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Thread: OEM brake pads, are they semi metallic or ceramic?

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    OEM brake pads, are they semi metallic or ceramic?

    My 2015 has 72k on it, original front pads. It started making a noise when brakes are applied, just before stopping. Not a typical worn pad noise I'd expect, this is kind of a light 'clunk-clunk-clunk'. Sometimes doesn't do it. Really weird.
    I'm easy on brakes, btw.
    But anyway, when I do need pads, I'd prefer OEM. Can't find the Akebono originals, except through Mitsubishi (not cheap). I have never had ceramic pads,do they wear rotors more than semi metallic?
    Tks.



  2. #2
    Still Plays With Cars Loren's Avatar
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    Most OE pads are ceramic these days. Even if the Mirage ones aren't, you WANT ceramic pads.

    Ceramic is easy on rotors, quiet and nearly dust-free. Early Miata OE pads are ceramic and made by Akebono...

    I put Power Stop (PN: Z231731) pads from Rock Auto on my Mirage. They seem to be as good or better than OE and the price was $25.xx for the set.
    Simplify and add lightness.

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    Senior Member Cobrajet's Avatar
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    Being an economy car, I believe the OE pads on the Mirage are semi-metallic. Ceramic is great, but it is very hard. That means they will not usually 'bite' like a semi-metallic pad will. I actually heard that since ceramic is a harder material it wears rotors faster. Ceramics are quiet and produce very little dust...but it comes at a cost.

    Personally, I use Raybestos Element3 EHT pads, which are a ceramic/semi-metallic hybrid. They seem to wear longer than the OE, and there was a noticeable improvement in brake performance compared to stock.

    They were also about $25 on Ebay.

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    Still Plays With Cars Loren's Avatar
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    There are many different hardnesses of ceramic pads. An OE equivalent is usually quite rotor-friendly. When you get into performance pads that are designed to work at higher temperature, they can get VERY aggressive. Even those are actually rotor-friendly WHEN they are at operating temperature. The rotor wear comes when they are operated at temperatures below their operating temperature. In that situation, they operate in "abrasive" mode rather than "ablative" mode.

    Pads are designed to operate in their normal temperature range in "ablative" mode. That means that some of the pad material has transferred to the surface of the rotor (at a microscopic level), and when you apply the brakes, the ROTOR pulls away the pad material. By design, your pads wear, not your rotors.

    Most pad wear occurs when the brakes are COLD. Below their operating temperature, brakes work in "abrasive" mode. Most street pads are almost never there. They operate at very low temperatures, and warm up very quickly. But, a track pad is designed to work at much higher temperatures without fading, and they WILL compromise their low-temperature performance to achieve that. So, a race pad won't be warm enough for the pad material on the rotor to "stick" to the material of the pad. When that happens, the pad ends up "scrubbing" the rotor. And the more aggressive the pad is, the more that's going to wear the rotor.

    Couple things I've noticed in playing with "race pads" on occasion over the years. I like to be prepared and not do a bunch of stuff AT the track. And I also don't like to tow cars around (they're cars, they're supposed to be driven!). So when I do track events (and autocrosses... but, you don't need fancy high-temp brake pads for autocross), I like to drive my car to the track... and if I'm changing pad FOR the track, I usually do it the night before.

    So, once I remember doing this with some legit "Spec Miata" brake pads on my Miata. I was driving around that evening just after dark trying to bed in those pads before going the track the next morning. Braking into a left turn on the street, I could literally SEE the sparks flying off of my rotors from the driver's seat! I didn't even come close to getting those pads up to temp driving on the street! If you ever notice "race pads" squealing in street use, this is why. They're eating the rotors because they're not up to temp.

    With the same pads (and to a sligthly lesser extent, other similar pads), it took a full two laps at Sebring (that's 3.7 miles and 17 turns per lap) to get them up to temp. And when they come up to temp... OMG do they start working! I mean, even in "abrasive" mode, they work. They make a little noise, but they do work. But, when they reach operating temp, they grab HARD. You've got all sorts of braking and great modulation with a lot less pedal effort. It's a wonderful thing.

    Anyway, sorry for the tangent. But... yeah... typical parts store grade ceramic pads are good stuff for a street car. Quiet, rotor friendly, dust free. That's what they're for.
    Simplify and add lightness.

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  8. #5
    No they're not semi metallic. I put on my cape and looked it up on rock auto. Captain autocorrect found that Oem is ceramic.

    I've used the element brake pads for the last 8 brake jobs. I found on every other set the holes didn't line up where they snap into the calipers. I had to take a wire wheel to scrap off a bit of the paint then fight to get then to fit snap into place.

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage SE wussie cvt edition. 1.2 automatic: 37.7 mpg (US) ... 16.0 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.3 mpg (Imp)


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    Quote Originally Posted by Fummins View Post
    No they're not semi metallic. I put on my cape and looked it up on rock auto. Captain autocorrect found that Oem is ceramic.

    I've used the element brake pads for the last 8 brake jobs. I found on every other set the holes didn't line up where they snap into the calipers. I had to take a wire wheel to scrap off a bit of the paint then fight to get then to fit snap into place.
    Fummins, do you like the Wagner Thermo Quiet? I was thinking of trying those. Thanks again.

  11. #7
    I've used those on the Mirages as well. I rarely drive the things and don't notice a difference between the different pads. They both stop the car fine. The only difference I find in wear is from the different drivers, the ones that have the highest recorded aggressive braking according to the gps trackers correlate with needing brakes more often. I never needed to replace more than one set of pads on anything I've owned before. I just go with middle grade pads with oem materials and cheapo rotors.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage SE wussie cvt edition. 1.2 automatic: 37.7 mpg (US) ... 16.0 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.3 mpg (Imp)


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    Senior Member Cobrajet's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fummins View Post
    No they're not semi metallic. I put on my cape and looked it up on rock auto. Captain autocorrect found that Oem is ceramic.

    I've used the element brake pads for the last 8 brake jobs. I found on every other set the holes didn't line up where they snap into the calipers. I had to take a wire wheel to scrap off a bit of the paint then fight to get then to fit snap into place.
    Can I humbly ask where you got that info? I assume you are talking about the '14-'15 4605B005 pads?

    Sellers on Amazon and Ebay say semi-metallic. I don't see a definitive answer from Mitsubishi.

    https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Mitsu.../dp/B073JKQZQC

    When I changed mine they certainly didn't look like ceramic pads, and I feel like ceramic pads would last much, much longer than the 15k-30k some people were getting out of them and produce much less dust?

  13. #9
    Just look up brake pads on rockauto's website. It'll usually show in brackets under some of the different options what is oem. Maybe it's wrong?
    No offense to ebay or amazon but their interchange is usually pretty pathetic and not normally accurate so I don't take anything that's listed their as anything but a guess.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage SE wussie cvt edition. 1.2 automatic: 37.7 mpg (US) ... 16.0 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.3 mpg (Imp)


  14. #10
    Senior Member Cobrajet's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fummins View Post
    Just look up brake pads on rockauto's website. It'll usually show in brackets under some of the different options what is oem. Maybe it's wrong?
    No offense to ebay or amazon but their interchange is usually pretty pathetic and not normally accurate so I don't take anything that's listed their as anything but a guess.
    Could be wrong? I just feel like ceramic pads would perform a lot better on the '14 and '15 cars than we have observed? People have reported wearing out original pads on those cars in as little as 15,000 miles. That is terrible lifespan for a semi-metallic pad and pretty much unheard of for a ceramic pad.

    It wasn't too long ago that OEM was our only option with pads. I remember the first set of replacement pads I put in my car were OEM because I didn't have a choice! Glad the aftermarket has finally caught up here.



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