Favorite brake pads for daily driver? (E39 BMW)

My E39 touring is coming due for a brake job on all four corners. It has been almost 90k since the rotors were replaced according to the service records, so I am going to do the whole shebang on all four corners.

This is a daily driver that occasionally sees some spirited backroad driving but no auto-x, HPDE or anything like that. It is a heavy car though. I don't know what pads are on it right now but they dust like mad and are relatively noisy.

I think I have decided on the Centric 125 High Carbon rotors, as Brembo blanks have really gone up in cost lately. The question is what I do for pads. Ceramics seem to be the ultimate low-dust solution at the expense of, well, everything else. I liked the Stoptech Street Performance para-aramid pads I had on my E46 as a pad I could drive to HPDEs and use without swapping, but they were pretty dust heavy. I have heard that Posi-Quiet pads are a pretty good all around daily pad without too much dust. And before someone says it, OE Pagid pads dust like crazy, have weak stopping power and are waaaay expensive, pretty much nobody likes them.

What do you guys like for four-season daily driver pads?

Sounds like EBC Redstuff is just what you need.

I like Hawk Performance Ceramic. Good bite, quiet, clean and long lasting. Much better than the OE in my Subaru.

hawk HPS

Porterfield R4S

OE.

OE pads can be had really cheap if you know where to look Altrom.

Porterfield R4S.

OEM pads for a DD are all that is required.

Yup, OEM. Did I miss you buying an iT somehow?

I second ebc Reds. I love them and have had no dust.

I needed everything for my 525iT and was trying to stay inexpensive, what with it being the annual "build a race car season". I ended up w/ an includes-everything package from Bavauto w/ rotors, wear senders and Pagid reds, which are Pagids painted red for Bavauto. They're good street pads; reasonable torque, good initial bit and modulation, smooth release.

Recommend.

iceracer wrote: OEM pads for a DD are all that is required.

Except it's a BMW. The OE pads feel and work great, but they will blacken your wheels faster than Bobby Flay on coke.

I switched to Akebono Euro Pros for my E46 and Mrs. Duke's car, and have been extremely happy. Reduced the dust by 90% but they feel at least 90% as good as OE, and they aren't expensive.

In reply to Duke:

Clean wheels on a BMW are a sign that it is driven by a wuss. Dusty wheels (on any car) are awesome. Extra bonus points if the car's paint gets permanently seasoned by brake dust.

The dusty pad materials specified by BMW have the little side benefit of the rotors seemingly never glazing or rusting. The rotors maintain an awesome surface finish no matter what. THAT is why I said OEM. It's to the point, I pay attention to what pad forms BMW use to see if they can be used on other makes.

If you're anal-retentive about dust, a toilet brush and water does an incredible job of cleaning dusty wheels. Seriously, try it. It's like magic.

Shameless plug...If you're interested in used, I just squashed my e39. Will be parting it out soon. Has some spendy rotors. Fwiw I like hawk hps, but they dust a bit

Knurled wrote: In reply to Duke: If you're anal-retentive about dust, a toilet brush and water does an incredible job of cleaning dusty wheels. Seriously, try it. It's like magic.

Been there. Done that. About twice a week for the first year and a half I owned my car. Then I switched to the Akebonos and a fresh set of Brembo rotors - no glazing or spotting trouble at all, and literally 90% less black crap all over everything. Never ever going back. In fact if I buy a newer BMW I'm switching away from the OE pads immediately whether it needs brake service or not. And I'm not even anal about clean cars; they usually look a bit disreputable.

I'm gonna try the toilet brush thing...usually I just use a sponge with soapy water, and occasionally some De-Solv-It if stubborn stains are building up. But behind the spokes, there's a thick layer of black crap that I'm afraid to mess with.

Duke wrote:

iceracer wrote: OEM pads for a DD are all that is required.

Except it's a BMW. The OE pads feel and work great, but they will blacken your wheels faster than Bobby Flay on coke. I switched to Akebono Euro Pros for my E46 and Mrs. Duke's car, and have been extremely happy. Reduced the dust by 90% but they feel at least 90% as good as OE, and they aren't expensive.

Another for the Akebono pads. I have them on my 9-5 and my wife's R class and my experience is right in line with what Duke said.

Akebono on my BMW and wifes Saab. love them. the dust was awful before.

DTC70.

Make sure to have plenty of budget for rotors. Lots of them. Lots and lots.

Just kidding. OEM pads or Porterfield R4-S are the way I roll. I love the Porterfields!

Porterfield's

I like Axxis/PBR Metal Master/XBG pads (Rock Auto sells these under the Beck/Arnley name.). The $50 set I bought for my 325i back in 2011 still work great. I bought another set for $6 for my Sienna and those also work great. They replaced worn out Centric Stop Tech Street Performance pads on the Sienna which I had also bought in 2011. They are still pretty dirty semi-metallics (maybe not as bad as HPS/Stop Tech/EBC Green). I have felt them fade when stopping hard from ~100 mph--less so than Hawk HPS pads.