ceramic break pads

[edgeman]

Thinking on getting ceramic break pads to slow down on some of the break dust on the wheels and on the side of the truck. Anyone have any experiance with these, and where would be a good place to get them? Thanks for any input, Larry

 

[Mark31]

If your main reason for considering ceramic pads is the dust, you might consider Kleen Wheels (if you aren't running Centramatics or Balance Masters) to keep your wheels clean. I ran 'em until I bought some Balance Masters and thought they did a good job. Mark

 

[jhenderson]

I think you will find that ceramic pads are a lot harder on rotors than semi metallic ones.

 

[Motorhead]

I used the ceramics that NAPA sells on a few cars that I worked on for other people and will not use them anymore. The clients came back at 2/3rds or less mileage that they had on their previous pads and they were worn out.

 

[edgeman]

Well, it dosnt sound like ceramics are what i need. Mabe i will look into Kleen Wheels, cause the dust on the wheels and the rust specks on the paint is what im tired of. Thanks for the insight, Larry

 

[Mark31]

Edgeman, I didn't note that you are from snow, ice, salt country. Check with someone in your climate to see if there are any adverse effects, like maybe trapping salt. They aren't too hard to remove (be gentle) for winter if they do present a problem, just "rassling" with tire off/on. I bought 2 for the front, and then when I rotated the tires and saw they worked, I bought 2 more. Mark

 

[RoosterXP]

Yes the Ceramic pads will help with the dust however, you have a way better chance of warping your rotors using the ceramics. I put a set on our car, fronts and rears. after about 200 miles i took them back and demanded my money back because I noticed that you had to push the brake pedal a lot harder than you would with the semi-metallic pads, they just felt too weird for me. . and the pressure i had to put on the brake pedal just seemed too much.



just stick with the Semi- metallic. they are better.

 

[leaky gasket]

I had the same experience Rooster.

 

[goodguys75]

don't get hawk break pads, they make so much noise... . and they are supposed to be quite... im tired of my squeaky front brakes... ... it is embarrassing

 

[MLee]

don't get hawk break pads, they make so much noise... . and they are supposed to be quite... im tired of my squeaky front brakes... ... it is embarrassing

Question, are these brakes camfered? or belveled?, A flat pad will usually squeal, or make noise, it comes from the edge of the pad. and if Camfered no sound, supposedly.

 

[Motorhead]

don't get hawk break pads, they make so much noise... . and they are supposed to be quite... im tired of my squeaky front brakes... ... it is embarrassing

I had Hawk pads on my old 2001. 5 and they never squeaked. Stopped good too.

 

[jelag]

Think about this... as you increase the coefficient of friction... read that as the ability to stop faster... you have to have more heat... your changing rotating mass to heat as you stop... to stop faster than increases the heat... more heat mean more and faster wear... I agree that a full ceramic pad will wear faster than the stock pads and will wear the rotors faster... Remember race cars might only want to go 500 miles and can than repaired with new pads and rotors for the next race... but they sure stop fast and don't fade much even when their red hot...

When you change the engineering and the design you quite often give up something to gain something...

 

[Got HO?]

Well, it dosnt sound like ceramics are what i need. Mabe i will look into Kleen Wheels, cause the dust on the wheels and the rust specks on the paint is what im tired of. Thanks for the insight, Larry

Less airflow through the rotors and calipers on vehicles equipped with Kleen Wheels will accelerate brake wear and will cause excessive temperatures, especially when towing. Most German car manufacturers will void any warranty on brake components on a vehicle equipped with them.

 

[jelag]

Just thought that some of you might wish to understand how a ceramic friction is made... Ceramic Friction 101... .

Ceramic friction is what is called powdered metal technology... various metals are ground into a powder based on a formula of types of metal and how large the grit size is... also included into the mix is a bonding metal and usually a flux of some kind... The powder is put into a mold than compressed... based on the formula, usually 500-600 tons... the puck as it's now called comes out of the press and can be picked up but if banged or dropped it will break like a brittle cookie... the pucks are placed on their backing plate and placed on a conveyor and run through an oven. . the flux melts and than the bonding metal (usually brass) than melts and flows to braze the metal backing plate to the puck and the bonding metal also flows through the puck and brazes all the parts together...

If you look very closely at either a ceramic friction button (pad) or a full ceramic brake pad you can see the line of the flux around the backing plate and the line of the brass where it flowed... as most of the metal in a ceramic pad are made from material as hard or harder than the cast rotor on the vehicle its safe to assume that the rotor will wear at almost the same rate... remember there is a about 4-5 more surface area on one side of the rotor than the pad. .

 

[Mark31]

HO, I guess I pretty much have to agree with you. However, if one is not towing heavy or much and is easy on brakes, they could be considered. I have 126k on my truck with 60-65k with Kleen Wheels on before I took them off to put on Balance Masters. My pads still have "good meat on their bones". Maybe the old saying "For every benefit, there is a tax" applies here. Some might be willing to give up say maybe 10-15 k out of 150k pad life for cleaner wheels? Have a good 'un! Mark

 

[realfine409]

Had a set of slotted and drilled rotors w/ ceramic pads on my Durango. After a short break-in they seemed to stop better. I got less than 40k miles out of them before the irritating sound of ground rotor could be heard as well as felt. When I called the vendor about my next set, he advised against using ceramic on such a heavy vehicle, replaced them with semi-metallics. So far so good. I think I'll stick with semi-metallics when I replace my 3500 brakes later this year. If heat transfer accelerates rotor deterioration, then I'll stay with cleaning the brake dust. IMHO!

 

[Scrappy]

What about the carbon metallics? I have heard that the carbon metallics like Performance Friction pads fade less, dust less, wear 3x longer, and don't eat the rotors up. truth or fiction?