Good E46 Brake Pads With Minimal Dust?

I love my 330ci and it's Sport Package wheels, but the brake dust is extreme. What brake pads, if any, will provide equal or better braking with less dust than the factory pads?

You might be able to get a bit less dust, but IMO, pads that don't dust are pads that don't work. Giving up pad performance for less dust or longer life isn't worth it.

EBC Redstuff is good for DDing and low on dust.

I use BMW OEM pads on my E46 and switch them out with Carbotech XP12s when I go to the track. After the weekend, a couple of commutes on cold XP12s will self-turn the rotors and you can slap the OEM pads back in and re-bed. It's not my DD, so no biggie.

bravenrace wrote: I love my 330ci and it's Sport Package wheels, but the brake dust is extreme. What brake pads, if any, will provide equal or better braking with less dust than the factory pads?

I really really like Akebono Euro Pros on my E46. I don't track it, but they work great in autocross. Plenty of performance at anything like normal temperature ranges, low dust, low noise. I tried them on my E46 for exactly the same reasons, and like them so much I now put them on all my cars.

If you aren't tracking the car, PBR pads are inexpensive, work pretty well, and don't dust much.

They are NOT designed for track use though.

How about ceramic pads? Yes, they dust, but the dust is tan so in theory you don't notice it too much.

I probably should have mentioned that this is a DD that doesn't get autocrossed or tracked, but does get driven in a spirited manner. Thanks for the suggestions!

I will second the Akebono Euro ceramic pads. I have them on all of my cars as I hate brake dust. They work well probably not for the track though.

Duke wrote:

bravenrace wrote: I love my 330ci and it's Sport Package wheels, but the brake dust is extreme. What brake pads, if any, will provide equal or better braking with less dust than the factory pads?

I really *really* like Akebono Euro Pros on my E46. I don't track it, but they work great in autocross. Plenty of performance at anything like normal temperature ranges, low dust, low noise. I tried them on my E46 for exactly the same reasons, and like them so much I now put them on all my cars.

So I checked these out. I was able to find Euro's and Pro's, but not Euro Pros. Can ya help me out there, Duke?

Joe Gearin wrote: If you aren't tracking the car, PBR pads are inexpensive, work pretty well, and don't dust much. They are NOT designed for track use though.

Wow, Pabst is a really diversified company!

In reply to bravenrace:

I'll see if I can find a receipt to check the model, but they were definitely at least the Euro series. If there was more after that, either I'm misremembering or they changed the nomenclature.

I've always been happy with the Hawk HPS pads as far as grip/use and dust go, but they started to let me down a bit as I started tracking my Rx-8. I've switched to the EBC reds and they've not faded, but they definitely dust more. The HPS worked fine for track days on the Miata still, though.

These are mine...

If they will work for you, you can have them for $45 shipped and I'll include a new pair of sensors.

And for that matter, you can have the rest of the new-in-package unused BMW nuts and bolts that I have no use for.

All I can say is the Textar "OEM" pads sold for BMW's generate dust like it is their primary purpose. They stop the car very well but two days after scrubbing the wheels they are black again.

Does anyone else's E46 dust the rears more than the fronts, or is it just me?

Nope, not me. Before I switched pads, the fronts needed cleaning every couple of days; the rears, every couple of weeks.