First front brake job.. any recommendations for rotors and pads other then volvo

 

I've used the big 3 OEM vendors for rotors - Brembo, Zimmermann and Bosch. All work fine. You can shop for price using a Volvo friendly online store. As to pads, there's a whole lot more choices but you need to consider the materials used. Generally brake pads come in 3 flavors - organic, semi-metallic and ceramic. OEM brake pads for most Volvo sedans are organic. These have the best brake feel and initial bit and offer the best all around performance for normal driving. The down side is the organic pads throw off the most dust. Next is semi-metallic. Essentially the pad material has bits of metal mixed in which allows the pads to deal with heat better and resists fade (fade is created when hot brake pads literally boil the surface material and create a gaseous layer between the pad and rotor decreasing stopping power). They have less of an initial bite so for in town driving may require more pressure and thow off less dust. The upside is the resistance to fade is a benefit when driving in mountains, pulling a trailer or driving agressively. Finally there's ceramic. these pads use ceramic as a filler to the pad and thow off the least dust and have the highest resistance to fade. Similar pros/cons to the semi-metallics but are not as rough on the rotors. Personally I've done all three over 30 years while maintaining 4 cars and I'm now back to using Genuine Volvo brake pads for the most part. Best fit, best feel, least noise and I can live with the dust.

 

Thanks for the insights about your experiences with brakes. I’ve already learned an $$ lesson regarding Volvo parts and inexpensive replacement parts. I don’t want to make that mistake again. I appreciate the advice. I’ll look at FCPEuro and TASCA for prices.