[Shotimes] ceramic brake pads?

[Leigh Smith]

Jason,
I have had both. The Porterfield RTS, Carbotech F, Hawk HPS are high
performance high friction pads and handle heat very well. Work well for
street or track. Don't dust too bad at all, especially for hi-perf pads. But
pricey.
The ceramics are newer, I run them on the street (on a van), not much dust.
Not sure how they would tolerate track days, etc. The mfgr's do not
recommend them for track use. Not sure why. Friction doesn't seem to be
quite as high as the prior pads, but about "normal". They do handle heat
very well though. I had a sticking caliper/brake hose on the van, and things
got almost red-hot, but never had any fade! Even destroyed the pads
(cracked) & the caliper seals from the heat, & warped the rotors.
Maybe someone else has tried them in a performance situation.
Many have tried the Ford pads even on the track and they work well as long
as you have the 96 brakes.
The Performance Friction pads work very well too but are dusty.
Basically as long as you have the bigger brakes, the car is much less
sensitive or "needy" for the expensive pads.
Lee

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hartberger, Jason M. AT3" <hartbejm@roosevelt.navy.mil>
To: "SHOtimes mailing list (E-mail)" <shotimes@autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, December 23, 2004 3:24 PM
Subject: [Shotimes] ceramic brake pads?


> Tire Rack says that "ceramic pads are recommended by the manufacturere etc
> etc."... is this true? I know the SHOs came with semi-met pads to begin
> with... should I get ceramic pads? Do they offer any performance
advantages
> over composite pads? like the Hawk HPS? I don't know what to do here...
the
> ceramic pads seem cheaper but to me they don't seem to be as aggressive...
> they seem like they'd handle heat better than other pads, though - being
> ceramic and all - and isn't heat what causes fading mostly? Any inputs? I
> want a pad that doesn't put out a metric shit-ton of dust (I'm quite
> flexible with that) but one that handles heat well. What should I go with?
>
> Jason
>
> Sorry for all the questions... too much time to think.
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