A4AdMan

From what I can tell from either personal experience or what I have read on this forum here are the pros and cons as I see it. I paired the myriad of pad selections down to these three because they seem to offer best what I am looking for out of a street performance pad. I either didn't read enough good comments or to many poor comments about Mintek Red, EBC Green, Carbotech or Ferrado to put them on my consideration list.

Thanks for reading and I welcome your thinking.

<b>OEM Pads</b>
I had OEM front pads on the car until 68K and currently have OEM pads on the rear.

Pros
- Decent stopping power in dry and wet road conditions and hot and cold tempuratures.
- Long pad life: I gout 68K miles on my first set of OEM front pads and around 44K per set of rear OEM pads.
- Quiet

Cons
- I notice some fade during spirited driving when having to make 3 to 4 consecutive 70 mph to 30 mph slow downs.
- High dust

<b>Hawk HPS Pads</b>

Pros
- Very strong grip in dry road conditions and mild to hot weather conditions
- Low dust in comparison to OEM
- Quiet.

Cons
- Less than optimum performance in wet road conditions. I haven't noticed and issue in performance in cold temps.
- Questionable wear pad sensor compatibility with OEM connector harness. Let me explain. A week after I installed new HPS pads the low pad sensor light came on and would come on and off intermitantly. After 6 months the pad sensor light would be on all the time and it is annoying to have that beep and display come on every day and every time I start the car. I know I could install a OEM set of sensor wires to close the circuit.

<b>Akebono Euro Ceramic Pads</b>
I don't have any personal experience with these pads so my comments here are based on what I have read on this forum.

Pros
- Good stopping power in all road conditions and in all tempuratures.
- Low dust in comparsion to OEM pads.
- Fairly quiet.
- Comes with front pad wear sensors.

Cons
- Maybe not as good stopping power as Hawk HPS pads.
- No knowledge of whether these pads fade or not.

I guess after writing up this post I have talked myself into purchasing some Akebonos. That is unless someone here can make a strong enough case why I shouldn't go with the Akebono's.

quattrothatcould

I'd reccomend the Carbotech's but I can't get mine to shut up lol

GDawgA4

Let me know if you want them.

BTW, they do have the sensors and I've never gotten the warning light.

A4AdMan

That's the thing. I don't want a squeeker.

A4AdMan

Will the HPS from a 1.8T fit the larger 3.0 caliper? If so I might take you up on that.

GDawgA4

Good question...I completely forgot about that. Lemme check!

GDawgA4

ECS lists the same for both as well as Hawk's site.

EBG 18T [Eric]

sensor conectors. not sure the break down on year to year for the connectors though. wear sensors are over rated anyways. ;-)

SilverSchwinn

Need to try to rebed at some point.

libTTech

Had Mintex Red.. very squeaky and poor bite. Akenbonos have worked well for me so far. No noise, low dust, no issues.