Dustless brake pads

[rf900rkw]

I know, lame subject. Here's the deal. My wife's coupe is in need of new tires before the cold rainy season sets in. She does not like the stock 17" style 42s on the car because they require a lot of effort to clean and keep clean. I have an old set of 18x8.5 Speedlines in the garage that I could put on the car, but the I suspect the profile will have her complaining about the ride, and I'm not sure I want to deal with 8.5's on the front. This is a daily driver street car.
So I just thought that if I could find a way to keep the wheels clean longer, we might compromise on keeping the 42's. Problem is my experience with dustless pads is the suck cold, or hot. But my experience is also 20 years old. Does anyone have experience with pads they would recommend? Wheels have to stay clean, and they need to work first hit. TIA

[IslandS62]

On a few recommendations I went with Akebono's on my X5 and they barely dust at all. Usually when washing a quick wipe will do, and cold morning bite seems to be pretty good (of course it doesn't get really cold here), and they have been surprisingly good. My friend runs them on an M5 and is happy as well.

[Nijapo]

I've heard that ceramics don't dust much.

[MCoupeVet]

Hawk Ceramic Pads here front and back.

I track and autocross the car - very little dust.

[Vinci]

Axis/PBR Deluxe Plus. I have been running them for ~3 years now, and they are fantastic. Very little dust, and what dust you do get is light-colored, so it's less of an eye sore.


Disclaimer: I still wash my wheels weekly...

[razingkane]

I know, lame subject. Here's the deal. My wife's coupe is in need of new tires before the cold rainy season sets in. She does not like the stock 17" style 42s on the car because they require a lot of effort to clean and keep clean. I have an old set of 18x8.5 Speedlines in the garage that I could put on the car, but the I suspect the profile will have her complaining about the ride, and I'm not sure I want to deal with 8.5's on the front. This is a daily driver street car.
So I just thought that if I could find a way to keep the wheels clean longer, we might compromise on keeping the 42's. Problem is my experience with dustless pads is the suck cold, or hot. But my experience is also 20 years old. Does anyone have experience with pads they would recommend? Wheels have to stay clean, and they need to work first hit. TIA

I went from the stock BMW brake pads and the clouds of the dust they left on my wheels to the Porterfield R4-S pads. The Porterfields are absolutely fantastic in every respect. I've had not problems with squeaks or squeals. They bite well whether they are hot or cold, and I don't notices any fade while hitting the mountain roads. Cleaning my wheels is a breeze now.

For whatever reason, Porterfield brakes don't get recommended much......if at all.....in this forum. I give them a hardy thumbs up.

[RAW VEGAN]

What Vinci said.

[Kyle Anderson]

Hands down, Akebonos Euro. I bought them when I switched to the new wheels because they're hard to clean. I wash the car about once a week, and I have yet to actually see any dust on the wheels.

[NWFLBimmer]

I have PBR Deluxe on both of my bimmers. low to no dust

[Jeremy]

I've run PBR Deluxe for 3 years now, and I have no desire to change. Low/no dust, and good performance. I'm sure there are better performing pads out there, but these are inexpensive and I've been happy with them the whole time I've had them.

[rf900rkw]

Thanks guys. Ya'll make it sound like I'm running the only pads that do dust up. I'll do some reading up on the pads mentioned.

[Matt Day]

I have the style 42 as well and my life got much easier after switching to the PBR Deluxe pads.

[Nijapo]

I've got PBR Deluxe pads and while they do not generate a lot of dust, they also do not perform too well.

[FredR]

Axis/PBR Deluxe Plus. I have been running them for ~3 years now, and they are fantastic. Very little dust, and what dust you do get is light-colored, so it's less of an eye sore.

Very good pads for a good price. oembimmerparts.com has good prices.

[Randy Forbes]

Four hundred (400) miles into my wife's 2008 535xi lease (12/07) I called Zeckenhaus and ordered front/rear pads. I'd have to dig up the boxes, but PBR rings a bell...

I wanted to do this before she was too used to the stock brake feel. The *new* pads will still bounce your nose on the steering wheel if you nail them hard. I can honestly go a month without washing the car, and the front wheels still look clean (as do the rears).

As 12/10 is looming large, were ordering another X5 (will be our 3rd) this Saturday. I'll be calling Zeckenhaus again too.

[RemedialMoFo]

Problem Solved!

[mplazz]

Vinci is correct. Almost no dust! I have them on my 325Ci sport and what a difference! The braking performance is slightly less than OEM pads, though IMO.

[Randy Forbes]

Problem Solved!

Not recommended, but I'm confident that I don't have to tell (the other) Randy that.

[RemedialMoFo]

Not recommended, but I'm confident that I don't have to tell (the other) Randy that.

Same here

[pangsterZ3]

I know, lame subject. Here's the deal. My wife's coupe is in need of new tires before the cold rainy season sets in. She does not like the stock 17" style 42s on the car because they require a lot of effort to clean and keep clean. I have an old set of 18x8.5 Speedlines in the garage that I could put on the car, but the I suspect the profile will have her complaining about the ride, and I'm not sure I want to deal with 8.5's on the front. This is a daily driver street car.
So I just thought that if I could find a way to keep the wheels clean longer, we might compromise on keeping the 42's. Problem is my experience with dustless pads is the suck cold, or hot. But my experience is also 20 years old. Does anyone have experience with pads they would recommend? Wheels have to stay clean, and they need to work first hit. TIA

a few similarities here.. I run 18x8.5 inch rims on the front and my alloys are perceived to be hard to clean.. I've discovered that having a GOOD quality wheel brush makes all the difference in cleaning them!.. if you wax them (ala RimWax or the like first) this also makes the job a lot easier.. I've currently got stock pads (and they dust quite a bit) - but with a decent brush the cleaning is almost effortless!..

[jr1966]

Hawk Ceramics. Very clean. Good bite.

[BiloxiGuy]

Problem Solved!

Why are these not recommended? Aside just looking bad, just curious. I'm assuming heat due to lack of ventilation?

[Matt Day]

I'm assuming heat due to lack of ventilation?

Correct.

[fire2]

These covers the subject fully---
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1424976

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1046462



I have been running EBC Red Stuff pads (ceramic) very low dust with strong stops cold or hot

[rf900rkw]

Just a follow up. It's been 1000 miles. Being a perpetual fan of the underdog, I really wanted to go with the Porterfields. I've had good experiences with them in the past. But good things twenty years ago in road racing does not necessarily mean good things in the wife's commuter.
In the end I went with what I could get from my local vendor; Textar CeramicFusion. They have a linear apply, so I'm happy. They take less effort than the half worn pads that were in there, so the wife is happy. And they don't dust at all. Really happy. I can not give a compare and contrast to any given pad set., so don't even ask.

So the project was a success. With the new long clean cycles, the wife allowed me to keep the 17" style 42s. I mounted up a set of Conti DWS' last week, and they transformed the coupe. A lot of the harshness is gone. And the niggling nervous dartiness that I couldn't quite pinpoint is totally gone.