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Brake pads are by far the most critical component of any modern braking system as they’re the parts that clamp down on the discs (or rotors) and slow you down. While automotive braking technology continues to evolve, the physical act of slowing or stopping a vehicle still revolves around friction. Essentially, the brake pads pinch the rotors to bring automobiles to a stop, but in exchange, this friction-based process generates a lot of heat, which also wears down the pad materials over time. Brake Pad Backing Plate
Thankfully, brake pads are specifically engineered to repeat this process over and over again. But they do have a life expectancy. Through time and use, their effectiveness diminishes until they wear out, requiring outright replacement as a very common “wear-and-tear” item in the realm of regular vehicle maintenance. It’s important however to not let them get to the point of being worn out as that becomes a genuine safety issue by significantly affecting your ability to stop.
Replacing brake pads is still an average to advanced do-it-yourself skill, but even those who prefer to leave the job to a professional mechanic can benefit from purchasing brake pads online as there’s an incredibly vast selection depending on your needs and vehicle’s operating conditions. By choosing your own brake pads, you can pick the characteristics most important to you and save a little money in the process, provided your mechanic is okay with you supplying the parts.
For our list of the best brake pads, we’ve chosen five brands and models that deliver a decent blend of overall value and distinct performance advantages. Many of these pads are ceramic, meaning that they’re made with a much denser version of the same kinds of material used in pottery or plates. Compared to traditional metallic or organic pads, ceramic pads are a drop-in upgrade that reduces brake noise and dust while providing a longer service life. The downside of ceramics is that they need fractionally more warm-up time than conventional pads for full stopping power.
Note that brake pad fitment is vehicle-specific, so while we recommend specific brands and lines of pads, it’s crucial to ensure that they’re made for your exact vehicle year, make and model when ordering. Brake pads are sold in “axle sets” of inner and outer pads for two wheels. Front and rear pad model numbers differ.
Match your car to your style with varied car accessories like seat covers, floor mats and more. Get competitive pricing from top brands here.
You Maybe Interested In Brake Pads Available On Amazon
Patented copper free ceramic and semi-metallic friction formula
Powder-coated backing plate, Advanced aerospace alloy
Slots and chamfers for premium quality, fit, and function
Best attributes of both ceramic and semi-metallic all in one brake pad
Premium stainless steel brake hardware
Superior noise-reducing shims, 1 million miles of testing, Late-model coverage, including domestic and import application
Low dust formula ceramic brake pads
Thermal scorched, Premium stainless steel hardware and pin bushing kit
Chamfered and slotted like OE pad, Chamfered and slotted like OE pad
Best Factory Replacement Brake Pads*
Best Factory Replacement Brake Pads*
Akebono is an original equipment supplier of brake pads for several carmakers, and they benchmark their engineering on racetracks worldwide. Their factory replacement brake pads are available for almost every car model, delivering a performance level and feel as close as possible to original equipment specifications, but with considerably better performance and longer life.
Because of their tried and tested formula and ability to sometimes exceed OEM standards under street use and everyday driving conditions, they do not come cheap. Despite their performance and benchmarking, however, these specific pads are not recommended for extreme conditions such as high-speed racetrack driving. For spirited everyday driving and high-performance vehicles, we also tip our hats to Akebono’s Performance line of pads.
Power Stop Z23 Evolution Sport Carbon Fiber-Infused Pads
Power Stop delivers an impressive feature set in the Z23 Evolution Sport: the pad backing is powder-coated instead of merely painted to guard against corrosion, and the ceramic pad material is infused with carbon fiber to reduce brake dust. Included with these pads are a stainless-steel hardware kit and rubberized shims to further minimize brake noise. That places these pads firmly in the premium quality tier, but their relatively modest price puts them at the top of the value scale.
StopTech made its name as a purveyor of race-ready brake system upgrades for autocross and high-performance driving enthusiasts. Their Sport Brake Pad line provides advanced braking power and fade resistance without requiring the lengthy warm-up cycles that full-on race brakes require for full stopping power. Performance brake pads can squeal during regular city driving, so be sure to apply an anti-squeal compound to the back of the pad surface during installation.
Best Replacement Brake Pads For Premium Vehicles
Best Replacement Brake Pads For Premium Vehicles
Brembo Premium Ceramic Brake Pad
When it comes to brake components, there’s no bigger and more well-known brand than Brembo. An OEM supplier for many premium and high-performance vehicles, it’s no surprise that its line of brake pads made our list. Brembo’s Premium Ceramic brake pads are a step above the semi-metallic offerings already equipped to many premium vehicles, providing all the benefits of a ceramic pad from one of the best and most reputable companies and OEM suppliers in the biz. We also tip our hats to TRW’s line of ceramic pads as well as they’re also a supplier for many premium European and Asian vehicles.
Best Ceramic Low-Dust Brake Pads
Best Ceramic Low-Dust Brake Pads
If you’re not a fan of the amount of brake dust that can accumulate on wheels (although as engineers tout, if you see brake dust, it’s a good indicator that your brakes are working as intended), EBC makes one of the best-performing low-dust ceramic pads on the market in the form of its Redstuff line.
Engineered for high-output performance vehicles, mainly of European origin, these pads are specifically meant to tackle the high brake dust issue normally associated with many German vehicles. However, because they have a harder composition than some other ceramic pads, it should be noted that they need to be warmed up before achieving optimal stopping power.
There are three basic types of brake pads: Non-metallic, organic, metallic and ceramic. Organic pads are composed of a blend of materials, including rubber, glass, carbon, metal and various other materials. Metallic pads use a much higher metal content (30 to 70%) for increased durability and stopping power and sometimes increased noise. Ceramic pads, the newest and highest-tech type, use kiln-fired compounds of porcelain and other materials. Most cars leave the factory with organic or metallic pads, but ceramic pads are quieter and more durable than either and offer braking power on par with, and sometimes superior to, metallic pads.
Though they tend to be more expensive, the cost of ceramics has fallen in recent years, and the extended service life they offer can mean long-term cost savings. Their consistent performance under repeated hard stops makes them a safe choice, and they also produce less noise and brake dust than conventional pads. For this reason, we focused our list primarily on ceramic brake pads.
We pored over real-world reviews on multiple vehicle-specific owner forums to discover the most consistently well-reviewed brake pads, taking into account complaints of excessive brake dust and noise. Our top picks hail from name brands known to employ internationally recognized quality control standards in the production process.
Through testing and research, we evaluate all brake pads based on these weighted metrics:
Though metallic brake pads provide better “cold bite” before warming up, ceramic pads’ longevity and quietness make them the industry standard. Most importantly, ceramic pads offer superior protection against “brake fade,” a heat-generated condition exacerbated by hard use or multiple stop that can degrade braking performance.
Driving behavior ultimately determines brake pad life. On average, expect ceramic brake pads to last 60,000 miles under conservative daily driving conditions, though some can last longer. Performance brake pads favor stopping power and fade resistance over longevity and generally require replacement at shorter intervals. Additionally, drilled or slotted brake rotors can scrape brake pad material off with each pass, leading to increased wear.
In normal driving conditions, ceramic brake pads perform better over multiple hard stops because they naturally dissipate heat. However, extreme racing applications usually demand the instant “cold bite” that metallic pads provide a slight advantage over ceramic brake pads. The trade-off is that metallic pads’ stopping power can fade after several intense stops due to heat.
Proper brake “bedding in” involves mating the pad material to the rotor surface in a sequence of increasingly intense near-stops. Do not come to a complete stop during the bedding-in process, which could create a brake pad imprint on the rotor surface. Once verifying that the brake system is fully functional at slow speeds, find a safe and isolated stretch of road. Accelerate to 30 mph, then firmly apply the brake, slowing the vehicle to about five mph. Repeat the process from 40 and 50 mph, and then drive several minutes to cool the rotor surface before braking normally.
Most modern ceramic brake pads are engineered to break in quickly. Failure to bed in brakes properly won’t allow the pad material to mate to the rotor surface, which can cause the brake pad to glaze over and lose friction. Creating a pad imprint on the rotor by holding the brakes after a hard stop can warp the brake rotor, causing vibration when braking from speed.
Adam Barrera is a classically trained consumer journalist with a lifelong focus on cars. In 20 years of print, online and television journalism, engaging audiences through continued conversation on social media is his hallmark. Bylines at AutoTrader and professional roles at Mazda, Cadillac, Ford and Chrysler give Adam's audience an insider's edge.
Types Of Brake Pad Since picking up my first set of MicroMachine toy cars as a toddler, I knew I had a passion for automobiles embedded in my soul. After graduating from Rutgers University in journalism, I’ve devoted my career to becoming a professional photographer and emerging voice in the car industry with columns at Automobile Magazine, MotorTrend, Hagerty, DigitalTrends.com/Cars, GearPatrol, and beyond.