Just finished giveing my '03 V70 2.4T a much needed bath - almost half the time was spent cleaning the wheels. I don't understand why the European manufacturers spec these "instant black" pads - the pads on my previous car, nearly 3 tons of Toyota SUV, stopped it quite nicely with just a scant trace of residue. If the Volvo compound is similar to the Mercedes OEM pad, it is not only unsightly but corrosive as well and will eventually pit the finish (can't fit in a daily wheel bath)

Has anyone had any experience with ceramic pads - I know that Akebono makes them (per "Tire Rack") and there are others. I am particulary interested in their noise behavior. Every attempt that I made to find relatively dust free pads for my Benz left me attracting every dog in a 2 mile radiius each time I stopped.

Thanks

 

I've heard both pro and con on ceramics. Some people have told me they last longer and leave less of a mess, but i've also heard the exact opposite so....who knows. Personally, i'd really like to find out if they've put out kevlar pads for Volvo's yet and wether or not there worth anything. Again, i've heard both good and bad about that too.

 

My only experience with ceramic pads was on my 93 Suburban. They were great when brand new, but I left the truck sit for quite some time and the pads coroded and caused my rotors to pit. A mechanic told me that ceramic pads are great as long as you run the car regularly and the worst thing for them is to let them sit. It was sitting outside most of the winter here in Columbus. Battery went dead and muffler rotted out at the same time. Put new pads on, turned the rotors, new muffler and battery, sold it and bought my V70. Good timing too, the gas prices shot up right after I sold it.

 

I was talking to the guy who replaced the A/C compressor on my daughters Camry and complaining about the brake dust and he showed me a ceramic pad, I think that was from Federated, that he said was very low dust. He showed me a pad. He said to make sure that the pads were beveled so that you wouldn't get any of the screeching noise. He didn't say anything about them sitting or pitting the roters. Of course that wouldn't apply to me as my S 60 is an everyday driver.

 

Evolve has them for the R. I plan on ordering them this week.
http://www.evolvecars.com/site/index...103,85,0,0,1,0

 

kick ***! keep us posted man!

 

Will do. Ordered them yesterday, along with the rotors and braided steel brake lines. I went with the cheapest shipping, so I guess about a week until they get here....

 

Well, I finally got them in last week. Rotors, pads, and steelbraided brake lines all the way around. All I can say is they look amazing. Hopefully get them on by next week...

 

I'm excited to hear how they turn out....i'm kicking the idea around for one of my cars.

 

I've been using SatisfiedPro 'Ceramic-enhanced' pads on the rear of my 245 for about 8mo now(Satisfied doesn't offer them for the front on a 240 series). I had been running PBR/Axxis Deluxe for several years. They do stop the car a bit better than the PBRs, but they do create some dust. I usually got about 45k miles out of a set of PBRs. We'll see how long the SPs last.

 

Got them on tonight....sweeeet!!! Dont know about the dust levels for the pads yet, but they do stop the car better. Rotors look great too. I'll post some pics when I find the cable for my camera...

 

Cable for camera? My Olympus used to have a cable, and it was slow as can be. Justin told me to get a card reader and I got one for around $9.00 and I can now load pictures in no time. It's like another drive on your PC that you put your digital camera card into and the pictures are just there and you copy them to your hard drive and erase them from the card.

 

I have ceramic pads on my race bikes, dirt bikes, and street bikes. Trust me they stop on the dime. Most auto mfg's go with an organic compound which is why you see all the "black" stuff. It is cheaper, heats up quicker to operating temp, and do a fairly good job. With ceramic you don't get the mess, they last waaayyy longer, however remember they take more time to heat up. If you havent worked them up to the needed temp and do a panic stop, you will not get the desired braking power you want, which could be very bad news. For those with ceramic, go ahead and use the brakes more often then you would on the initial drive to get them up to operating temp.