Well if its not one thing its another. I have to change my pads, but I need the knowledgeable input of the forum. Which pads are the best for the following criteria:

1. I'm a daily driver and use my car mostly on the highway
2. I don't break hard all the time, only on occasion
3. Brake dust does not bother me
4. I'd prefer something close to or better than OEM in terms of stopping performance.

If you haven't used any of these brakes (excluding OEM), please don't vote based on someone else's review. I'm trying to get a solid perception based on the criteria above.

Thanks for the input!

 

I don't brake hard all the time either, but when I do, the car had better stop! I voted BMW OEM, and recommend Pagid. I don't care about brake dust either.

 

Mintex for me as I'm a late breaker, and I've always used them

 

Great thread OP! I'm watching this attentively.

BTW I do want better brake pads than the OEMs as I do some track-like driving every now and then...

 

I recently changed from OEM to EBC Redstuff and the EBC USR discs (rotors for you guys over the water).

Fronts changed only, by myself.

Its too early to be definitive, but I am very pleased so far.

Why did I change?
I wanted a little better braking, although I don't brake heavily very often, and I am more than satisfied with the OEM setup.
I am always looking to reduce costs, or get better value for my hard earned cash.

I needed discs and pads.

I considered that using Redstuff on standard discs was a waste of money (Greenstuff, OK).

The costs of the USR (slotted) discs and Redstuff pads were cheaper than getting OEM from a $tealer, but about 30% dearer than an OEM setup from a Motor Factor.

I went for the Redstuff because of the claimed reduction in dust, and the slotted discs as they are quieter than drilled discs.

Difference day-to-day?? Nothing.

Breaking quite hard does produce more noise than OEM, but still not obtrusive at all.
So far, there has been a significant decrease in dust on the wheels.

Only done about 1000 miles so far, but overall I am very pleased. The only thing of concern is that when I was "conditioning" the pads - as per the instructions (heavy braking from speed a couple of times at around the 700 mile mark), I admit to being a little ambitious with the approach speed and the heaviness of braking (OK, I was enjoying myself, being a hooligan!!). This produced loads of smoke from the pads when i pulled up - I even got out to see if I had produced flames!! All was well though, and I assume that it was the last of the bedding-in pad material being removed. (You can see this extra layer on the new pads). Braking was tremendous though, even when producing smoke. I've not tried again since.

Mike

 

EBC redstuff get my vote, used to have greenstuff but they are way too soft for our bimmers.
As i said in the other thread, redstuff for fast street, yellowstuff for very aggressive driving.

 

Im also using red stuff, they make a bit of dust sadly, something I never had a problem with on my E46, the Red Stuff are barely good enough on the track however, again, on the E46 they were much better, it may be noted the extra dust on my Red Stuff may be just because im quite heavy on my brakes, especially approaching roundabouts and stuff.

 

A note to the Mintex users:

I've done a little research and found these pads are some of the cheapest compared to the others in this list. What has been your experience with these pads? I know the company is a subsidiary of TMD Friction, but as far as quality goes, do they compare to the EBCs, Textars, and Pagids?

 

The more the car is OEM the better.

These tuning companies just strives, BMW knows.

Sensors and all are for a genuine BMW.

 

I changed my pads straight away from new. Equally for performance and also for low dust.

I have done about 15,000 miles on them and am extremely pleased with them in all aspects.