chudc

Hey guys,

Any idea how long the pads typically last for the Brembos? I have a 2012 with about 7500 miles. I go easy on them; mostly city driving and no track work.

Thanks!
Chad

chudc

Oh, I thought about posting this after hearing a tiny brake squeak - I checked the rotors from a casual look and they look fine and no pull or shake when braking ... thx again!

hawkeye18

The Brembos, being high-performance brakes, will squeal from time to time. That is the primary price to pay for performance pads. You can buy ceramic pads that won't make nearly as much noise, but you lose out in initial bite and overall friction.

Any aftermarket pad that is worth anything will squeal on occasion. It just comes with the territory.

Now, if the pads are squealing loudly with every brake application, that means it's time to replace pads.

Mustang Freak

Never had high-performance brake pads before but I did have ceramic and they squeaked like crazy! IMO

Stevedotmil

I wonder if there is a slotted rotor option from Brembo that I can get too.

Pilks

Its not from brembo, but maybe this?

ace72ace

I can't wait to replace the stock Brembo pads on my Boss, what I would call *excessive* dust, can't keep these wheels clean!

And yes, I can confirm you get squealing from them also, I have just over 8k on mine.

MustangGTPilot

I have 19k on mine and they are still going strong with plenty of material left. Only get the odd squeal once in a while but nothing alarming then. Dust is my biggest gripe, practically impossible to keep the wheels clean.

FordService

Talk to your service manager and check your brakes out, guys. Maybe there’s some kind of lubricant to help with the squealing.

Deysha

Poisoned Pony

Having owned 6 Mustangs with numerous brake setups, squeaking is part of the performance braking game. If you think Brembo or Stoptech or Hawk or EBC are suppose to be quiet as a mouse and offer killer performance, you have better luck finding a unicorn or a pot of gold. Hell, go to a local Cars and Coffee meet an listen to the Ferraris and Lambo's pull in, even the ultra performance cars are prone to the squeak

hawkeye18

I've found that the main cause of performance pads squeaking is material build-up on the rotor itself; this can also make it seem like the rotor is warped when indeed it is not.

The solution for this is to find the road with the highest speed limit around (preferably at least 60), get up to that speed, and - after making sure nobody's right behind you - stomp on the brakes. Hard. Try not to engage ABS, as that makes the procedure less effective, but brake as hard as you can.

What this does is heat the rotors up right quick, and it will loosen the excess pad material up enough for the pad to wipe it away. This should make the brakes feel a little better, and they should squeak less.

You can repeat the procedure two or three times if you like, but make sure not to come to a complete stop any longer than necessary for the next 10-15 minutes (go on a nice highway drive) to cool them down again.

This is called "bedding the pads" and it works quite well.

chudc

First, LOVE your Boss ... that color combo in the 13 garb is to die for! Yeah, the dust cakes up so fast huh!! At least your rims are darker (maybe less noticeable than on my 19's)

Cali_5.0

I have 27k on the original Brembo pads and the last time I checked there's still plenty of pad left. So “Chad” you have 20k plus to go.

Does anyone have any recommendations on replacement pads. My car is daily driver and I take it to the track at least once a year. I'm thinking ceramic pads are good choice, but how much performance do you give up?

Sabre

You're on the right track, but just off 180 degrees. The noise that we hear from high performance brake pads while street driving, is from well...street driving....where we use our brakes pretty easily and gently....not heating the brakes. Street driving actually removes the pad material that you deposit on the rotors when "bedding in" or getting the rotors hot and depositing a thin layer of pad material on the rotor. When you "bed in" the rotors, you're actually putting a thin layer of pad material on the rotor...which then gives the pads a better bite on the rotor when applied. Gentle street driving with cold rotors allows the pads to wear off the material on the rotors and not deposit any back on the rotor.....so you get the squealing from pad on bare rotor metal, instead of the quiet of pad on pad material. That's why bedding in the rotors occasionally, when most of your driving is street driving, seems to quiet the squeal....you're heating the rotors to where they are picking up the pad material and you brake with pad on pad material, until you do enough gentle street driving to wear it off and then go through the whole cycle again.

JScottGT

Ceramic pads are not the route you want to go then. They are not the best for occasional track usage.

To the OP:
As many have already mentioned, occasional squealing is bound to happen. The whole "performance" brake package includes semi-metallic pads that were spec'd by Ford engineers to have the best balance of low noise, limited dusting, initial cold bite, rotor wear, and high temp (track) usage. There is no pad in existence that does everything great. The more "high performance" you go with your pad selection, you will compromise on the noise, dust, and rotor wear in order to get greater initial bite (when warm), and high temp stability. There are also pads out there that you can use that will be great for dust, rotor wear, and noise but you will compromise on how they bite and their high-temperature fade resistance.

Here's a few recommendations:

Regular everyday driving: OEM Brembo pads
Low dust (not the greatest at high temps): Ceramic pads
High-Performance Street (may have more noise, dust, and additional rotor wear): Something like Hawk HPS / PFC Z-Rated / EBC Green
AutoX (more noise & rotor wear, lots of dust, comes up to temp fast): Hawk HP+ / EBC Yellow
Track Days (more noise & rotor wear, lots of dust, great fade resistance): Hawk DTC60 / EBC Blue / PFC 01
Full on Race - Hawk DTC70 / PFC 03

FordService

Thanks for the info, hawkeye18.

Deysha

wingless

Almost all of the wear on the rear single-piston brakes is from the vehicle stability system. Depending upon stability system usage, the life can be as short as 10K miles. My preference is to disable the stability system, because I like the handling of a high-power rear-drive vehicle. IMO, the stability makes it handle more like a front-wheel drive / all-wheel drive vehicle. That is not what I want. I typically get 100K miles on the rear brakes.

The multi-piston front brakes wear is from usage to stop the vehicle. The pad life can be as short as 20K miles, such as for those who race to a red light. I typically get 120K miles on the front brakes.

A very good indicator on brake pad wear is brake dust on the wheels. I get almost no dust on the wheels.

The main component of this driving method is to use the windows to observe traffic for smooth driving.

Here are my front and rear Brembo brake pads after 17K miles.

cdynaco

I'd like to see proof of that. That seems unrealistic. My F150 goes through high grade front pads every 60k or so. Mostly all highway miles, and in traffic I do not "drive like a realtor". Its a 4.9L 4 spd and is anything but quick in traffic from a stop light and I use engine decel to ease up to a stop light. Never any brake dust.

Just how many brembo vehicles have you driven over 120k?

wingless

You got me there. Here is an image of my partially-loaded F150 Mustang.

My F150 Mustang and your F150 pickup are virtually identical vehicles, so there cannot be any reason why I get 2X the pad life on my sports coupes than you do on your pickup truck.





What proof? All my vehicle service is performed by me.

Would an AfterDavid document signed by me acceptable?

Does my 17K pad wear images, posted earlier, from my 2011 GT hold any water to support my assertion that looking out the window and reacting to traffic extends brake life?


My prior high-power sport coupes did not have Brembo brakes. (Just like your F150 pickup truck...)

cdynaco

A) Cute

B) Those pics look like my Bullitt @20k on stock pads. So what? Only a micrometer knows...

C) Then why are you answering a TMS thread about Brembo pads claiming 120k if you've never driven a car with Brembo brakes to 120k? Much less on the original front pads.