the best way to not waste any money is to get some high heat black grease (im not sure of the exact name but its for the brakes and i think is synthetic) .put some on the back of the pad any wear it contacts the caliper. the rust and brake vibrations can cause squeeking. do both sides when you can and dont forget the floating pins. you can also do the rears where the shoes rub on the backing plate. hope it helps and it cant hurt.

 

I got some mid-grade (semi-metallic) pads from CarQuest for 20 bucks and they're alright, but I banged up the rotor so I think it's affecting the brake in term of dust because they'll squeek a little here and there and the caliper is pressed, but it's like a squeek-squeek-squeek, not a consistent screech. But anyway, I'm enjoying CarQuest for price and quality.

 

napa Ceramic A+++
drilled and sloted rotors from ebay.

The truck stops on a dime now.

 

If anyone is looking for pads... I have a bunch of EBCs and a fewRaybestoslisted I have something like 380 models covered by what I have for sale right now (and 2 Durangos/Dakotas and 3 or 4 Rams in there). Feel free to PM me

But, on a serious note, a big part of how a set of pads can perform is based on how well they are bedded. Everytime you get a new set of pads I'd recommend a new "surface" i.e. new rotors, or at least a resurfaced rotor. Not to mention following the pad bedding process. Usually it's something like 6-10 "medium" powered stops from ~35mph then 2-3 "hard" stops from ~40-45. It varies based on the manufacturer, but that's about what I have seen for most. Without doing the proper bedding the life expectancy of the pads and/or rotors can decrease and the actual stopping power decreases as well. Just my .02 on pads. Also, I am currently running Hawk HPSs on my Jetta GLI and I like them thus far. They do make very little dust. The squeel a little in the cold/at low speeds though. EBCs from my experiences do make a little more dust than the Hawks, but it still comes off easier than OEM pad dust (if that makes sense?). The EBCs have a nice bite to them though, in my opinion.

 

on my truck i just replaced at 32k the stock pads for duralast from autozone, lifetime warranty, as long as there is no metal showing on the pad you can return it, so i plan to swap em every 20k miles myself, and it wont cost anything. also put the rotors on a lathe when i changed the pads.. if you have oversized tires you may look into a new system, yall have drums in the rear and single piston in the front right?

 

I have high end Raybestos on there now from Fishers and they do okay. I think they cost me $102 though. I got my squeeking stopped by putting some caliper grease they sold all on the back of the pads and anywhere that metal touched metal. I did that with my old pads but then noticed they were cracking so I got these. I tried to get Hawk pads but Summit kept messing up and I couldn't wait any longer. I finally got the right ones and decided to keep them for the next time I need pads so I will try those next. I had already had to get the Raybestos and ones and put them on though. I was down to the wire of when I needed my truck. Since I had put calipers on too I was out there the night before I had to have it trying to finish up bleeding the brakes in the dark.

I like these pads okay so far but I don't know how long they will end up lasting.

 

I have wager Severe duty ceramic pads. they work great. I only use wagner on my vehicles.

 

ceramic blows, who cares bout brake dust when your rotors wear out like 5 dollar ***** in thailand.....


raybestos are overpriced, never heard someone say anything good enough to warrant the price, even heard bad things about them...

 

After blowing off a stop sign from 60 mph with the rotors smoking using standard Raybestos pads, I swapped out to a set of Raybestos Superstops. They have never faded on me, are easy on rotors, and if the backs are properly coated with raybestos anti squeal, never squeak. They may be a bit dusty, but my rims clean easily. I won't say they're the best pads, but they stop my truck and don't costa fortune.

One of thekeys to long pad life is keeping your rear drums adjusted. The self adjusters just don't keep things tight enough. I have to give mine a few extra clicks aboutevery other month. If you are going through two or more sets of pads per rear shoes, your rear adjustment is too loose.

 

I'm not going through rear shoes very fast but I'm going through pads like crazy. I got about 16k on the first set of regular $60 Raybestos and then put a OEM set of pads from the dealer on and they cracked after 10k or so but had half life left. I then went with these high end Raybestos as Summit couldn't get me the Hawks in time.

I've had to work on my rear brake a little as the self adjuster messed up. I fixxed it and tightened them until putting the drum on was snug. How tight should they be? How do I check this. Did I do it properly? Thanks.

How long are you guys getting out of your pads? These trucks seem to eat through them.