Wearever Brake Pads - Bad Experience

[Swanicyouth]

So, a few moths ago I did a complete brake job on my Pathfinder. New brakes (Wearever Gold - Advance Auto), Wearever brake rotors, 4 x 4 service, new hardware, new bearing seals, etc... Against my better judgement, I picked this particular brand of pad because it was all that was available at my local auto parts store and I needed pads that day. I have to tell you - these were the worse pads I`ve ever owned.



Why were they so bad? First off - they stopped the vehicle like the pads were made out of marshmallows and graham crackers. Secondly (and most annoying), after the pads warmed up, and you stopped the vehicle for a bit (like you ran into a store for a few minutes), they would make a warbling grinding type noise that sounded to me like a bunch of fornicating cats. It was a grinding or squealing sound per se - but more like nails on a chalk board. Noise would not go away again until he car was completely stone cold again.

Another thing is, they pads are advertised as "ceramic" and "low dust" for my application (OE Nissan is ceramic). But, these pads were one of the biggest dust monsters I`ve ever seen.

Washed 7 days ago...

Rear wheel clean (drum brakes):



Front wheel (discs Wearever pads):



This is much much worse than whatever pads were on there. Pads were bedded / burnished or whatever you want to call it. So, I decided to replace them with the well reviewed Wagner Thermo Quiet pads:





They pretty much make the same claims, plus some Spanish stuff. So, I pulled off the Wearever pads and saw micro-cracks:





I`m calling bogus on these Wearever pads. This vehicle is driven very gingerly at best - however it`s a heavy vehicle.

The Wearever pads have cheapo metal shims:



Wagner pads have built shims built into the pads backing. No "brake quiet" required.



So, after switching to the Wagner`s it was like night and day. No more noise and good braking. Wearever pads - buyer beware.

[Angus]

That`s terrible. Speaking of, what pads do you have/ recommend on your E85? I need to replace the ones on my E93 and want to go with lower dusting ones then OEM.

[Swanicyouth]

The PBR/Repko ceramic pads are what I use. They make ZERO dust. I mainly choose them for that reason. That being said, they seem to leave rotor deposits that need to be burnished off by heavy braking every now and then. They don`t have the bite of the OE pads, but they do stop well.

I would like to try Akebono or Wagner Thermo Quiet on my BMW - but they don`t make a pad for E85 M; which comes with the brakes from the rare E46 CSL (drilled rotors) - not regular M3 brakes.

[Bunky]

For oem I had been using Raybestos. My Lincoln got over 85K (with some to spare) on the factory shoes -- a record by 2x of any previous new car.

[txb4z]

I hate all aftermarket brake pads. OEM all the way for me.

[Swanicyouth]

I go aftermarket cause I want no dust.


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[Stokdgs]

Al -

Wow - 85k miles on the same set of brakes !!!!

You, Sir, are a great driver !!!
Dan F

[House of Wax]

I`ve had some pretty good luck with the Wagner`s as well

[The Guz]

You will like those wagner thermo quiet`s. My brother has those on his daily driver as does my dad. They don`t dust that bad compared to the hawk pads that are on my daily driver. I will be switching over the the wagner thermo quiet`s as well.

[trashmanssd]

for the most part you get what you pay for. But I cant lie I buy Wearever for some of the brake jobs I do. Mostly just for the family members who ask me if I will do their brake job for them which always includes me buying all the parts and footing the bill. If they want better parts they need to supply them I dont mind helping out but enough is enough. I have mixed luck with them up here in New England I find stuff rust up before it wears out. I prefer to just change pads and rotors every 2 years no matter what if I dont its pain getting it a part due to rusty slides or pins or bolts or stuck calipers salt ruins a car.

[silver2kws6]

I like.my red stuff brake pads. Grip.fantastic or hawk.pads the drag race guys love em. Dust free pads i cant help.you with. But you definately make.me tbink twice aboit buying your pads.

[RMD]

Lots of info on pad/rotor choices on the BMW forums. Aakebono are well regarded. I`ve tried the Pagid from bavauto and wasn`t impressed.