Ceramic Brake Pads

Cogman · Member

Ceramic Brake Pads

Cogman · Member

From the Corvette Forum:
"I just put ceramic pads on along with a set of Delco slotted/drilled rotors. The decrease in the dust is amazing. There's hardly any at all on the wheels after a long trip whereas before the switch, they'd have been almost black. What little there is, is a light gray.

The stopping power is not any better than with the regular pads, however. And they DO NOT squeal like the stock brake pads.

I recommend them."

So, if the Corvette guys are pleased, I'm going to assume I will be too. Advance Auto Parts has them.

Pamlico · Motorer

I'm not sure that the ceramic pads are the best for a MINI. I think they are more general purpose and may not have the stopping power of the stock or other aftermarket (e.g. Hawk HPS) pads. The ceramics do throw less dust, but that benefit may not be worth it if the overall effectiveness if negatively affected.

I can't vouch for how true this is but I've read in a couple of forums that a lot of the "brake dust" you see is really due to rotor wear (apparently the MINIs' rotors are quite soft). If so, then switching to another pad will likely reduce the dust you see, but the stock rotors could continue to wear and shed some amount of dust. One guy has 2 MINIs in the family - his MCS with Hawk HPS and aftermarket rotors and his wife's MC with the same pads but with stock rotors. The report is that both generate a lot less brake dust than totally stock, the MCS generates very little dust, while the MC generates notably more than the MCS, but still only about a quarter of what it did with the stock pads.

Please provide an update if you do change things. Thanks.

- David

-- Edited by Pamlico at 18:49, 2006-05-09

the_copi · Member

As Pamlico said so well, I've heard good things about Hawk HPS pads, although I have no experience with them, as I have yet to get through my stock pads. My MCS doesn't seem to comsume brake pads! I've got 44k smiles and counting and have tons of life left in my front and rear pads & rotors.

When the time comes, I'll likely try some Hawk HPS pads.

I recall reading that Tony Nuzzo races his MINIs with stock rotors and aftermarket pads only.

Good luck!

Cogman · Member

Hey thanks guys! I am not in desperate need of new pads, only extremely frustrated at the black junk the stockers produce. I will check with a magnet today to see if any of this debris is charred iron dust. That is an interesting thought, though, that the rotors themselves might be heavy contributors! I put EBC "Double H" rated pads on the front of my Kawasaki (twin gigantic multi-piston disc set-up), and was initially pleased with the extreme stopping power they generated with little lever effort, but now I find it almost annoying, especially when riding in a group of several bikes. Just a light touch on my brake lever now sends my bike into a nose dive of epic proportions! They make that much of a difference. The thought to switch to ceramics for the MINI was done with the recognition that I very seldom do heavy braking, and don't use the car for competition, and therefore probably would never miss the tiny difference the Corvette and Viper guys report. I was also encouraged to do so by the guy at Advance Auto Parts who sells a Ceramic front pad set for MINIs.

Pamlico · Motorer

Hi - I'll be interested in hearing the result of seeing if a magnet will attract anything.

Rocketboy · Motorist

Cogman wrote:
I was also encouraged to do so by the guy at Advance Auto Parts who sells a Ceramic front pad set for MINIs.

Egads, Advance Auto Parts. Some dolt tried to sell me a air filter for a BMW Z 'M' Coupe, as 'that's the only thing that they have that's close'. I had to walk him thru his own menu to find MINI, and they didn't even have an 'S' Listed, just the Cooper. Dolts...

(Ya, off topic, but eh...)

Erik...