Are ceramic brake pads any good guys?

I know they create waaaay less dust than the OEM Jag pads, but do they perform just as well or better?

Also, where can I buy some - keeping in mind I need them to be shipped to South Africa.

 

Just like semi metaliic pads it depends on the brand you buy. I'm a fan of akabono pads but depending on your model there probably isn't an akabono available.

 

Hilton, the ceramic pads perform as good if not better than the stock pads, I fitted Power Stop ceramic pads to my old XFS and they were great. Possibly the exact same pads you would need, 355 mm front and 326 mm rear. As an added bonus they were quite cheap even after postage, much cheaper than OEM pads.
Almost zero dust, smooth, quiet and progressive, and at least the equal of the OEM pads under repeated heavy braking.
Also the annoying "graunch" that I had with the stock pads just as the car came to a stop completely vanished, and it was much easier to drive smoothly in stop/go traffic, whereas with the OEM pads the brake pedal was like an on/off switch no matter how hard I tried to modulate it.
The only possible downside is that ceramic pads don't have the same initial "bite" as the stock pads, they are much softer and more progressive for the first one or two centimetres of brake pedal travel. I got used to that difference very quickly, and it depends on whether or not you really prefer that strong initial bite.

 

My EBC Reds had the same effect on braking performance. Probably a bit more dust than other ceramics though.

 

I don't like them. Never again and they do wear out your rotors faster.

 

Not even close to true about the rotors.

Did you have a lot of dust when you put on ceramic pads? How many miles did you keep them on?

I have no dust from ceramic pads. I have them on all my cars on the list below.

Do you know where that horrible metal dust comes from when you run semi-metallic pads? No, it's actually mainly from the rotors.

If you have no dust with ceramic pads, then you have no rotor wear.

Do you see why what you said is completely wrong now?? Well, Porsche thinks you have no idea what you're talking about:

"Porsche found that discs are responsible for the majority of brake dust and that pads, commonly thought to be the biggest contributor to dust, only account for 30 percent. The reason is that while pads and rotors both lose thickness over their life cycles, rotors have far greater surface area than pads. All that material has to go somewhere, and on Porsches, that schmutz—scientifically speaking, it’s ferric oxide—ends up dirtying pretty wheels."

 

That is my opinion and many others. I have not had good luck with them. Don't care what Porsche says I go by what I have tried not read. Porsche also uses rotors that are built for ceramic pads. They are cleaner that is true but I clean my cars so never have any dust build up with organic pads. I also get a squeal out of the of all things the radio with EBC ceramic when braking hard. Have replaced rotors and installed new EBC ceramic same effect. My rotors had quite a bit of wear. I don't give a crap all of what you read but what works for me. I do all of the work on my cars and have seen first hand.

 

 

I ordered a few days ago from R1 Concepts as many have had good experiences with them. Rotors, Pads and other parts. I'll let you know my experiences laters. In the past on my S-Type, I've used Akebono pads and they worked well. Low dust. sold braking, however they only make rear brake pads which fit the XF.

 

EBC are the worst pads. That's your problem.

 

I think I need better rotors also.

 

I replaced the pads/rotors on my 2009 XF, 3 years ago. I used PowerStop ceramic pads and Beck Arnley rotors. I bought them through the online/mail order supplier, Rock Auto Parts.


I'm 100% satisfied with their performance, and this car is driven year round, through hot summers and cold winters.

 

Another vote for Akebono if you can get them.

Ran them front and rear on my 2005 S Type R for over 70K miles.
As was said very light brake dust and long life. I found them very gentle on the factory Brembo rotors?
Only one minor comment is even with repeated bleeding the pedal was a bit softer than with the stock Brembo pads.

Unfortunately I can't get Akebono's for my XJR and I went with Porterfield Carbon Fiber-Kevlar. Only a couple of thousand miles so far but no complaints yet.
.
.
.

 

I disagree with EBC Red pads being bad. I have them on my XFR and they last a long time. I have 109k miles on my XFR with the original front rotors. I have only replaced my rear rotors once. I probably have over 50k on my front pads and they have plenty left on them. I actually worked with EBC years ago to build a prototype of the pads for the XFR. They were amazing to deal with and made a one-off set for me when companies advertised them for sale without even being aware that EBC hadn't even manufactured them yet. Do they still have a little bit of dust, yes they do but no where near stock. I had after-market pads on my old SRT8 and they were a huge difference to the brembo pad when it came to braking, especially in the rain- but with the EBC you can barely tell the difference and that's probably why there is still a little dust. A fair trade-off. End of the day I could not be happier with my EBC Red pads for the front and rear!