Hi, I have an '03 5AT G coupe. What material is the infiniti brake pads made of? Ceramic or semi-metallic? I need new pads soon and i'm looking to buy either the Duralast made of semi-metallic or Duralast Gold made of ceramic. I am currently running the oem infiniti brake pads and i want to match the compounds that are already being used. Also, which duralast performs better, the Duralast or Duralast Gold pads?

 

ceramics will give u a slightly softer pedal feel. Ceramic is a softer material, ussually creates less noise.

 

Ceramic is a marketing term. There's no regulation over the percentage of ceramic present in a ceramic pad--you could have a ceramic pad with 1% ceramic or one with 20% ceramic. Not all ceramic materials are the same either. The braking performance, dust output and noise from ceramic pads may vary significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer. Not all ceramic pads are low dust and low noise--Axxis Ultimate pads are far from dustless or noiseless.

Instead of focusing on the term ceramic, I would seek the recommendations of others on this forum. Use a pad that others have had success with. As for Duralast Gold pads, I did not have a good experience with them on my GM. They have poor friction characteristics when cold, and the pedal feel wasn't spectacular. Of course, the compound used on my vehicle and the compound used for a G35 may be different, so your experience may be different than mine. However, keep in mind that any major retailer will not be producing their own pads. They are sourcing the parts from a major company such as Federal-Mogul, Bendix, Raybestos, Morse, etc; Autozone's Duralast line is supplied by Morse.

Point is, the major vendors are competing with AutoZone as well. They have to sell their own pads. In other words, they are not going to sell their best formula to AutoZone. Therefore, I seriously doubt that any Duralast pad is going to be "as good as it can be" for the money.

 

I would like to know this as well?