My daily driver is squealing with the brakes... I'm really disappointed with the serive life of the pads that my mechanic has been using. Honestly, I don't drive slow but I believe in inticipating my turns & need to stop & prepositioning my vehicle in the corrrect lane... coasting off speed (like getting free gas) before finally using the brakes. It seems like every year I'm replacing brakes & the shop charges are not cheap. So, I'm going to just stick new pads on it myself. But what to get? The prices are all over. I'm out of touch with the better/lesser grades. What to get? Where to get it?Thanks, guys!

I use the cheap ceramic pads from oreilly's or the house brand I your choice. It is a simple job if you have a jack.

i use wearever silver pads from advance auto and they last a couple years to 3 years cheap too

I just used middle of the range Wagner from Advance, metallic I think.

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I just used middle of the range Wagner from Advance, metallic I think.

I guess its how you drive if you tow etc. I have wagners and I do not like them at all they squeal bad and they are suppose to be the "quite" ones the more expensive ones. I am going to try out the powerstop heavy duty ones.

I believe your mechanic might be using the less expensive 'organic' pads to help save the rotors from wearing.I use them they are cheaper, yes, but, I'd rather keep my rotors in good shape. I have had problems lately with the calipers sticking so I'm sure glad about using the cheaper pads. There might be a better organic pad out there that still won't cut into the rotors so bad. All about how much research the manufacturer does.... I guess.I have heard a lot about Hawk's brand being very good from Geno's but, don't know anything about wear.

the wearever silvers dont tear up rotors either last up to 3 years (i dont tow) and dont make noise.

I decided to go with O'Riellys ceramic pads. I like their site & gave a wide selection in an understandable fashon & I have no love lost for local sources. It seems that the local mechanics slap on new discs whether they need them or not... and can't find them when I specifically asked for them back. I'm not sure what size socket I need to get the caliper studs off on the Cirrus. A friend of mine got into it with a local shop (I wont go back there)... every time they touch his brakes, it's $250. He asked the owner why & got the flippant answer "Because I can".Anyrate, it I need a socket, I'll get it. I suspect it's a torex & I don't have many of them.

Heat is another cause for break down of rotors. I tried to have my wife's rotor's turned on the ole minivan and they were below spec and they had never been turned. So I got new rotors haha

I try to get the cheapest things for brake pads in hopes to get the least amount metallic material in the pads. This will of course have weaker braking power vs. a high dollar pads but the lack of metallic material keeps from eating the rotors down to paper thin in a few years.I don't know what it is about me but I've only done one set of brakes on my truck since I bought it brand new. 2002 with 213K miles. The Mopar Mom's 96 with 149K miles I never done brakes on it yet and keep inspecting them though. This is a gasser truck and auto to boot. don't ask me but I normal drive in such a fashion that I don't need brakes very much. Even in Mom's gasser I use the trans to slow down with and use the brakes more so to stop me and hold placement that to slow from high speeds.

Anyrate, it I need a socket, I'll get it. I suspect it's a torex & I don't have many of them.

I recently had mine apart to do a hub conversion and it was T47 for the caliper bolts. I bought a set when I worked on my friends silverado from Sears it had a T27, 47, 55, 60. the smaller two are 3/8" drive and the bigger two are 1/2". I think I paid $30 or so. The regular set I have didn't have the sizes we needed. Edit: I thought you where talking about the '01. My mistake.

My DD is the Cirrus & the caliper bolts turned out to be a metric socket from the inside. I did the passenger side first & the first assembly, the bolts went right in by fingers but the swept area of the pads hit the old rust edge. The 11" disc won't fit on my lathe & I was unsure of my ability to remove the rust bump with a hand grinder so I went to the local NAPA & bought discs $22.xx each so I'm still under a bill for the brakes. The caliper bolts fought me the second re-assembly. I pulled them out & they didn't appear to be cross threaded. We'll find out next time!The driver side the caliper bolts HAD already been replaced/rethreaded. Slid right together. I drove the car yesterday. It stops like it should, the squeal is gone. YES!!I'm trying to decide it I want to monkey with the old discs or scrap them. It poured rain as I was heading back to the car from shopping. It was raining more than I liked before the BOOM & flash of LIGHT! I was about half way to the car in the HC space... I got rather drenched before I could get my weak leg in the door (reverse cane & use the cane to hook under foot & lift in) finally closed. I retrained from dancing in the rain singing "Missed Me!" Might have been a tad risky!So the driver's side wiper proceeded to come apart. I interrupted the brakes to install new wipers on the truck... from a step ladder. (The old blades on the truck just did not want to release... but they were coming off even if I had to use an act of violence.) I have spare blades for the Cirrus... almost new, when I removed to put winter wipers on. So I'll slide them on today.