Hi Guys:

2007 XKR.

This brake dust is driving me crazy (20" Sentras)!! About 350 miles, so far. Will the problem improve?

I have heard that there is very little dust from ceramic brakes. Is this right and, if so, which brand would you recommend?

What do they typically cost for all 4 wheels and what is a dealer likely to charge for installing them?

Any disadvantages to ceramic brakes??

Thanks in advance.

Roger

 

Will the problem improve... most likely not.

If they make pads for your XK, definately get Akebono pads. For comparison on brake dust generation...1 to 10, 10 being 'coated' in one week of normal driving, 1 being as clean as fresh wipe. [sm=smiley14.gif]

OEMs - 7
EBC RedStuff - 10
Akebono - 3

I did a small rightup on the pad replacements for my 2003, feel free to look here. Links to the parts places present as well. A few other members are also highly supportive of the Akebono brand and it's little dusting. I also don't get any squeaks with these, and they brake just as well as the OEMs.

 

Or you could wash your wheels once a week too.

 

I'm tellin ya..you can get brake dust on it, noticable dust in only one drive to work..maybe 25 miles. Dull front wheel, shiny rear...looked bad when I gawked at her.[:'(] OEMs had to come off.

 

lol....i like the used dirty look myself.....except when it comes to my women.....lol

 

I agree. Women look terrible covered in brake dust.

 

Before you go to the expense of changing pads that could have over 10k miles on them try changing your car wash shampoo.

I started using Optimum car wash and brake dust isn't sticking to the rims like it did with the last car shampoo I was using. In fact the optimum car wash seems to be keeping all dust off the car longer. It makes all surfaces slicker.

Either way it'll be alot cheaper if it works for you.

 

I have EBC Redstuff on my 02 XKR 100 and my wife's VDP and I do not experience a lot of brake dust. And they stop really good as well. I recently tried the wheel coating for brake dust and it really works. I think it is made by Armor All?

I tried Hawk pads on my 02 and they squealed a lot!! They were ceramic and did not perform well on the street - they work better when hotter - they never stopped very well with me.

 

I have used Akebono on several BMWs with great success. ie no ( really...very little) dusting. But I should note that the car(s) probably just didnt stop quite as good with the ceramics (not a big surprise as they are probably alot harder pad)....so ya pays your money and ya makes your choice. I have no experience with ceramics my new XKs or XKR yet. I would warn you that you probably will notice a difference (harder brake pedal to stop...and technically maybe a longer stopping time as well)....just doesnt matter to some people.

 

My wheels were filthy from brake dust. Washing alone didn't help because it comes back so quickly but I don't want to sacrifice the excellent braking. Solution: I just tried the armorall wheel protectant yesterday. I'll report back in a few days and let you all know if it works or not.

 

I use this on my Z06 and now wife's XK. It really does work. There are lengthy threads on this product (some with over 200 replies) over on the Corvette Forum.

Tom

 

Thanks for the info. It's a simple solution to the brake dust issue.

 

As an updated sidenote...all of this ceramic pad talk rpompted me to check out my Daughters BMW that I put the Akebono ceramic brake pads on....they are holding up unbelievably well. I would say she has put 40k miles on the pads and truthfully they don't look that worn....in fact if I just had to take a wild swing at it I would say she may very well get 100k miles out of those fellars. So for you guys puttin the miles on a car...take note...especially compared to the 20 or 30k miles that she was getting on BMW pads. But again...I would say they do take a higher pedal force than the OEM pads...so they may really just not stop as well...FWIW.