ceramic pads and warped rotors again. So I talked to a friend that has a suspension shop he said the ceramics were a bad idea and recomended the GM stock pads. So I used them and they brake better and have low dust and no warping. So I saked another NAPA guy about the ceramic pads and he asked who somd them to me and I said one of your guys. He gave me a credit and said they were not the best choice for heavier rigs.

 

[Rattler]

Thanks guys. This is the reason I come here for answers.

 

[Tryingit]

This is my second ram diesel my first one had 90K when I sold it, the brakes pads were at the 50% area. On my 2010 I have 46K and the pads seem to be at the 75% mark. But on my other vehicles I always just replace the rotors with the pads. I'll do the same if I own a ram long enough to actually have to do a brake job.