Ceramic vs Semi Metallic Brake Pads - Summit Racing Quick Flicks

Learn the difference between ceramic, semi metallic and organic brake pads. Dave explains which brake pad performs best, makes the least amount of noise, leaves the least amount of brake dust, and which shoes will last the longest.

[kenmasters]

You should mention the reliability, wear life, and cost between the three..

[SummitRacing]

Hi James, a semi-metallic is a good choice if you do a lot of low speed trail riding and lite rock crawling where the brakes don’t really have a chance to heat up much. The Ceramics are a good choice if you have larger tires and are a little harder on the brakes, heating them up often, towing or more highway use.

[SummitRacing]

Thank you for watching! We will work on our sound quality, thank you for letting us know :)
Let us know if you have any questions.

[xxJINTAGxx]

Thanks for the info but your audio really bad.

[SummitRacing]

We have a few additional questions for you in order to help with this question. Would you mind giving our techline a call? 1-330-630-0240. We look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for watching!

[SummitRacing]

Please call us on the tech hotline and we can discuss and help you pick the right pad for your combination and useage! 1-330-630-0240. Thank you for watching! Hope to hear from you soon.

[SummitRacing]

Both can actually chew on a rotor pretty good! The Semi-metallic’s have been around awhile and are noisy with less dust. The Ceramics are a newer design material made for higher temperatures such as racing or heavy towing. They are a quieter pad but do produce more dust. Please let us know if you have any additional questions. Thank you for watching!

[homelaber]

I have no experience with the organics, but I have found ceramics last a lot longer in my daily driver with an 80 mile daily commute. I was changing semi-metalics and severe-duty metalics every 3 months. I can get about 12 to 14 months out of a set of ceramics. YMMV.

[TorQueMoD]

Decent video but you didn't mention any disadvantages to the Ceramic pads.

[Tmerity]

Ceramic pads from O'Reillys and autozone produce more brake dust than any pads I've used in my entire life. I keep getting warped rotors, too, and I have a feeling that the brake pads are responsible as, as they heat up, they are depositing too much material onto the rotor and causing excessive friction and heat. Not 100% sure but I'm going back to semi metalic.

[paultarantino]

Thanks but. Why dont you do your break down as the best pads for; city, highway, dirt road. For city driving you have multible breaking time, on the highway you have power breaking not as often. I think it will be less confusing.

[reyperez]

Back then the oem weren't ceramic pads but now that's what they use, I bought it at the gmc dealership and they look like semi metallic, on brake pads i only buy oem and not store brand pads but I have bought Wagner semi metallic pads and been happy with them

[wakesake]

terrible sound, nice usefull video ..please fix the audio

[Ottesen]

Love these videos you guys do, but the sound quality is pretty bad... Hard to hear for us foreign guys :)

[ItsLotus]

Nice vid, but you didn't share the pros and cons of ceramic vs. semi metallic?

[homerthompson]

Ceramic pads may be more expensive and perform better when things get hot but they will compress more meaning that they will make your brake pedal feel squishier and will be more difficult to modulate the brake pedal with your foot. They just don't feel confidence inspiring despite being the most expensive of all types of brake pads.

Semi-metallic pads however have a very good initial bite and just feel better when braking as the pedal feel is firmer, similar to the ones that came on your car when you bought it. The downside is that they will start to lose performance under excessive heat, so I wouldn't recommend these if you drive in the fast lane during traffic where you have to constantly speed up very fast and slow down very fast or if you have to go through winding roads on a good part of your daily commute. In normal traffic, stop and go, bumper to bumper etc., these would be my choice.


However I will say that they perform about the same as far as pure stopping power and nothing else from my experience so if spending more on ceramic pads will give you better peace of mind then by all means get them.

[ssondubs]

Are Ceramic pads the most aggressive to rotors? Some of my buddies say they don't like them cause the chew up rotors faster than semi metallics.

[mibracedude]

Pretty useless video. Which are easier on the rotors, given identical driving patters? I'm sure someone knows the answer. Which last longer, given identical driving patterns. These are the questions people came here to find answers to.

[lwaweru]

I was having trouble hearing you. Either the room was echoing soundsor your mic was too far.

[CallMeCribby]

So what is better for SUVs/Off-road vehicles? Semi-metallic or Ceramic? I have a Jeep Wrangler that is 4000lb+ and need some good stopping power ;)