Brake wear - brake life

[Karl Roth]

Stock brakes, 15k miles pads still have a few years on them. The semi metallic pads will flash rust to the rotors when they get wet at wash time and such and make a bit of noise until they re bed. Typically a stop or two or just a run to let them rub.

Feel free to upgrade your brakes, There simply is no reason to other than the bling factor.
Our economy needs people to spend more money, be patriotic.

karl

[parts4smarts]

Originally Posted by SmartDigger

How much dust do the green stuff make compared to the black? Will you be adle to see it on the wheels?

Pretty much all disk brakes produce unsightly and corrosive metal dust. This is very annoying, especially for someone who has laid out cash for nice shiny alloy wheels.
Cleaning is a pain, especially multi-spoke or intricate wheels .
Blackstuff brakes are made to have better bite and longer life, not to reduce dust.They are comparable to stock brakes and can produce a fair amont of dust.
Greenstuff pads are kevlar/ceramic based and produce considerably less dust. Redstuff ceramic brakes produce even less.
It would be difficult to quantify the amount of dust produced, a lot depends on driving and braking styles.You can certainly see it on any car equipped with disk brakes.
I would suggest that you ask or poke around on Canadian forums for a bit, as the greenstuff pads , at least, have been available and in use for a few years there.Users will have actual feedback.
harald

[SmartDigger]

I would say stock is high dust. My question is how much of a diff. would green be from red under normal day to day driving?

[parts4smarts]

Originally Posted by SmartDigger

I would say stock is high dust. My question is how much of a diff. would green be from red under normal day to day driving?

I don't know that smartie on this side of the Atlantic can really answer that question, due to lack of experience
someone will tire of cleaning their wheels, pay the extra dollars and ( hopefully) share their experience
harald
PS Maybe I'll offer someone who has bought greenstuff from me a set of redstuff at the same price as green, provided they promise to report back......
I'll also offer the same deal on the Canadian site.......

[WhiteNBlack08]

Originally Posted by Carlarm

Does the smart have any mechanism to inform the driver when the pads need to be replaced? On my Mercedes there are electrical probes embedded in the brake pads that make contact with the rotor when they get worn out causing the (O) symbol to light up on the dash. On some other cars there on bumps around the edge of the rotor that make contact with the brake pads when they become worn out causing a pulsation in the brake pedal.

To answer this question, yes the stock pads have "quealers" built into them, when they get thin enough, they will rub the rotor and let you know they are thin.

FYI, I've had EBC black pads on my car for about 6 months now, they definitely grab harder than stock. They dust a little less, but not much. My biggest gripe, is they queal every so often, and I don't drive hard at all.