Best brake pads

Get you a set of ceramic pads. Best pads on the market. They usually run about $36

Sax,

Always had good results with Performance Friction.

Yeah, just don't abuse them. My dad cracked TWO on his Durango, towing a pop-up (with trailer brakes) down a hill somewhere in the midwest or west. Yeah, it was a steep grade and he had to brake fairly hard, but they shouldn't have cracked! Raybestos PG Plus or the Performance Friction (carbon metallic model if there's more than one) as Doc has suggested. Ceramic isn't the be-all end-all of brake pads. Heck, I dunno what GM is making the pads out of on the newer trucks but they seem to be lasting forever, some have gone 115,000 miles on the OE pads.

If you really want to get sexy, do what was done on my TurboCoupe...I know, its a ford, but NEVER had a problem with the brakes.

Use semi-metallic on one side of the caliper and organics on the other. You get the cold stopping power of the organics, and the hot multiple stop power of the metallics.

What? So you would get about 50% of the stopping efficiency under both conditions when the temperature is at each extreme! Not a good idea. Why not just use a ceramic or Kevlar based lining that's good with all temperatures? Besides semi metallic and organic won't wear at the same rate.

nospam

That's the way it came from the factory. Like I said. Never had a stopping problem. Full pedal stops from 20 when it was cold and 120 when they were hot.

How do you know it's like that from the factory? I've never heard of anything so absurd. What's the option number for that?

nospam

Thanks for the link Doc. I guess the Z-rated pads are what i'm looking for as opposed to the silent ceramic ones or are they both equally good? Do you know of a site where i can order because the pf site doesn't seem to do that and i can't even find wich pads fit my truck. Thanks for the help and that goes for everyone.

grtz sax

GM did this in the late 70s and early 80s on A bodies (Malibu and Monte Carlos) and possibly F bodies (can't remember for sure).

Sax,

Just the plain old Performance Friction pads, not the Z or ceramics.

Doc

Forgot to mention i'm in Belgium and it seems they don't ship internationally but am i correct in assuming these are carbon metallic and around $30 ? I'm sure i'll find someone who ships them i just don't want to order the wrong ones.

grtz sax

I'm sorry, I just can't believe that this was done. To put two items in one assembly for the sole purpose of stopping a vehicle and using two different materials with different heat coefficients just doesn't equal sound engineering. I'm a mechanical engineer by trade and do know about materials, and unless I can read a document from an auto manufacturer about this and why it would work it didn't happen. The reasoning behind this is not sound. In theory it sounds good, but in practice it would not.

nospam

Not only did GM mix metallic brake pads with asbestos, they had applications where the inner pad was part brake friction material and part thermal material. I'd be guessing but I believe the reason was that Delco-Moraine didn't want to pay royalties to Kelsey-Hayes for being able to use phenolic resin caliper pistons.

Wait a minute, I believe that may have used composite materials for brake friction material. That would be how you would do it. But to have two entirely foreign materials on either side of the rotor as C Vaughan suggests makes no sense.

nospam

Yup, those are the ones, between $30 and $50 a set, depending on application.

Doc

They did it on non power assisted disc brakes. The asbestos side made for less pedal effort when cold, the metallic side gave better hot performance. I'll look tomorrow to see if I have any old TSBs that covered this particular set up. (ISTR there being one ) No promises since I do remember throwing out a bunch of old TSBs a while back...

Great, thanks Doc

grtz sax