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Which brake pad material and or price level should I purchase for my car?

If you want to maintain the original feel (stopping distance, degree of pressure upon your pedal, etc.) of your factory brakes pads, you should replace them with an OE manufacturer’s product such as Ate, Textar, Jurid, or Pagid.

These pads in most cases will be the exact equivalent to the ones supplied to European makes such as Audi-VW, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Saab, Volvo.

The pad compound is a “soft graphite-like” material that provides great instant wheel grabbing power when brakes are applied, without brake squeal or “harshness”. The down side is that they are “dusty” which tends to cover your alloy wheels. These “softer” compounds won’t wear as long as metallic or ceramic compounds, but are very gentle on the newer and softer brake rotor materials.

The more metallic compounds found in Mintex, PBR, or the value priced Meyle pads will have a longer life and far less dusting, however they will require greater pedal pressure, and in some cases, depending on the condition of the vehicles’ rotors and or calipers you may experience an occasional squeal due to the “less forgiving” make up of the harder compound. These pads will have less brake fade resulting from more spirited or heavy duty driving conditions. Our Saab, Volvo, and BMW customers have excellent results using Mintex or PBR Metal Master brake pads.

Ceramic pads, if available for your vehicle, in most cases may give you the best of both worlds, with low or no dusting, no squeal and long life. They do work best when new brake rotors are installed as well. PBR has an extended coverage for both European and Asian and domestic vehicles. AKEBONO Ultra Premium Ceramic pads are available for most Asian cars, trucks and mini-vans, as well as a some limited European applications.

For Asian vehicles such as Acura, Honda, Infiniti, Lexus, Mazda, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota (especially 1998 and later model years) our AKEBONO Ultra Premium Ceramics are by far the best choice (they are more pricey but work the best). These pads will have minimal if any dusting, and provide extra long wear, best brake feel and stopping power! AKEBONO is an OE pad supplier to many of the major Japanese and American car manufacturers.

Lower cost alternatives for Asian vehicles are PBR organic, semi-metallic, and ceramic pads. As well as our new value priced offering of premium semi-metallic pads from Meyle Products.