Semi-metallic vs ceramic pads, what your daily driver preference?

[STTom]

For those who daily their Fiesta ST, what type of pads are your preference? Semi-metallic or ceramic?

 

[TyphoonFiST]

Somewhere in between....that's why I went with Carbotech 1521 bobcat pads.....very little dust...linear stopping power and good bite...but not Grabby like the pads that came on my 15' when new!

 

[William.LEJA]

I vastly prefer ceramic. Cost more and didn't seem to stop as well, but the lack of brake dust was worth a dip in performance on the brakes. Stock were almost to aggressive for me anyway.

 

[danbfree]

I would say ceramic, but there is also a big difference between cheap ones and good ones. All you hear about is about the bite and not stopping as good but the truth is that with ceramic, good ones only have 1/10th less bite, but they also do need one good stop to warm up so sudden cold braking takes more pedal pressure. But with them lasting 3x longer, better fade resistance under constant braking and with 95% less dust AND actually better controllable bite they are a no-brainer for a daily to me... And on top of it, like what was mentioned above, you can get hybrid compounds that are probably an even better choice with less compromise.

 

[PunkST]

Somewhere in between....that's why I went with Carbotech 1521 bobcat pads.....very little dust...linear stopping power and good bite...but not Grabby like the pads that came on my 15' when new!

I want to try carbotechs. Do they have something that bites almost the same as stock?

 

[HardBoiledEgg]

After doing OEM pads every 20k. At 105k I finally went AUTOZONE Gold. $100 for pads that don't last no thanks. Its 100% a daily and will never see the track


5k in and 0 complains. Definitely not the same bite but no where near as dusty and more quite.

 

[TyphoonFiST]

I want to try carbotechs. Do they have something that bites almost the same as stock?

Hit up Oakos on the forum....I think their guy on the Forum is named Alex...but don't quote me there.

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[kivnul]

I have tried both OEM and Hawk HPS 5.0's. I have stuck to OEM so far.

 

[Ford ST]

I love the OEM pads that come with the summer tires. Do they make a bunch of dust yep, does it clean off easy yeah. It's not about what I like though it's about what you like.
Best place to get brake pads in my opinion RockAuto huge selection.
If you want to go with ceramic I don't recommend power stop pads they don't have a lot of bite. I have installed many sets of these as they are good for the everyday driver, but In my opinion they are not good for performance.
Many will disagree but I do not like them.




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[HBEcoBeaST]

It really depends what you like about the FiST. Sure ceramics stop well, but the feel and bite just isn't there. They dust way less though

I've ran OEM, hawk 5.0, powerstop z23, r1concepts sport and OEM+. Driven briefly ebc reds and yellows and carbotechs. Carbotechs are excellent track pads, I wouldn't daily them (loud and not good cold).

IMO OEM pads are the best. I get 15k+ driving hard and braking is epic. I love the bite. The cheaper ceramics make the car feel like it has no brakes to me. I literally had both the powerstops and r1s on my car less than 2weeks. Couldn't do it. I actually thought I had air in the brake lines.

The hawk 5.0s are the only other brake pad I've kept on the car. Decent bite and better modulation than OEM. Way less dust. To me they also had slightly better fade resistance than OEM. ~2 clicks less aggressive than OEM. I got less than 20k out of my fronts and the Hawks lasted about the same as OEM. I have fun with my car [emoji2376]

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[Ford ST]

That's the best way to describe powerstop pads air in the line.

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[Intuit]

I actually like the confidence inspiring touchy OEM feel. That's stopping power I never use though. Over three years and have never engaged ABS. Prior car and current motorcycle didn't have ABS. There was a BIG difference after replacing the pads, but later realized that it was a non-issue. I have no problem using organic pads, let alone semi-metallic or ceramic. I am however, not accustomed to wearing out rotors and having to replace those along with pads. I'd rather just keep replacing pads... and it's simple work with little expense.

 

[rallytaff]

I don't use my brakes that often and have just replaced my rotors at 91,000. Last pads were Hawk's which I had for 2 years before being replaced. What sort of mileage do you get from your pads?

 

[HardBoiledEgg]

I have a 17 with 123k. I drive a ton. OEMs last 20ish k

I went with autozone this last time just as a test. With in 3k miles they warped my OEM rotors. So I finally got Autozone rotors again, just as a test to see how apples and apples work. First if all they dust a ton too, no bite. But I'm hoping they last longer as this is 100% a daily driver and sees nornal driving. I was tired of the OEM price and longevity

I did the pads at 108k so getting close to the 20k mark. Big difference is when these roads go bad......I get replacement for free. That's the win for a daily for me

 

[green_henry]

It really depends what you like about the FiST. Sure ceramics stop well, but the feel and bite just isn't there. They dust way less though

I've ran OEM, hawk 5.0, powerstop z23, r1concepts sport and OEM+. Driven briefly ebc reds and yellows and carbotechs. Carbotechs are excellent track pads, I wouldn't daily them (loud and not good cold).

IMO OEM pads are the best. I get 15k+ driving hard and braking is epic. I love the bite. The cheaper ceramics make the car feel like it has no brakes to me. I literally had both the powerstops and r1s on my car less than 2weeks. Couldn't do it. I actually thought I had air in the brake lines.

The hawk 5.0s are the only other brake pad I've kept on the car. Decent bite and better modulation than OEM. Way less dust. To me they also had slightly better fade resistance than OEM. ~2 clicks less aggressive than OEM. I got less than 20k out of my fronts and the Hawks lasted about the same as OEM. I have fun with my car [emoji2376]

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Carbotech 1521s are excellent street pads -- I haven't experienced any issues with noise, but they do have less initial bite than OEM; the XP# pads are recommended for track use only.

 

[M-Sport fan]

^^^I was thinking about trying the G-Loc equivalent (GS-1s) to the Carbotech Bobcat/1521s, but after hearing this, I might just go with the summer tire OEM pads.

I still have a bit left on the all season tire factory OEM pads, even with 25K+ miles on them, but then I am VERY easy on brakes (NO; open tracking, autocross, 'canyon runs', etc.), and I turn off the ESC/traction control EVERY time I get in the car, no matter; rain, shine, snow, etc.

 

[SST]

I've ran OEM, hawk 5.0, powerstop z23, r1concepts sport and OEM+. Driven briefly ebc reds and yellows and carbotechs. Carbotechs are excellent track pads, I wouldn't daily them (loud and not good cold).

The hawk 5.0s are the only other brake pad I've kept on the car. Decent bite and better modulation than OEM. Way less dust. To me they also had slightly better fade resistance than OEM. ~2 clicks less aggressive than OEM. I got less than 20k out of my fronts and the Hawks lasted about the same as OEM. I have fun with my car [emoji2376]

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Which pad is consider OEM+ ?

Can you elaborate on Hawk 5.0 vs OEM a bit more? what exactly do you mean ~2 clicks less aggressive? how does these two pads hold up on track? Hawk because of less fade?

 

[TyphoonFiST]

I wanna say the OEM+ may be the Comfort pads. But don't Quote me there.

 

[danbfree]

^^^I was thinking about trying the G-Loc equivalent (GS-1s) to the Carbotech Bobcat/1521s, but after hearing this, I might just go with the summer tire OEM pads.

I still have a bit left on the all season tire factory OEM pads, even with 25K+ miles on them, but then I am VERY easy on brakes (NO; open tracking, autocross, 'canyon runs', etc.), and I turn off the ESC/traction control EVERY time I get in the car, no matter; rain, shine, snow, etc.

I have 32k on my OEM ceramics (which come on all season tire dealer ordered cars) and still have like 40% left, if not more. ESC/traction control mostly controls cutting fuel when there is too much wheel slip, you can't disable the wanna-be LSD braking unless you disable ABS too. I really don't think it affects brake wear much at all when I use Sport mode half the time and regular the other half and still have plenty of brake life left at 32k. Best way to save brake life is to not tailgate where you are using your brakes constantly, if you hang back just a little and use your gears properly instead you save tons of brake there alone.

And this is one of those issues where it's straight personal preference. OEM ceramic pads that come with all season tire dealer ordered cars are NOT cheap and after driving another FiST with the regular summer pads I feel the Ford OEM ceramic have 90% of the bite of the summer pads after the first good stop, which is a good thing. I still sometimes stop too suddenly on OEM ceramic, so as a daily I personally will never use anything other than ceramic, but never cheap ones either, only OEM or EBC Red Stuff.

 

[HBEcoBeaST]

Which pad is consider OEM+ ?

Can you elaborate on Hawk 5.0 vs OEM a bit more? what exactly do you mean ~2 clicks less aggressive? how does these two pads hold up on track? Hawk because of less fade?

The OEM+ pads were from r1concepts. They were horrible and r1concepts is a crap company to deal with. I had their sport+ pads in front and OEM+ in rear. Felt like I switched to $30 AutoZone ceramics (price wasn't that far off). Felt so bad after multiple break ins that I took them back to the shop suspecting air in the line. Switched pads out after 2-3 weeks (over 1k miles). Crap company telling me these pads were an upgrade while my stopping distances increased. Customer service constantly shuffled me to new people and finally said I could return new unused pads only. No satisfaction guarantee and no standing behind their marketing.

Hawk 5.0s have less initial bite than OEM. They dust less. Better modulation than OEM and equivalent to/slightly better fade resistance. Stopping distances feel the same as OEM. Just less aggressive with the initial bite and more pedal movement since more modulation.

They are the only pads I've kept on my car besides OEM and track pads.

Cheap rotors are OK. Cheap pads are horrible IMO


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