Mike like the rest of us has opinions based on what he uses. He used to heartily recommend EBC greenstuff pads until he went to akebono.

Semi metallic in general do stop as well as ceramic in general and better when cold. Ceramic hold the edge as far as low dust and longer life goes plus they perform well at high temps. I have ceramic pads now (whatever will tillery was selling last year) and they can be a bit hairy in the mornings if you don't warm them up first. I would not worry too much about dust. These pads were very dusty until the break in portion wore off and it never set off the amigos. I've had very dusty semi metallic pads before this and it never set off the amigos. The ABS sensors are electromagnetic pickups sealed in the hub so I'm not sure how dust can effect them. Squealing I can see setting off the amigos due to the vibrations but then again I have never experienced that either.

 

lipadj, do your ceramic pads stop better than semi-metallic at higher temps? I'm all for low brake dust, and longer pad life but not at the expense of reduced stopping proformance.

 

If you run ceramic pads can you put on stock rotors, or should you get a fancier flavor?

 

Another Akebono ceramic user here, front and back. I love the complete lack of brake dust, and I haven't noticed any difference in cold stopping versus hot, but I have to make 3 stops before I leave my subdivision, and never go faster than 20MPH in my subdivision.

 

Honestly I have not noticed a difference between any pads I have used in this truck. They all stop ****tily, just the nature of the beast.

 

I think certain rotors are designed for ceramic pads..if they're not I believe the rotors will wear faster than ones designed for ceramic pads.

 

Not that I have ever seen in 19 years in the auto parts business (which predates ceramics, gawd I need a new profession).

Any rotor will work with ceramic brake pads. I do, however, STRONGLY recommend staying away from rotors made in China. From my experience, the metallurgy is different, and they tend to warp easier and quicker. Stay with a name brand rotor, and make sure they aren't made in China.

 

Stock rotors are fine, stick with known name brands like EBC and the likes. Don't get fancy drilled slotted rotors IMO.

 

I think I am going to stick with the stock rotors then, and get some ceramic pads. Thanks fellas, the guy at the part counter was trying to push the premium rotors if you get the better pads, I suspected it was just an upsell.

 

Yes, there was a time, when considering new pad replacements, that EBC looked pretty good on paper, but with a lot of feed back from many EBC owners and the inability to put together a matching set of their better pads for both front and rear, I then started talking to a number of good Rover shops and Akebono kept coming up as the pads of choice, especially if you wanted to get rid of the dust and 3 Amigos.
Now many months into my Akebono's, only my 8 year old set of DBA's, I wish I had found them sooner.