Dust vs Performance? Akebono Euro Pads, Brembo Sport (drilled) rotors...

[M.Wong]

Hello Gary,

I ran stock rotors and pads on my 2000 740iL and was happy with the stopping performance and longevity of 55K miles. I recently switched to Brembo Sport drilled rotors and Akebono Euro pads. My first impression is they don’t have that “bite.” I think others have described the same about low dust pads such as Axxis Deluxe.

If I am not as excited about low dust as I am about best stopping power (for non-track, normal day to day use), should I go to Hawk pads or back to OEM? Is it safe to assume that the rotors I selected are not the problem, but the pads?

I also noticed that the bed-in procedure on the TireRack site for Akebonos is simply “moderate driving for a few hundred miles” unlike others, where the suggestion has been hard braking (like 60-10 MPH and 80-10 MPH) with cooling time in between… your thoughts?

Thanks! :)

[Gary@Tirerack]

The pads will have much more to do with initial bite than the rotors. The Hawk HPS pads will bring back much of that feel of the OEM pads but with less dust than OEM (but more dust than the Akebonos). A good compromise might be to consider the Hawk performance ceramic pads which should be a good blend of braking performance and low dust.

Different pad companies advice different procedures for bedding in. We simply follow their recommendations.

Brakes
http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=BN4&url=/brakes/index.jsp

[M.Wong]

Can you verify this summary of the two Hawk options?

HPS = more braking power with less dust than OEM

Performance ceramic = slightly less braking power than HPS, but even less dust

Is that right? Thank you very much for the quick reply!

[Gary@Tirerack]

That's exactly right.

Brakes http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=AB2&url=/brakes/index.jsp

[M.Wong]

Great, thank you again. I will certainly ask for or reference you when I decide what to do/buy. :)