Well I took my car to get an oil change and service and have a few thing that need to be addressed first. My main priority being my brakes. I need new pads and rotors from the dealership and they quotes me about 600 for all new OEM brakes. My deal is that I dont want to spend 600 every year or so for new OEM brakes then just squeal and dust like crazy up front. I was looking into the Akebono brake upgrade and think it looks really nice. Any advice from anyone who has made the upgrade to the Akebono brake system.

I am looking for a few things in new brakes:

LOW DUST
No squealing
Better stopping power
A nice look behind the rims, something better then the old 04 brakes


I dont want to go all out and get an insanely price BBK. I already looked into Stoptech and thats just too much money for me to justify spending on a BBK. The Akebono looks stock and practically is but is a larger brake.

I am not to knowledgeable when it comes to brakes so could somebody help me out with some advice and which route they would take. Thanks

 

There is plenty of info on this topic that can be gleaned by searching - there are a couple of threads at least on the Akebono swap, and many more on the 03-04 Brembo swap (I'm assuming by your post that you don't have Brembos on your coupe, but correct me if I'm wrong).

Squealing can be taken care of with enough brake lube and by making sure that the pads have the shims on them (mine have never squealed), but beyond that you also have aftermarket options for rotors besides OEM, like Centric premium rotors, etc.

As far as pads go, the bottom line is that you can't have low dust and better stopping power in the same pad. Pads are a compromise - high dust goes with higher stopping power, especially cold stopping power, and low dust/high fade resistance means the pad is not going to provide the same initial cold bite that the OEM pads do, especially where you (and I as well) live.

Finally, upgrading to the Brembos or Akebono's isn't necessarily going to be a $ saving move, since you'll wear out pads and rotors on those as well, and those systems require even pricier replacement parts. With the Akebono upgrade, the brake bias may be altered as well, perhaps to the detriment of your stopping distances, though no one knows for sure and I haven't seen any actual test data to know.

If you really want to upgrade, best advice would be to find some used Brembo equipment from the classified section, from a junkyard or from a dealer. Those are at least designed to maintain the proper brake bias, and you know they'll fit easily.