I have had experience with numerous pads and thought maybe you people would like to know

And i am actually doing a "test" of sort on the three vehicles now--
2000 expedition 4x4
two lightnings

I would have liked to try Hawk HPS, so if anyone could compare them to my experiences that would be great-- (warping under aggressive driving? Fade? Pad Life?)

And in reference to the fade-- it is fade experienced under aggressive driving/ slight road racing-- not something like five 120mph to 0mph stops in a row...

Expo) normal driver
L#1) aggressive driver
L#2) slightly aggressive.


Since I normally drive L#1, the evaluation on performace are mostly noted for that vehicle. Although I was able to test a little on the other vehicles.

First is the stock ford pads, They performed well (L#1) with great stopping power, somewhat moderate to bad fade under repeated aggressive braking, slight dusting under normal driving, moderate under aggresive. The rotors on L#1 were able to be warped under road racing conditoins, but didn't really heat spot or crack. For the most part the ford didn't warp under normal driving, and if they did it was only slighly at the end of the pad life.

Second is the Raybestos ceramics--next to no dust or noise, but they warped all three vehicle's rotors before they even used 20% of the pad.

Expo) Moderate warping
L#1) Severe warping, cracking, discolorization, heat spots
L#2) Moderate warping, slight surface cracks- on the way to a slow degradation

Now is the current pads with replaced rotors:

L #1)hawk hd front with ruslow rotors and ford rear. Been on for 2k to 5k miles. I have tested these, but I am not completely locked in with this opinion yet.

Result: Great stopping power, minimal brake fade under aggressive conditoins. Light to moderate squealling, and lots of dusting. They dusted like no tomorrow when they were first put on, but after a week the dust was a lot less but still crazy -- mabye about 2 times the stock dusting. Maybe a little bit of warping in the front, but that is expected with my driving, so don't assume they will warp your rotors. They make a weird "grinding kind of noise" when heated up and braking at slow speeds for speed bumps and such. I think this is mostly because of the slotted/dimpled rotors and its interaction with them though -- anyone else have this?

L #2) Bremo regular rotors all around ,had hawk hd all around, but for some reason they squealled loud under anything but hard braking.... They were as loud as the city transit buses (no joke) and even squealled louder than most cars without any braking ... switched them out to Bendix (mechanic likes these-- any word on these?)

Result: Has only been on for a month and I don't drive this one, so not a lot of testing. Quiet like you won't beleive, great stopping power. No hint of warping yet...Does not seem to dust as much as hawk hd. Definately not as much dust as hawk, but at leat stock dusting or a little more.

Expo) wagner pads (oem replacment) Brembo stock rotors all around (old rotors were replaced because they were almost at minimal thickness)

Result:
Have been on for 6 months -Great stopping power -- not sure about fade , no hint of warping . stock dusting. Only downside is light to moderate squealling underate light to moderate braking

Well take what you will from this-- Just wanted to share ....

 

Cool comparison . So other than the ceramix warping the rotors it looks to me that they win out. For the record, I use ceramix on front and back. I am on my second set and had no problems with warping. There is minimal dust and no squeeking. Just a heavier pedal under hard braking when they are not heated up.

 

Player- I agree 100% with your findings. I too have had rotor warping with the Resbestos ceramics as well.Prior to that, I had the warners and they performed very well. I would rather have dust than warped rotors anyday!!

 

I have had 3 sets of Pad
Stock
Hawk Ferro Carbon
Napa Ceramics

The Stock pads lasted 25,000 miles and still had some life left.

Then I got a set of Hawk with Ruslow rotors, They worked great for a while but really squeeled. The set I had one of the pads fell off the backing plate and ruined a rotor. Lasted under 5000 miles

I currentlly have the Napa ceramics, and they have allready warped the rotors in less than 5000 miles. I had to get the rotors turned in Atlanta friday prior to FFW. Got about 5-6000 miles on these.

Next time I have to do brake work I am going back with the stock Ford Pads and Ruslow Rotors.

 

Some of you may have seen my post on "Brake Advice Please".

The NAPA pads are very rough on our rotors...

Sounds like the solution is stock pads and sloted rotors...

Aren't there several sources for the sloted rotors and if so what are they?

Ruslow is one and I think Tire Rack has some although last time I looked I could only find the rears and not the fronts...

So where else can we get them?