Ceramic brake pads

[Curtludwig]

Anybody done ceramic brake pads on their Ranger?
I've got an '03 which is due for new pads and I'm not happy with the amount of dust from the stock pads...

The Mercedes crowd I hang out with is sold on Akebono ceramic pads which run $61 from RockAuto, they're listed as "Ultra performance". They also have 2 grades of Wagner (Thermoquiet and SevereDuty) for $45 and $58 respectively...

My wife had taken the truck to Meinekie and they want to use "ceramic pads" with no brand name. Anybody ever tried bringing parts to Meinekie? I like using them because they do a relatively good job and only wanted $180 to turn the rotors and replace the pads with their mystery ceramics...

 

[ronclark]

I have used some from Napa called Adaptive One there about $60.00.
No dust, but thy take awhile to break in. so far for city driving with load I am going to get 60,000 miles out of them
http://www.adaptiveone.com/

 

[Jay FX4]

I have heard that ceramic pads will wear out the rotors faster. True/false?

 

[locovaca]

I have heard that ceramic pads will wear out the rotors faster. True/false?

Well, the pad doesn't wear down, and since there is friction, something has to wear down.

That said, I run ceramics on both my truck (put on last January), my Accord (put on 3 years ago), and my wife's Malibu (2 years ago). Rotors are still in good condition on all three, but we also drive like grannies and do mostly highway driving.

 

[96Greenster]

I have Duralast Gold C-MAX. They are GREAT!! NO noise, Great stopping performance even when raining, No dust at all, I have on both my vehicles and no complains what so ever other than the price... $68 +/-.

 

[Curtludwig]

Well, the pad doesn't wear down, and since there is friction, something has to wear down.

That said, I run ceramics on both my truck (put on last January), my Accord (put on 3 years ago), and my wife's Malibu (2 years ago). Rotors are still in good condition on all three, but we also drive like grannies and do mostly highway driving.

According to Akebono the improved stopping power of the brakes means the rotors wear 80% LESS than with conventional pads which (they claim) gives up to a 400% increase in rotor life.
Sounds like magic to me but many of my friends use them and report that the rotors last much longer than before.
The Akebonos are $61 from Rock Auto which is 3x the cheap replacement but if they last I think it'll be worth it. They're still cheaper than the AC Delco ceramic replacements.

 

[CraigK]

I just started using ceramic brakes recently. They are supposed to wear the rotors significantly LESS. I have used the Raybestos service grade "SGD" pads from Rock Auto and found them to be very reasonably priced, and so far, excellent performers. I intend to use ceramic pads on all future brake changes.

CraigK

 

[nitrofan1]

Ceramic pads are good to a point. Now "ceramic" is a very misleading term. All pads have ceramic in them. Just how much depends on if they are true ceramic pads. Your typical pad including semi metallic have around 4 percent ceramic in them. The ceramic labeled pads have roughly 8 percent and are still semi metallic pads. The ceramic helps soften the pad which makes them more rotor friendly.

A word of caution though. Your vehicle (insert Ranger) came with semi metallic and if you do any towing or hard braking you are technically down grading by going ceramic. Ceramic pads will not shed heat as well as a semi metallic pad. If you drive normally without hot dogging or towing heavy rigs ceramic works great.

The biggest misconception about ceramic pads is they have no metallic material in them. If they were completely ceramic they would shatter under the stress and never stop the vehicle.