Agreed on the stock pads which have immediate and incredible grip. With the exception of ceramics, and generally speaking, I would expect that pads which dust less have less grip and produce longer stopping distances.

If manufacturers of higher performance cars could put low dusting pads that produced the same stopping distances at the same cost they would.

 

When choosing brake pad materials there are multiple aspects to be considered: typical stopping friction, hot friction (fade issue), rotor wear (life),pad life/cost, dust, just to name a few. As technology advances, optimization of these parameters becomes less mutually exclusive. However, pad functionality can only approach perfection...it will never achieve it. Alternative pads allow the consumer to make a selection based on their specific priorities. I, for one, would order the priorities as listed above for the street, and might switch the order of the first two parameters for the track (depending on how tight the track is).

 

My 2 cents on upgrading brakes....

You get lots of dust on stock brakes because the pads are being eaten up.

Switching to a ceramic pad will reduce the dust off the pads, but I find that the rotors get eaten up faster instead.

Because braking is all about friction, and something has to wear, if you're not wearing the pads then you're wearing the rotors.

I found this out years ago on a Ford I had, only changed the pads and the front rotors were worn away very quickly. I could actually collect the metal dust with a magnet after a session of "spirited driving"

So my theory now is you need to improve the rotors as well as the pads, this gives the stopping power and minimal wear.

The combination I like is a ceramic pad, and a "high carbon" rotor.

Right now I have EBC Yellowstuff pads and R1 Concepts "Premier" rotors on the XJR.

The Land Rover is running EBC Redstuff and Centric "125 series" rotors.

Both those rotors are a "high carbon" alloy, I believe they are even from the same supplier/foundry.

I've been most impressed with these combinations, the Land Rover has hardly any dust at all and virtually no wear visible on the brakes after more than 10'000 miles.

The Yellowstuff on the XJR do dust up a bit, but it's nothing compared to the old OEM setup. And the braking performance... it's really no comparison. I had someone nearly run up the back of me on a trackday, they did not expect me to stop so quickly. I got one of the instructors from the club (experienced racer) to drive my car and he could not believe how well it stopped...

Where was I? Yes. Changing the pads is only half the story, to really do it properly, pads & rotors should be paired up to get the best of low dust, and improved performance.

Just my 2 cents...

 

+1.

 

For what it's worth, Posi Quiet's information regarding my 435i MSport was spot on correct. If you have the base brakes (Performance), then the first two listed should be the ones you need. Just watch out for that from VIN thing. Hopefully your VIN is higher than that.


Regarding changing rotors, ideally I'd like to change them too. However, I've never done it on my cars in the past and have yet to ever get to a point where the factory rotors needed to be changed. From my standpoint they seem to work just as well with aftermarket pads as with the OEM pads.

 

My October 2013 build is K08XXX. I suspect all US builds are higher than K01000.

However, I'm at peace w/ brake dust since I discovered Sonax wheel cleaner, which is pretty much a spray on and hose off process. I'd rather have the superior clamping power of stock pads on the OEM disks

 

If you had a BMW, you probably didn't keep it long. Their rotors are so soft, they need to be replaced every time the pads are replaced. I have to replace the the pads and rotors on my MINI about every 30,000 miles.

 

I'm just at 19k on my 435i. I'll probably sell it when my F-Type arrives, so I'll likely miss changing the rotors.

 

Mine is K00497

 

Interesting, what's your build date?

 

Wow, build date 26th April 2013, Warranty start date 2nd June 2014.

Looks like a nicely spec'd car too!

 

Obviously you have access to the build sheet. Can you send it to me?

It's definitely a high option car that I got at a pretty reasonable price because it was used. And it's a CPO until mid 2019.

 

Sure, check your PM's in about 5 mins.

 

Mine is K04769, dispatched date was 29 June 2013 according to the sheet I have.

 

my brake dust starts to dissapate right after i spray on Sonax!