Ceramic Brake Pads

[Tim the pool man]

Hoping to get some info as I'm finding it impossible to get an answer locally (doesn't help that I live in "the most isolated capital city in the world"...

I have a new LWB Transit in my TTPM fleet. I had it detailed recently and the detailer commented about the brake dust - if I clean the front wheels one day they're black again within days.

He uses "ceramic pads" on his (much smaller) van and doesn't suffer with brake dust so I thought I'd get some for the Transit.

Of course nothing so "exotic" is available here so I went into a local parts store to enquire, and ordered a set of Bendix pads. When they arrived they look like normal pads, and the box says they have a "ceramic layer to assist adhesion and prevent heat transfer". So not ceramic pads then.

Next stop is a call to my old reliable supplier for race pads. Very helpful so I ordered a set of dba pads. Similar story, they look like normal pads, the box says "Ceramic* formulation", the * fine print states "check box label for applicability"... box label says "semi metallic formulation" so again I assume not ceramic?

Long story short: am I wrong thinking the pad material will actually be ceramic? If I'm correct, what brand/series should I be looking for?

[Tony1963]

I’ve no advice, but where did the detailer source his pads from, and are they of similar construction as those you’ve bought?

[sam.rog]

No help with your question but I ran ate “ceramic” pads on my old bmw e91. After a 1000 miles you could wipe your fi ger on the wheel and it still be clean.
I’m looking for some that fit a civic type r. I have white wheels and within 10 miles they are dirty again.

[Tim the pool man]

Tony1963 said:

I’ve no advice, but where did the detailer source his pads from, and are they of similar construction as those you’ve bought?

I've left a couple of messages for him but no reply

[tapkaJohnD]

TTPM? Testing, Training and Performance Monitoring?

And, you had a Transit detailed? Why for goodness sake?

But if you want low dust pads, then I suggest Mintex.
John

[GreenV8S]

If you want your wheels to look pretty, it might be more practical to fit dust shields.

[Novexx]

ATE, TRW, EBC & others all offer ceramic pads ranges with much reduced dust;

https://www.ate-brakes.com/products/disc-brakes/at...

https://www.trwaftermarket.com/en/passenger-cars-a...

https://www.ebcbrakes.com/technical_ebc_brakes_blo...

[E-bmw]

Semi metallic doesn't mean non-ceramic, it means there is metallic elements in them.

Ceramic pads are not fully ceramic, but use ceramic elements in the pad construction.

[Tim the pool man]

tapkaJohnD said:

TTPM? Testing, Training and Performance Monitoring?

And, you had a Transit detailed? Why for goodness sake?

But if you want low dust pads, then I suggest Mintex.
John

My user name is a hint

It's a brand new, $70,000 mobile billboard for my business. I had it ceramic coated to make keeping it clean less onerous

[tapkaJohnD]

DoH!

Thank you, Tim!

[Chris32345]

If you was UK based I was about to ask holla your boy for the pool work? 🤣🤣

[Tim the pool man]

Chris32345 said:

If you was UK based I was about to ask holla your boy for the pool work? ????

Ha! I follow him on Insta, I bet he has to travel further between jobs than I do... in the early days I was going to do targeted mail drops for advertising so I used google maps to see the houses with pools... soon realised that almost every house here has a pool so just did blanket mail drop. The days of me doing any advertising are long gone, barely have time to answer the phone any more!