Brake Pads - Which Do You Prefer?

northernfist, Jul 20, 6:53am
Hi everyone,

I am about to replace my rear brake pads. I really prefer low-dust ones. Which brands do you have good experience with for daily driving?

How do Techstop brake pads perform, any good?

Cheers in advance.
franc123, Jul 20, 7:34am
BNT's CeramicPlus, or CPlus. They are easily the best overall value in the market IMO.
northernfist, Jul 20, 7:38am
These are low-dust ones, right? Cheers.
franc123, Jul 20, 7:40am
Yep sure are.
kazbanz, Jul 21, 5:10am
Its darn frustrating but for me the low dust pads which SHOLD be better all round are the ones I find I'm replacing because "the brakes squeal"
So the customer comes back complaining.
There is no logical explaination but bung the cheapo pads in and they are happiness filled.
northernfist, Jul 21, 9:02am
Which low-dust pads are those?
kazbanz, Jul 21, 11:40am
ill go look next time Im at compliance :-)
northernfist, Jul 29, 3:49am
And these do not eat rotors like other ceramic pads? I still have factory rotors on mine. Cheers.
martin11, Jul 29, 4:06am
Still got the original rotors on my 1977 car with 135000 km on them .
morrisman1, Jul 29, 4:10am
Its metallic pads that eat rotors from my understanding. Ive run C Plus for years too on various applications. They perform well. Even used them in a race car once as I needed pads on a weekend and they worked surprisingly well.
franc123, Jul 29, 4:15am
No not at all. Not noticed any issues with anything at all that shouldnt be happening. I've got then in 4 different vehicles now.
northernfist, Jul 29, 4:40am
Thanks for the input, mates.
yz490, Jul 29, 4:47am
Often now days people refer to brake shoes as pads. My "80's mazda had shoes on the rear & pads on the front, Was a damn dangerous combo no matter how good i had the rear . Made lots of dust & kept it in the drum mostly so had to regularly wash the drums out & scuff the drum & shoes then manually adjust right up & was acceptable for a while but only just. Never ever failed on the rollers at vtnz but i'm sure if the rollers let all 4 wheels be tested at the same time the imbalance would show up. The thing hated white lines if you had to cross one while braking in the wet--just locked momentarily the wheel crossing the white line. Did run a theory past vtnz of an adjustable proportioning valve but the guy said na its normal as it is so don't worry. Had it for about 15-20 years & sold it as a wrecker, parts or repair as could see it was going to have dire consequences for the unwary if road legal. Only i drove it & knew its bad habits. & only ever ran into a gatepost in the paddock lol when it was past its road useby but that was sledging in the wet grass--driver error. "84 2 liter coupe--went well too. Sorry for the--umm--Rant. Carry on.
sr2, Jul 29, 1:26pm
Would be interested in knowing the year and model?
yz490, Jul 30, 4:31am
Would be interested in knowing the year and model? Yes +1 to that #15.
bill-robinson, Jul 30, 5:24am
the OP needs to understand how brakes work i think. with friction you will get wear, either cast iron or brake pad dust. to cure this unsightly problem do not use the car or do not use the brakes. OR wash the wheels once a week with a hose before you use the car to prevent heat stressing the disks as they will be cold. my2c
sr2, Jul 30, 12:34pm
LOL, it was the year and model of your 80's Mazda I was inquiring about.
tamarillo, Jul 30, 1:00pm
Always understood ceramic pads produce less dust and of lighter colour that shows less. Sure still must produce some but less is selling feature.
clark20, Jul 30, 1:35pm
When I was racing I used carbon Metallic pads, and people told me they wear the rotor , thing was the pads cost more than the rotors.
yz490, Jul 31, 8:33am
Oh sorry haha. I had that in the last line "84 2 liter coupe [GLX] carbureted single cam motor. Trying to remember the rego but this is it although no pic.
https://www.carjam.co.nz/car/?plate=YW7351
sr2, Jul 31, 9:13am
They were a cool little car in their day.

Did you ever check the 'proportioning valve' in the T coupling (mounted on the diff) that the rear brake hose plugs into?

Although referred to as a 'proportioning valve' it was actually a spring loaded pressure limiting valve, they did have a habit of freezing up and producing the symptoms you described in #14. I seem to recall the series 1 RX7 could have had similar issues?

One proviso here; it's a long, long time since I was working on brakes from 80's Jappas,. the "Al-Simons" disease may have me blowing smoke out of my arse!
yz490, Dec 14, 11:43pm
Re #22
Yeah i'm not young anymore lol but it was front wheel drive although still needs a diff but do you mean RWD. I remember the pipes all branched from a central box [proportioning valve? or not] on the firewall not far from the master cylinder. after that i'm lost. Had adjustable damping via a button on the dash. Was too softly sprung at the rear so fitted [jacked up] some springs inside the originals for towing a trailer that was heavy on the drawbar. Seized the cam in the head once when head gasket crumbled & blocked the oil way & No3 bore got etched with water over time. Dressed up the cam journals with the vacuum cleaner pipe & sandpaper & good for another 10 years with new rings. Just kept fixing it till it rusted away pretty much. Had a good close ratio feeling box with even spacing all the way. Sorry--hogging OP's story.
Oh, one more--had a fangled thing i unhooked on the steering rack that when you were pulling out of a parallel park for instance, it would activate something [solenoid by memory] that would nudge the throttle arm at the carb & drag the revs up as you turned the steering wheel. Hated that straight away. But wait there's more--When i bought it the clutch was a bugger to free. I could make it free by just smacking it into gear but was terrible really & no good for my wife with me being out of action with MX injuries [cr500 bit me] so i had to reluctantly [first time ever] sent it to the garage. The outcome was the clutch splines were rusty & i assume the mainshaft splines but clutch anyway, & the rust was stopping it easily sliding away from the flywheel. Nowdays you just go & buy another car, but in those days you fixed them for as long as feasible.