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Does anyone have or has anyone had ceramic brake pads? Supposedly they have more stopping power than stock and they eliminate brake dust. The brake dust is killing me. My wheels look grey after like 3 days. How long do ceramic pads cost and are they worth it?
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There's only one way to eliminate brake dust. Build a room for your car, park it, drain all fluids, and imagine driving it.
Seriously, you're not going to find a brake pad that doesn't dust, and most aftermarket pads I've tried for my other cars ended up dusting more than the OEs that come on the car. If you go aftermarket, I recommend staying away from ferro-carbon (iron particle-containing) pads because they seem to create a nastier type of brake dust than the carbon-kevlar variety.
I've not heard of ceramic pads except for the kind that go with ceramic rotors. Maybe someone else can enlighten.
KFP (formerly Cool Carbon) makes an aftermarket pad I've used on my RX-7. It's a carbon-kev pad with a layer of ceramic between the backing plate and pad material. In this pad the ceramic acts as an insulator to help keep heat from building in the calipers. Don't know if they have an RX-8 application yet.
From what I heard...ceramic pads are supposed to be dust free. I qusetioned that, and that is why I made this thread. I was sure someone from this forum had tried them or knew something about them. I know the kevlar ones WILL dust, but the ceramic ones aren't supposed to. Anyone know for a fact about ceramics?
Raybestos sells a line of ceramic pads called "Quiet Stop" I had
some on my wifes Honda. This brand had lower dust level and
long life. Dont know if they have a application for the 8 yet.
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Originally posted by Efini 8 ceramic is great. its used in racing specs
i'm curious: where can we find out more about this??
i looked into the Raybestos Quiet Stop semi-metallics, which use ceramics in them (i think to suspend the metallic particles? it's a guess...). but this is very much a passenger car/SUV brake pad, designed for long term durability under mostly low-load conditions. how about it Efini8?? do you remember if there are any big name race pad makers using this technology??
edit: here EBC outlines their "new and improved" Red Stuff compound (which is a road/race product) which uses ceramic, and supposedly does alright at the track, and wears long enough for the street...?? but still nothing is said about their more serious products...
and here still, ceramics are mentioned in the street compounds, but the more serious race compounds are "dual carbon"...
here are the guys i was really looking for, Hawk. and again, it seems that ceramic composite brake pads seem best suited for passenger/commuter use, not so much for track use...??
i find it kind of cute to hear Hawk describe their Blue pads as "low wear", when i hear horror stories of guys eating their rotors for breakfast, without even breaking a sweat... think about what those ultra-high performance compounds would do
Originally posted by wakeech here are the guys i was really looking for, Hawk. and again, it seems that ceramic composite brake pads seem best suited for passenger/commuter use, not so much for track use...??
i find it kind of cute to hear Hawk describe their Blue pads as "low wear", when i hear horror stories of guys eating their rotors for breakfast, without even breaking a sweat... think about what those ultra-high performance compounds would do
The thing about the Hawk Blues (and Blacks) is that they need to be up to temperature for both performance, and to decrease dust and wear on the rotors. To get these things up to temperature, you basically have to run on a race track. Even an autocross is not long enough, fast enough, and hard enough on brakes to get a set of blues up to temp before the run is done. There is practically no way to get them up to operating temps on the street, so if anyone has put them on their street cars because they think they'll get better braking from those pads, they will eat their rotors. They are a poor choice for the street as far as performance, wear, and dusting. If you use them on track at the right temperatures, they don't wear rotors down any quicker.
As far as using ceramics for performance gains, using ceramics in a street pad as a binding material (meaning performance gains are indirectly, not directly affected) is alot different from the pure ceramic pad/rotor combinations that some race series use. At this point, they way it's used, and the costs associated make it purely a racing material, and only at the highest levels. Just like true high-strength carbon fiber panels are only seen in race cars, while the "street stuff" is basically fiberglass with expensive fibers, and offer minimal improvements over standard fiberglass compared to the stuff used on champ cars.
---jps
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Update. Supposedly Bendix has CT-3 type brake pads available for the larger type of RX-8 brakes. I'm still trying to confirm this. Anyone else?
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