Are the OEM brake pads that come on the Audi A4 (2002) ceramic? If not, does anyone have suggestions on whether to use them or not?

 

Most definitely semi-metallic or organic material. It releases tons of brake dust...just not that impressive to see a clean car (after a car wash), but then days later, the wheels get dirty faster than the rest of the car. Go with ceramics if you can. When mine goes, I'm looking to get some Wagner ThermoQuiets (ceramics) and turning the rotors for some fresh brakes.

 

Ya i upgraded to some really nice and really cheap ceramic pads andbrembo discs and it cut the dust accumulation by half. Your probably not going to find ceramics stockon anything less than probably a porshe

 

like everything else ceramics are neither good nor bad, just different pros and cons

i upgraded to hawk ceramics all the way around with crossdrilled slotted rotors front and rear and bigger 3.0 rotrs in the front and i believe my braking capabilities went down from stock.. ceramics are spongy and have little intial bite but work much better once they are warmed up...

however, the pro is i can go two weeks without washing and even the rears have only a light grey coating almost the rim color...

i put on stainless lines and motul 5.1 fluid and think that helped the most...


i personally want to try the bobcats or hawk hps to see the difference in dust/performance

 

Ceramic pads are better than stock. The downside is they MIGHT squeal when hot. I see that as an acceptable trade off for better braking and less dust. Ceramic pads are only a part of the equation. Stainless steel lines, quality rotors, and upgraded brake fluid will really improve braking.

 

Your braking went down because you removed a sh!tload of the rotor with your "cool" slotted AND crossed drilled rotors. When your left with about 80-85% of the rotor for the pad to make contact with, your most deffinatly going to have worse stopping power. Plain and slotted are about all you should use for street use.

As for the spongy feeling, thats all brake lines, not pads.

 

Ceramic pads stop better and leave minimal dust. I love them. I found a really good supplier for them http://www.philsinc.com They have the complete line of Centricpads. They cover all of the Audi applications. I just got some for my S4.

 

I have crossdrilled/slottors rotors with better braking. The friction surface loss is so minute its irrelevant.

 

15-20% is a pretty good amount of surface space removed. You cant stop as fast if your pad doesnt make contact with the rotor. A 2 peice plain rotor is ideal for street use.

 

Well, i actually have a very good answer to that cincy,,,, i got bigger rotors to make up for my loss of surface area

also if it hurts performance so bad, why do benz,porshce,lotus and other high performance cars all come with slotted or cross drilled rotors? i saw many a porsche at the track with cross drilled rotors... no cracking or fading...

i have noticed they dont fade anymore....

many people who have hawk ceramics have companied about spongy feeling.. nature of the pad..... if u not dusting, u not stopping!

but next time it will either be alcons or stoptech slotted only