I have been running Akebono on most all of my cars and have 3-400k worth of driving on them. I tried some semi-metallic pads once. Loved loved loved the initial grab, but hated hated hated the dust and the way they wore the rotors. If I was tracking, I wouldn't run the Akebono's, though. There are better pads for that. As someone mentioned, the Akebono's don't have as much of an initial grab as they need to heat up. I did try the Pagid pads once that I got from the now defunct BavAuto. They were just OK.
I run AkiBono pads with Brembo rotors on both of our E39’s and both E46’s ( and Volvo xc90 ???? home depot use-free vehicle) and love the setup. On the E46’s very similar feel to OE Jurid or Pagid and on the E39’s ( US spec 2003 540/6 and 2001 530 sport auto) softer initial bite yet excellent braking with great modulation and stopping power, quiet, long lasting, minimal rotor wear and the light dust is barely noticeable, easily rinses off and is non-caustic.
Just replaced mine with Akebonos and no complaints so far.
Akebono ceramic pads with OEM or Zimmerman rotors is an OEM+ solution. They produce almost 0 brake dust and maintain OEM feel and performance.
I would go with the Raybestos Element 3 kit sold here. $180 total roughly front and back. 2 seperate kits, one for front, one for back. You will find this under the fully coated section here as they have different grades of pads. For the price and how long these last, you cannot beat it. And better than the top quality parts local parts stores carry, in fact Napa sells these rebranded as their premium top of the line brakes and rotors. For the price, and the quality, is by far your best option. There are better pads that will last a little longer, but are much more pricey. With the miles you drive, these will last 5-10 years. I use these on all vehicles in the rust belt, as these are rust coated.
I just did Akebono ProAct pads and Advics ultra-premium rotors from Rockauto. I'm pretty happy with these. Was using Wagner pads, the initial bite was better but the amount of brake dust was pretty substantial in comparison.
I bought Raybestos Element 3 Hybrid pads and couldn't be happier. They squeal a tiny bit when very cold but I trust these brakes to get me down a mountain.
I have Akebono's on the rear of my R. VERY low dust from both.
I'm in the "Akebono are not better" camp and I have done some extensive testing.For a ceramic pad, yes, the Akebono are better than ceramic competitors. However, they do not have as much bite as the semi-metallic pads. This is something that can't be debated, they can't bite as hard as the semi-metallic compound.I too hate brake dust and tried the Akebono pads on my wife's VW and I immediately noticed that they didn't bite as hard as the OE pads. That same week, I ordered the OE pads and it fixed the problem.I've also tried the Akebono on an E350 and I came to the same conclusion. I actually think the EBC Red ceramics may bite a little more (when new) than the Akebono. However, the EBC reds always left this weird deposit on rotors that would make it feel like they were warped and they would need to be turned down.
About a year ago I bought some Akebono ceramic brake pads for my 2016 and they have given me nothing but grief, notably the fronts whose retainer clips just straight up didn't fit into my caliper so I needed to reuse the stock ones and I also had to grind down the pad ears to fit properly. The fronts were particularly bad (part no. ACT1539).
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