Ceramic Pads or other ? Please help.

[coquibone14]

i currently have ythe metal composite ones silver brand from discount auto....the braking is decent but the dust created is tremendous and.....they sqqeal like a mofugguh

[marc780]

I doubt i will ever use ceramics, i dont think i need them for the type of driving i do. If you drive very hard with a lot of hard braking on hills, etc. then they are good because they will resist overheating better than the regular kind and maybe you should try them. But i know they are a harder material, wear the rotors faster, are likely to squeal, and also cost more.

Also i drive in southern california, where the driving conditions are usually either stop and go or freeway cruising and so ceramics offer me few advantages, and so i just use the regular type of brake pads.

[Pimpinda93camry]

I have silvers from fedarated and they squeak when they are cold but whenb the heat up they are fine....

but they do have a lot of brake dust. and it is harder to get off then the oem... i think i will go get new ones soon even though i just put htem brakes on.

[renmike]

Originally Posted by James100

I got the Duralast gold ceramic from Autozone for I think it was $32 for my friends car for the front. They have a lifetime guarantee for wear so when they wear down you just bring them back and you get new pads for free. As of yet they do not make any noise. Anyhow I figured I would give this a try because of the guarantee figuring also if they make noise or I have problems I would just bring them back and get a refund. Almost a no brainer.

I had read several post on here and thats why I got the Duralast rotors and pads from Autozone. If you dont like them you can just take them back. The rotors and pads were approx $92 for the front. Also make sure to take out the slide pins and clean and apply the silicone grease. 2 of the slide pins on this car were rusty.

They also come with the shims on the back to keep them quite. I did use a little sand paper on the end of one to make it fit better however.

Are you sure the lifetime warranty is for wear, or excessive wear due to manufacturer defect? Because, I've never had explained to me that when brake pads wear out (normal wear and tear) that you can just bring them in for a new set. Now, if they happen to come apart or are defective in some other way, I can understand that.

That'd be like anything thing else that is designed to wear down, like tires.

But, if that is the true case with those brake pads, check the fine print. I know that quite a few things with 'lifetime' warranties require that you replace other group-specific items or else the warranty is not honored, i.e. a fuel filter with a fuel pump, dryer and condenser with an ac compressor, etc. i wouldn't be surprised if when you took your worn out pads in for a new set that they ask if you replaced your rotors at the same time or something to that effect, which in your case you'd have that covered.

[amerikim]

OEM?
I thought the V6s came with ceramics as standard.
I even think I read it in the Toyota maint manual.

[Toysrme]

Hawk HPS. been saying it for 3-4 years now. Best pads money can buy for this car by a *wide* margin!

[nodrogkam]

v6's come with ceramics from toyota. good stuff.
i'd stick with ceramics if the car came with them.

[95camguy]

i put akebono ceramics all the way around on my 95 v6 and some of the benefits i had noticed over regular pads are less dust; less noise; and they seem to last longer than non ceramic pads. i put about 50k miles on a set of ceramics before i got rid of my camry and even after that many miles the pads still looked good.

[nodrogkam]

akebono ftw. thats what i use.

[Pimpinda93camry]

I just went out to auto zone and bought some of there duralast golds.

I like them so far.
i got some of the duralast brake lube that the guy recomended.
put them on....

went for the test drive... NO Noise...good

a little bit of spongeness...bad

I was a little mad.... so i took it to my freinds house to get his opion.

He said to let the breaks bed in before judging.(since it is just around the corner)

I drove it some... did the proper bed in. (still in process since not engouh time).

got better each brake time i brake.

no noise and pretty good braking and low dust.

moral of the story is to get good breaks and dont be cheap.

[Toysrme]

I ate up some of those crap Autozone Duralast pads in less than 10,000 miles. Front, and rear.

[nodrogkam]

i installed the duralast gold ceramics on a friend's accord. he loves em.
haha hopefully the ceramics dont wear out at 10K...that'd be insane.