- Wheels & Tires
The brake pads are one of the first and easiest brake system upgrades to make. When you step on the brake pedal, your brake system applies pressure to the brake pads against the brake rotor surface to generate friction for stopping power. Brake pads are wear items designed to be changed readily and regularly. Depending on the purpose of the vehicle, there is an appropriate pad compound optimized for a wide variety of applications.
The most common compounds are organic, ceramic and semi metallic. Most factory and factory replacement brake pads are referred to as “organic”. This means that natural materials are bonded together with a high temperature resin to form the friction material. Organic pads are usually quiet but tend to dust quite a bit, wear quickly and suffer from brake fade in short order. Ceramic brake pads share the desirable properties of organic pads but have a broader range of application. Strands of copper friction material in the compound allow these pads to perform across a wider heat range with relatively low dust production. These also wear less aggressively on the rotors.
Semi-metallic brake pads are formulated to be more aggressive and higher performing than ceramic and organic pads. Rather than employ copper strands, semi-metallic pads are formulated with steel strands for even greater friction production against the rotor surface. The increased friction translates into improved braking performance, but comes at a cost in the form of accelerated rotor wear. These pads tend to be ideally suited for performance applications such as high-performance street and track vehicles.