[Alvine90]

It's time for me to get my rear brakes done and I have narrowed my rotors to the zimmermann z coat. However, I think it's time to move away from the oem brake pads since they dust alot and are super grabby at low speeds (~10-0mph). The whole car jerks if I don't pay attention to pedal pressure right before a complete stop. I've read that the newer oem pads don't dust as much but I ordered new oem pads last year and they were just as dusty.

Link to the pads I got last year:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-E90-Genu...538a7e&vxp=mtr

Characteristics I'm looking for:
-a pad that is does not wear the rotors too quickly
-better braking and similar to oem initial bite
-low dusting
-quiet pads for 100% street use
-hopefully mitigate the jerky braking

I have the stoptech street performance pads in mind but don't know how hard they are on rotors.

[StealYourFace]

I've been down that road. Eventually, after all these years and miles (142,000 now on the clock) for the street nothing is better that oem. The newer oem compound dusts less, but still more than any other pad I tried. But that initial bite and consistent torque on the street make cleaning wheels worthwhile. Some might come close, and by close I mean like 75% of that oem feel.

If you track, I did like the Axis metal master. They didn't suck on the street (as long as it really cold out) and would hold up for 25 minutes of track time on street rubber. I did 2 hpde's and 15000 miles on a set of metal masters that still had 40% of their meat left when I replaced.

I now use a track pad, and swap before I head up to the glen.

[OmidHariri]

Brembo is making front pads for our cars. Same as oem really. Ceramic too. Cheaper than those you bought before

[branmace]

I'd stick to ceramic. Semi-metallic is preferable for aggressive and track use; they do wear your rotors faster.
With ceramic pads I replace my rotors on every 2nd-3rd break pad replacement.
Lately I'm inclined to test the new Cool Carbon break pads and may be something what you've been looking for. Either way I'm interested to hear which pads you chose.

[Cacicgt7]

Originally Posted by branmace

I'd stick to ceramic. Semi-metallic is preferable for aggressive and track use; they do wear your rotors faster.
With ceramic pads I replace my rotors on every 2nd-3rd break pad replacement.
Lately I'm inclined to test the new Cool Carbon break pads and may be something what you've been looking for. Either way I'm interested to hear which pads you chose.

Actually in most cases ceramic pads DO wear out your rotors faster than organic or metallic pads. They are just great for dust and noise for the most part. When it comes to braking and fade resistance, they aren't the best. It comes down to what you really want out of your brakes.

To the OP, I've read a lot of great things about stop tech street pads, although they still have OEM dusting characteristics. If you do want ceramics then I'd probably recommend Akebono's. Unfortunately there isn't a pad that does everything you want haha. OEM bite won't come with Ceramics, and low dust doesn't come with OEM type pads.

[CSBM5]

FWIW, I've had Centric semi-metallic pads all around on our 330i since shortly after we bought the car (as soon as the pads were available, can't stand brake dust). Car has ~120k miles on it now, so the front pads have been on there since ~30k miles...hence 90k miles. It's been my wife's daily driver since new, and she's not exactly easy on the brakes. We did take it to NCCAR once on a private rental day, but that's all the non-street action it's seen.

These pads dust much, much less than stock. Brake torque is very good, even when cold and wet. No issues with squealing, etc. No problems with rotor wear or uneven pad deposits. You can guess what's going on the car when I do the brakes next time.

Re Stoptech's new pads (well, new a couple of years ago)...on my daughter's E46 ZHP those pads left uneven deposits on the rotors. Even running HT-10 race pads on the car for a few weeks in order to lathe off the Stoptech pad deposits didn't work. We replaced the rotors and put on Centric ceramic pads. So far, they've worked fine and have very low dusting. It's seen autocrossing and normal street driving, probably 20k miles on them now I would guess. I've not looked at the rotors for a long time on that car (she lives about 300 miles away), but there have been no uneven deposits I've heard about.

[fravel]

Autozone Duralast Gold. Much lower dusting than stock, quiet, and lifetime warranty. I'll never buy brake pads for my car again!