You say they lasted a year. Time doesn't matter, how many miles did you drive? Im not familiar with your specific pads but ceramic pads (all pad types) will vary wildly from each manufacturer. Ceramic pads just means there is some ceramic (who knows how much, what type, or anything about the rest of the formulation) in the pad. The brake industry has few standards in this regard. Typically ceramic pads are designed for quiet operation and minimal dust. This is why they are often used as factory pads.
Remember, all things automotive are about comprimises. For the average guy, quiet, dustless and fairly cheap, is what matters for brake pads. Admittedly, I live in an area where few people do anything to their cars themselves. The last time I was changing my own brakes in the drive, the guy down the street asked "why, doesn't it stop?", "you know you could just take it to Midas, they'll do it in like 1 hour". Clearly, he just doesn't get it. Neither does the vast majority of the motoring public. Cermaic pads usually trade off all other traits to achive their quiet operation with low dusting. Other things to consider in a pad are; cost, life expectancy, heat disipation, heat resistance, initial bite, repeated/prolonged fade resisitance, pressure to achieve a given decleration rate among a host of other parameters.
You seem to be concerned about how long they wear also but a bit less about price. I have two suggestions if these are your priorities. First, Ford factory pads. No these are not the exact same formulation as Motorcraft pads. Factory pads last me about 75,000 miles on my Explorer (daily driver, moderate off-road, heavy towing). They are quiet, relativly low dusting, moderatly priced and last a long time. Remember, these are not the same as Motorcraft. Second, my personal favorite, Hawk Super Duty. These perform exceptionally. Good heat tolerance, long lasting (50K miles for me) decent initial bite, good fade resistance, moderate dusting, and if installed exactly to the manufacturers specifications quiet too. They are however a little pricey. Another ceramic pad may give you the service life, quiet and low dusting you're after but it is a matter of guessing. As i said, each will differ wildly. The proper Ceramic with the correct manufacturing technique and the proper proportions even works well in the extremes of an endurance racing inviroment but it requires a complete braking system designed to work in this enviroment with this exact pad.
Wonder how I have experience with a variety of pads etc.? I drive about 50-60K miles a year and my girlfriend racks up another 45K. Spread across several different vehicles of coarse. I do all of my own maintenance. Putting that many miles a year on or vehicles gives me a vast degree of experience with most things involving maintenance. My priorities are heavily scewed towards performance but this allows me to learn where and on what to spend my money.
