im upgrading to c4 brakes with drilled rotors and stainless lines but am stuck on pads. i made a seperate post for the different types of pads to help out a little but what brands and models are best for:

good initial bite and cold stopping (for non race use)
NO BRAKE FADE
not too rough on rotors
dont wear down too fast
and lastly low brake dust

the charastics are in order order of importance to me since im doing mainly city/town driving but want to stop really well when i need to. i dont wanna eat up my new rotors too soon and it would be nice to have pads for a year at least but like i said i mainly want to be able to stop at the forst stop sign and have NO BRAKE FADE. i dont mind cleaning my 17's so brake dust is last.

the brands ive come across as decent or good are:

stillen metal matrix (which im leaning towards)
seem to be great all around
bendex semi-metallic or titanium (after more research i like these)
also seem to be great all around
ebc green stuff
had quality issues, wear fast, bad cold braking, dust
ebc red stuff
ditto
hawks
very "grabby"
vgx
ive heard are just junk
performance friction
seem to stink unless you get the z rated ones
raybesots brute stop
?????????

is there any other serious non cheapo pad manufacturers im leaving out. i think stillen or bendix is the way to go, havent heard and bad about them and damni just love the names!!! :lala:

 

I like the Hawks pads. Got HPS now, with HP+ waiting to be put on. On the HPS, no noise from them, stop good when cold. The performance frictions I had before sucked when cold.

 

I have the Hawk HP+ and they're great, even when cold. On the rear I'm going with the HPS to fight some rear lock since I've heard that many road racers and autocrossers get the HP+ all the way around, and then have to turn the proportioning valve all the way down.

 

Ive got autospecialty power stop pads on the front on my ls1 swap. they stop good cold, as well as warm, are quiet, but they do seem to dust alot, but they wont break the bank.

 

well ive narrowed my choices down to three. the hawks HP+, bendix ti, and stillen met-matrix. i need the last opinions to help me decide for sure. stillen are 80 bucks and im not sure about the others (for c4 brakes) but i do need something that stops good cold. i thought i heard the hawks were grabby but that might have been the hps??? since stillens are 80 i might just go with the hawks or bendix ti, whichever is cheaper and if i could get a lifetime warrantee