5 Best Brake Pads for Cars, Trucks, and SUVs

Last Updated on September 14, 2021

Brake pads are found in cars, trucks, SUVs, and even motorcycles. They are what create friction against the disc brake rotors of your vehicle. This happens every time you step on the brake pedal and this friction allows the vehicle to slow down and stop.

Because of the amount of times we step on the brake pedal, it naturally creates a lot of regular wear and tear on the brake pads. Since brake pads can vary quite a bit as far as performance, longevity, noise, dust, and price, the best brake pads for one vehicle may not necessarily be the best for another.

Before we get into our list of top 5 best brake pads, it’s important to understand the three main types of brake pad materials out there. They are not created equal and each have their own advantages and disadvantages.

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Types of Brake Pads

When brake pads do their job, they turn the kinetic energy of a moving vehicle into thermal energy (a lot of heat), so the pads must be made of a material that dissipates heat well. Older vehicles used asbestos to make brake pads due to its superior ability to rid itself of heat.

Of course, we now know that asbestos can cause severe illness when the dust is inhaled, so alternatives quickly became the norm. Here are the three main brake pad materials in use today.

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Metallic/Semi-Metallic

Metallic brake pads, sometimes called semi-metallic pads, are made of a mixture of materials such as steel, iron, graphite, and copper held together with an organic resin.

They are quite tough, so usually the rest of the brake system wears before the pads do. Using these may wear your rotors faster than you’d like.

Metallic pads are used in most vehicles because there is a great cost to benefit ratio. These cost-effective parts really shine when they’re used to stop heavy vehicles, though they’re great for road cars as well.

These are sometimes used in performance driving and work well as long as the car has ample time to warm up since the material works much better when it’s warm. 

Ceramic

Synthetic or ceramic brake pads are made of mostly ceramic with some filler material held together by a bonding compound. These are great for aggressive driving as the ceramic dissipates heat very well and they wear slowly.

It’s very important for brake pads to dissipate heat effectively since overheated pads don’t work well, if at all. Each pad material is carefully manufactured to have the right friction coefficient so if the temperature is outside the intended range the material behaves differently. The temporary loss of braking ability due to overheating is called brake fade.

Along the many benefits, ceramic brake pads have the highest cost. For most drivers, the expense doesn’t justify the gain in performance.

This material takes longer to warm up to optimal operating temperature so it may actually not be best for a daily driver. Stopping distance will increase when brake pads are operated outside their intended heat range, even if it’s because the pads are too cold.

Organic

Organic, or non-metallic, brake pads are generally the softest (and thus have a short lifespan). They are often made of glass, rubbers, and resins mixed with a bit of metal fibers.

Sometimes Kevlar, a very strong organic material, can be mixed into these pads for increased durability, though the price tag reflects the improvement. 

Organic pads reduce the amount of pollution from brake dust and are easy to dispose of. This makes them favorable for vehicles that don’t have high braking demands. 

Related: Ceramic vs Organic Brake Pads