Brake Pad Question

[Loren R]

Recently I purchased a set of drilled & slotted rotors with new ceramic pads and installed them myself. Ceramic pads show to be OEM on my 08 Trac, so that's what I went with. My rotors were starting to warp, and although I had plenty of pad left, I was getting a lot of squealing too. Then on another site, I found this article and now I'm wondering if I did the right thing by staying with ceramic pads. I use my Trac as a toad behind my motorhome when travelling. Comments??

This from brakeperformance.com

The Difference Between Semi Metallic and Ceramic Brake Pads

When deciding what brake pads are best for your vehicle, there are many factors to consider. The type of driving, weight of your vehicle and what is recommended by the manufacturer. Premium semi metallic brake pads are perfect for all light, medium to heavy duty cars, trucks, and SUV's. This type of pad is highly recommended for heavy work trucks, towing applications, performance vehicles, European vehicles and any vehicles experiencing warped brake rotor/discs due to excessive heat. These pads are manufactured with a high temperature fade resistance and a high friction level. They are simply the best pads for handling high heat and providing noise free braking. Ceramic brake pads are ideal for medium to light duty US Domestic, Japanese/Korean, Cars, Trucks and SUV's. These Pads are designed to wear longer and have less brake dust than the semi metallic pads. Ceramic pads are NOT recommended for heavy cars, trucks, SUV's or performance vehicles because they do not have a high temperature fade resistance and could warp rotors because of the heat factor. Both types of pads will give you great stopping performance and the information provided hopefully will help you make the correct decision.

 

[koda2000]

i suppose it depends on where you live and how you drive. i switched to ceramic pads years ago, primarily because i hate seeing brown brake dust on my front wheels. i usually put brake-quiet on the backs of my pads. the only time i've had squeal is the one time i didn't have any handy (i wound up putting the goop on a week later). i put ceramic pads on my 5.0 EB about a month ago, and as the pads had carbon fiber shims i decided to try them w/out the goop. so far no squealing. i think ceramic pads are a little tougher on rotor wear based on what i've seen, but i figure thats the trade off for clean wheels.

note: i always inspect, clean and grease (with synthetic high temp brake grease) my caliper pins every time i do a brake job. dry, worn, rusty pins are a major area for creating all kinds of brake problems. i like to change at least some (if not 100%) of my brake fluid during every brake job. after a couple of years brake fluid absorbs too much moister from the air. this promotes rust in the system and lowers the boiling point of the fluid, which leads to brake fade.

i guess i've done hundreds of brake jobs over the years (i maintain all the vehicles in my family) and other than needing to replace an occasional caliper, i've never had any brake or rotor problems.

at about 4000 pounds I don't consider an explorer to be a particularly "heavy" vehicle, but if you live in a mountainous area you're going to be tough on brakes. larger calipers and rotors (front and rear) might be a solution, especially if you're running larger than stock wheels/tires.