I've seen lots of posts asking about which pads to use as the OEM ones wear down. Mine are getting close to needing replacement too and was wondering if we could get everyone's input on the pads you have and rate them on a scale of 1-10 ( 10 being the best) for the stopping power, dust and noise. All I've had so far are the OEM non-Brembo. Please add where you got them and prices if possible.

OEM 2005 non-brembo

Dust 9
Noise 10 they've never made a sound
Stopping power 8 when new dropping to a 3 after a couple of months

 

OEM 2004 non-brembo (sedan)

Dust: 3 (poor)
Noise: 3 (initially OK, but after a few k-miles, sounds like a school bus coming to a stop)
Stopping power: 8 (very good, after you get used to the grabbiness)

 

Hawk HPS on 2004 non-brembo (sedan)

Dust: 8 (very good)
Noise: 9 (after 1k miles, zero noise)
Stopping power: 7 (good, but suffers a little from insufficient cold-grab)

 

'04 350Z non-brembo (figure it's the same system anyway)

Hawk DTC 60

Dust: 4
Noise: 3
Stopping Power: 9

Cobalt Friction XR-3 (this is on my BMW so take it with a grain of salt)

Dust: 2
Noise: 2
Stopping Power: 11

 

2005 MT6 Sedan

Stock brakes were the BEST! Hardly ANY wear (>2mm) on the pads and virtually NONE on the rotor + NO DUST! (45000mi)

EBC "Green Stuff" pads installed at 45K. They work great but are eating the rotors alive and give off a bit of dust.

 

Axxis Ultimate
Dust-1
Noise-7
Wear-9(considering track days)
Braking-7
Fade resistance-7
I will not get them again mainly because of dust.

 

Stock 04' non-Brembo (replaced under 'brake warranty')
Dust-3
Noise-5
Wear-7
Braking-8
Fade resistance-OK for panic stop. Not sure about continuous use (mountain passes, etc.)

 

Stock 04 Brembo Pads
Dust-lots of it
Noise- None
Wear- a little bit.

I recently switched to the Axxis Pads and love them. They are very quiet and have very low dust. I probally wipe my wheels down once a week compared to twice a week with the OEM's.

 

Stock 04 Brembo pads:

Dust - 10
Stopping Power - 10
Cold bite - 10
Fade resistance - 8 (I have only auto-xed the car, not tracked it, and haven't faded 'em yet)
Noise - 3 (mostly only when reversing, otherwise pretty quiet)
Wear - 7 (front pads have 25% left at 16k miles)

Will likely replace with OEM Brembo pads when the fronts are gone because they stop so well and have such great initial bite characteristics. I can live with the dust - comes with the territory. Brake pads are a tradeoff. If you want low dust and high fade resistance (in other words, a higher temp pad) you will give up some initial bite. If you want great cold bite, you give up some fade resistance and dusting.