What are you using them for? Daily driving? Track duty?

What do you want most of your pads? Quiet? Long life? Good initial bite? Fade resistance?

Please be more specific. There is no one best brake pad out there.

 

I asked the same question a few weeks ago. I was all set to buy the OEM pads and rotors, but we just couldn't afford it. I went to a local parts dealer and bought the mid grade rotors and some Evolution pads which are a ceramic pad. So far they work great, no complaints. Found out I had a frozen caliper pin. After lubing all the pins and changing out the four sets of pads and rotors, the car stops great!

You are going to find everyone has a different opinion.

Personally I would choose either the evolution pads like I did, Bendix either CT3 or the semi-metallic, or OEM's.

Good luck.

 

What about wagner pads? right now they have the Edge ones
and are offering a rebate..hold on wait..hmm rebate=cheap=
bad experience with "Bosch" crap a laugh plugs=rebate..

Anyone have a opinion on Wagner products..great head lights at one time..but brake pads?

I guess maybe semi-metallic is better then ceramic?

thanks for additional imput

Skully

 

Wagner makes good quality brake pads, they are also a supplier to a lot of OEMs.

I have Thermoquiets myself on my daily driver. Great pads, low dust and good initial bite. Very quiet.

 

Toyota OEM. Toyota OEM. Toyota OEM. Toyota OEM. Toyota OEM.

I am amazed at the incessant search for a better aftermarket brake pad. I have been driving Toyota/Lexus vehicles for 37 years. On a few occasions I experimented with premium aftermarket pads. None of them were as good as factory. Some would dust more, some would leave deposits on the rotor, some were noisy. I can not say this strongly enough, there is not a better pad out there than Toyota OEM when you consider life, noise, dust and stopping power. And, they don't cost any more and sometimes less than the fancy aftermarket jobs.

 

But you're taking away the fun of the hunt. And buying OEM is what grandfather's do...boring.

But if reliable braking performance, with no dust, is what you're looking for, I'd stay with OEM Toyota. Same on my wife's Odyssey...OEM.

 

So then I have to go to the toyota dealer and pay $$$$$?
I am sure oem pads can be found like at Orielys or Autozone?
cheers

 

Forgive my reality based response -- I enjoy confusing people with real facts, not just prejudices.

I recently purchased OE front pads for my '03 Avalon from garys@toyotaofnewnan.com. The price was $37.09. They were an add-on to a special order for my son's car, but let me allocate half the $10 S&H to these pads, or $5. That makes the total delivered to my door $42.09.

I'm looking at the Advance web site. They're only a 10 minute drive. AZ is 20 min each way, so I don't even consider them. Advance wants $42.99 for the cheapest ceramic front pads for my vehicle. Plus tax. Plus the cost to drive there, which I'll lowball at half a gallon of gas, or $1.50 Plus a half hour of my time.

So, the Wearever pads would cost 42.99 + 3.24 tax + 1.50 gas= $47.73(+30m minutes) to my door.

My math tells me the OE is cheaper. And then there's quality....................

 

So Ted...ceramic is best then right as to the original rotors?

I just want what is best for my car.I think the rotors are decent.
yet at some braking there is a slight shuddering.

I have nothing against oem or staying with toyota parts.
there is a limit though on cost as to other necessities we have to make allowances for and this we all understand.

That price range seems reasonable. I just felt the wagners might be decent
bendix...sounds oem ..have a great day

 

You buy a Toyota so you can genuine Toyota components.. nuff said

 

To be fair, my local Toy dealers charge 130-150% of MSRP for most parts, so the walk-in price for OE would be significantly higher. And if I were the type to not pay attention to my brakes until I hear the metal on metal, I might not be able to wait a few days for parts to arrive. But with a little planning and paying attention, I can have the quality parts when I need them, at good prices.

 

To be fair, my local Toy dealers charge 130-150% of MSRP for most parts, so the walk-in price for OE would be significantly higher. And if I were the type to not pay attention to my brakes until I hear the metal on metal, I might not be able to wait a few days for parts to arrive. But with a little planning and paying attention, I can have the quality parts when I need them, at good prices.

That is absurd!! I am in Toronto, Ont,Canada. I order parts from Mechanicsville Toyota, Mechanicsville, VA. Their prices are as good as anyone. Prices are below the MSRP. For example, I paid $110 & $105 for OE Sensors. If I were to buy from Toyota Dealership in oronto, I would have paid $320 & $350 for them. Even with shipping, I saved a lot.

The only reason I use Wagner for brakes is that I can't bear the noise brakes make. This is a known problem in Avs. The OE brakes make scree......chy noise daily in Winter or day after rainy day (Yes. I park on my driveway. I guess they create run quite fast), especially in Winter.

 

Ceramic is the top of the line material in lines aimed at street/highway driving. (In addition to excellent braking performance, they don't leave significant dust on wheels, and are near noiseless.) I don't know about any specialized (e.g., racing) applications. OEM for my '03 is ceramic. Not sure how far back in time that's true, but suspect Toyota has upgraded the spec for cars that originally came with other than ceramic.

 

I'd assume all avy's came with ceramic since they were stock on my 95. A year or 2 ago, I switched to wagner thermoquiet pads, and they've been working out fine since then. At the time I wasn't coming here often, or I probably would've gone with OEM. I was tempted to buy a set of EBC red stuff at the time, but was talked out of it at Oreilly.

 

ordered a set of thermoquiet

Hey Guys thanks a lot

I appreciate each response I found a awesome price
at rock auto and I even get 30.00 back I asked around here
and even local and was told wagner thermoquiets are great.

So Rock Auto is shipping them Monday

Thanks everyone

 

i ordered some crap pads from rockauto since i wanted to try out for my daily. they started to fad and stunk within 2500 miles. time for a change.


-vince

 

I've never had any issues buying aftermarket brake pads as long as I stuck with a supplier that makes OEM, like Bendix, Raybestos or Wagner(Federal Mogul.) Ceramic is the way to go on passenger applications. Racing is whole 'nother story. If I could get the stock OEM pads as cheap, I'd do it.

 

What about rotors, oem or aftermarket? I am thinking about going with Raybestos. $30 for the fronts and $25, professional grade.:naughty:

 

I love bendix CT3 series. Really nice, silent and no dust so the rims are always very clean without car washing.

 

Just thought I'd dredge this thread back up, as I want to make sure my next pads are indeed LOW DUST while still offering good road performance and quiet operation.

My '96 Avy has the factory 6-spoke aluminum alloys (made by OZ in Italy; nice wheels!) but the pads that are on there now (installed by PO) are horrible dusters and are ruining their finish. I might need to eventually get them refinished.

I always like to use factory parts when I know they're good; are the OEM pads indeed low dusters? You guys running Thermoquiet pads: where did you buy them?

 

I run OEM pads. I can't really tell on my Camry if they're low dust or not, because it's got steelys with hubcaps; I can't see much. On my Avalon, which has the factory aluminum wheels, I don't really see much dust (had to go out and look, I'm not very observant about this stuff cuz I don't really care). All of the aftermarket pads I've tried squealed like a stuck pig!... And *nothing* would make it go away, and I tried every trick I know.

I might try a set of the Akebono ceramics (ProACT???) that JohnGD always recommends. I wouldn't mind better braking power. On Tirerack.com, they're actually just a bit cheaper than OEM pads; I see they're on sale right now.

 

I can't tell the diff between OEM and Akebono ProAct. Both are excellent.

 

BMR, I have an Avalon that's a twin to yours ('96 XLS, white, ABS, factory alloys, moonroof).

Well, I recently discovered that PBR (Repco Deluxe) pads are available for the Avalon :clap:. I've had very good results with them in the past, and installed them (front and rear) yesterday. They should keep those nice OZ wheels relatively clean while still providing good performance. :thumbsup:

 

I put on some Wagner ThermoQuiets and I like them a lot. I have a ton of stop and go traffic on major highways in Dallas.

 

Hey Guys thanks a lot

I appreciate each response I found a awesome price
at rock auto and I even get 30.00 back I asked around here
and even local and was told wagner thermoquiets are great.

So Rock Auto is shipping them Monday

Thanks everyone

Skully4@ Would you like to share your experience please. I am willing to buy Wagner ThermoQuiet QC465A ceramic disc pad set. If you able to give me feedback about the Wagner brake pads then it will be easy for me to buy it or not. I read few top website review using google search like this site https://theeffectiveguide.com/best-brake-pads/ .
I have checked 4-5 site using term of best brake pads. Wanger ThermoQuiet was the common brake name. Thus, I want to buy this one. Please share your experience about brake pads.

 

Doesn't look like Skully has posted in quite a while, you may not get a response.

 

Three of the main issues I see when doing brakes are :

1) Cleaning the surface of the mag wheels so you remove corrosion so the rim makes good contact with the rotor to be a good heat sink and cool the rotor.

2) When replacing calipers, you need to lube the internal rubber seals and pistons with rubber grease so they don't end up hanging up and causing brake drag after a short time.

3) Breaking in the pads properly, The Power Stop pads I brought had great break instructions. Initial break in is more complex than most people think and needs to be done right.

 

I can advise you about what NOT to buy. I put Auto Zone cheapie $29.99 rotors and their generic ceramic pads on the front of my 2003 Avalon. I have to stomp on the brake to get the car to stop. I don't care because I don't have to stomp on the gas pedal to get the car to move. It just runs great. Hopefully I'll get a few years out of the rotors before they start to warp.

 

What I did not like about inexpensive pads was the paint on the back pealed and let the backs rust, the blistered and bubbled paint looked to me like it would be making the brakes spongy as it was not a solid surface for the piston to push on. I likes the Power Stop pad's paint on the surfaces and the anti rattle clips that came with the pads were well made.

 

What ever pad you buy, You need to break them in properly, This is what Power Stop says to do. It is very different than most do! The main thing is not to stop completely ! So you need to find roads that will allow you to do it. I waited until traffic was light and the roads were clear to do the break in.

https://www.powerstop.com/brake-pad-break-in-procedure/