Having to change front brake pads, with 270000 mi. Ive changed them more time than I can remember, I would like to hear some opinions on different pads, there is quite a price range on them at places like autozone, orielys and napa, from about 30 dollars to 90.00 dollars, I tow a lot and cant quite afford what it really needs, ( jake brake)  I just tore into it today because of a leaky caliper to find out it has a broken piston so this on my list to do.

NAPAs, non-ceramic

I typically buy the cheapest pads I can get. Why? Because I want something with the least amount of metallic compounds that is not going to eat the rotors. As for pad life I get 185k miles from OEM pads and will do my next brake service at about 360k miles roughly. Why? Exhaust brake is used for 90% of my stopping power so brake pedal is rarely ever touched. So ultimately if you want the longest life from brake pads you need a exhaust brake.

Yes my thoughts exactly

With an automatic, I could give 2 beans about cutting into the rotors. I want the HIGHEST metal content I can find so I can stop this 3.5 ton pig without hitting anything. Best I've found are the severe duty wagners. I think amazon or rock auto- like 29 bucks maybe? Major improvement.

Edited May 9, 201510 yr by AGPTurbo

No different that my pig or beast...

Sure it is, you have a manual with an exhaust brake- these auto trucks are like runaway trains! Take out mopar mom's truck and try to stop with the e brake- You stick shift guys are spoiled with all of those choices HAHAHAHAA!

Sure it is, you have a manual with an exhaust brake- these auto trucks are like runaway trains! Take out mopar mom's truck and try to stop with the e brake- You stick shift guys are spoiled with all of those choices HAHAHAHAA!

 

  You win...

 

Automatic are horrid for hold back power. The do fine for pulling but even my 96 Dodge is bad about steep grades. You end up riding the brakes to the bottom. So yeah... I would say you better off with a 17" wheels and 3rd Gen brakes that would improve the braking power and might do bit better for pad life.

I like ceramic pads, use Wagner thermoquiet on my jeep but couldn't find them for my truck so I went with wearever silver or gold ceramic from advance auto.

Stay away from the high dollar ceramics is all I can say, I have tried them 2 times and currently have them on my 05 and the stopping power absolutely sucks and the brake fade is horrible with them, need to plan ahead for the heavy load stops and even normal daily driving the amount of brake pedal pressure needed to stop is more than normal pads.

i use the Napa sure stops. i like them. i get about 30000 outa a set.

i use the Napa sure stops. i like them. i get about 30000 outa a set.

30K????????

 

WOW I don't think I have ever gotten under 80K from a set of even cheap ones on any vehicle I have ever owned, you must do a lot of city stop and go?

i have kids. they don't get the coast to a stop. i average about 38K a set.

i do lots of mountain driving. auto no jake brake.

pads are cheep. like 50$ i think. not a big deal.

Ah, I get it now, I too have a lot of hills and some folks laugh at me because I manually shift all my auto rigs almost as much as some do manuals on hills ect, but it works well for me. I really like doing this on my 05 as it only coasts so far before automatically locking up the tc clutch in down hill coasts.

I've always got weird looks for using the transmission to control road speed and climbing power. In the 1996 I will gear down and use it as much as possible. I've been known on steep grades of dropping into 4WD LO and crawling off some of my steeper stuff...

 

I do the same thing, I treat my auto like a standard. Thank God trailer brakes. I guess I won't be spending the big bucks on ceramic pads just because I dont need brake fading. I would rather eat my rotors up than have my brakes fade premature and cause an accident. Rotors are cheap to replace anyway. Maybe when the funds allow I can get what it realy needs

I have EBC green pads in the rear, I hate them. Squeaked forever and when heated, won't stop. Coasted through a stop sign or two with those rear pads when loaded.

Just think about something. When Chrysler is building vehicles do you think they are using high quality / high priced brake pads / shoes? Of course not they are using the minimum requirements they have too. Better profit margins of course... So it comes down to what you use your vehicle for and where you drive. But I would say that most "High Quality Brakes" like above don't perform all that great. Even when I was work at the shop Lindy was always buying the middle of the line brake pads / shoes. At least he claimed the cheap / economy didn't last long. The high quality pads typically ate the rotors before the pads also noisy with squeaks and such. Where the middle of the line did rather well for wear and stopping power.

 

But I tend to look at some of these report of short life and tend to look at that more so as driver error. I do realize that living in a large city in stop and go traffic is very demanding for brakes but again there is thing a drive can do to reduce brake wear even in those conditions.

 

Then the comment about about Automatics... I my 1996 still has factory OEM brake shoes and pads yet at 159k miles. That's a 46RE automatic truck, gasoline engine, 3.55 gears.

Well. Be very careful when you change the brakes on that 96. My 97 had some bad brake issues once the factory brakes were changed.

we couldn't figure it out and neither could the three dealers or two good private shops that tried to tackle it.

We changed everything but the abs system. Looking back, I suspect the abs system was the culprit, but we couldn't find a new abs valve block thingy

i think of it in the respect that i'd rather replace rotors and pads and know the truck will stop then worry about saving a few dollars and wonder if it's going to stop.

i downshift when i can. the kids and wife however are still learning the art.

I always get the best brake pads out there because your life depends on them. I will say l never bought ceramic and after reading this thread l'm glad l didn't