AdvancePepZone Brake Pads?

Just wondering what everyone's opinion is of the typical box store brake pads for a daily driver. I wouldn't choose them for a track car, but I'll admit to putting them on a few DD's.

Advance is generally my store of choice and their go-to brand is Wearever. Not sure if there's any difference between the Silver and Gold, other than the warranty.

Thoughts?

I run the silver's from advance on my dd. My biggest complaint is the collossal amount of brake dust they emit.

FWIW, I hear o'reillys uses the exact same pads as advance, just re-branded.

I like the akebono's ceramics from tire rack for a daily, they are quiet and don't dust very much. I have used the Advance pads on cars I am selling. They were fine for the limited time I had them...

I ran dura last golds on my old f150 and really liked them, they liked a bit if heat in them, but it only took about 1/2 of the first normal stop to make that happen. Was interesting to feel them warming up and grabbing harder.

the Jeep XJ-R has autozone duralast golds and they feel pretty awesome, though i'm sure the significantly smaller tire helps that a lot. otherwise i dont have any experience with them.

Not happy with Duralast, their ceramic was even worse. Head over to O-Reily for some Wagner Thermo-quiet.

My fiero had performance friction carbon metalic zrates from the zone on grand am calipers in the front. With duralast golds in the back. At a PCA club trackday I had my 911 driving instructor comment on how good and consistent my car stopped. I think at the time they where about $40 a set vs $20 for the duralasts.. worked great and fade free during 25 min track sessions

I ran the cheapest pads from those stores and can tell you they typically last less than a year. Its more like nine months on average and they dust pretty badly. Its well worth spending the extra money to buy their premium brakes because they seem to work well and last a lot longer. I have the dura last golds on my Honda and they do what they need to and has last more than 1 1/2yrs so far.

I have gotten some Stoptech pads for the other car at rockauto.com for around the same price as those dura lasts and they are quite good for the price. I think next time around I'll get those for my Honda.

I got 75k miles out of my stoptech gransport gs-6 pads on the corolla, and they stopped worlds better than the oem pads which were down to 1/2 pad at 100k.

Gearheadotaku wrote: Not happy with Duralast, their ceramic was even worse. Head over to O-Reily for some Wagner Thermo-quiet.

I second the Duralast opinion. One of the sets didn't make it 200 miles in the mountains on a Toyota Tacoma (just commuting, nothing more). I've been buying brake pads at Rock Auto lately.

Gearheadotaku wrote: Not happy with Duralast, their ceramic was even worse. Head over to O-Reily for some Wagner Thermo-quiet.

-1. i ran a standard 10-stop fade on the TQs on the front of a suburban and they were on fire during the seventh stop. test aborted.

RetreadAuto Silver and Golds are garbage. The Golds throw less dust then the Silvers, but stop WAY poorer. Many times as I applied pressure to the pedal, they more I had the sinking feeling of oil on the pads and sliding to a stop.

gunner wrote: I got 75k miles out of my stoptech gransport gs-6 pads on the corolla, and they stopped worlds better than the oem pads which were down to 1/2 pad at 100k.

Oh yeah, definitely a night and day difference with the Stoptechs. If I could afford Hawk HPS or Akebono's, I would have ran those. Being that the Stoptechs were half the price of the HPS and nearly the same price as the premiums sold at those stores, why not.

I run Ceramic pads from NAPA. My last set for the Mazda6 was about $38 for the front. Very pleased with them.

I remove the pad material from the pad backing plate. I find there is VERY little brake dust that way. And if you wash the wheels often enough, the shavings won't rust on your wheels!
Honestly, for DD use, I've noticed the autozone pads to dust a bit more than I expected, but if you wash your wheels once a week, ain't no thang.

Can't speak for any others but Pep's Prostop are made by Wagner. The Prostop Platinum are a close copy of OE also made by Wagner. The Prostop Ceramics are a premium product & they have or can get Akebono & GreenStuff pads. Not a canoe, I'm in Commercial, so individual sales don't effect me.

I run Advance Gold's on my dailys. I haven't noticed an issue with stopping. Made in USA too. The last box of Wagner TQ's I picked up were made elsewhere. The inspection guys here like to give me a hard time on brake pads when they're 1/2 through. Why buy expensive ones if I'm only going to get half the life anyway?

purplepeopleeater wrote: Can't speak for any others but Pep's Prostop are made by Wagner. The Prostop Platinum are a close copy of OE also made by Wagner. The Prostop Ceramics are a premium product & they have or can get Akebono & GreenStuff pads. Not a canoe, I'm in Commercial, so individual sales don't effect me.

Anybody who knows that they are not a canoe, is not a canoe.

Oh and I am running Carquest whatevers on my DD Dakota.

Strizzo wrote: I ran dura last golds on my old f150 and really liked them, they liked a bit if heat in them, but it only took about 1/2 of the first normal stop to make that happen. Was interesting to feel them warming up and grabbing harder.

I noticed that too on my Camaro. It's a nice feeling.

next time I change pads on my DD, I'll switch over to the Golds. I have talked to a few people that have tried the CMax ceramic pads and they like them better than the Golds