Creating A Better Car Interior

Which Type Of Brake Pad Provides Maximum Comfort?

24 May 2022 by Celina Freeman

Your brakes serve one critical function: to bring your car to a safe, reliable, and uneventful stop. However, your brakes can also be a potential source of noise, vibration, and harshness. Choosing the best brake pad for your specific needs means balancing performance with undesirable characteristics such as noise and brake dust generation.

While there's no denying that high-performance brake pads have their benefits, most drivers don't need the advantages they provide. If you don't drive your vehicle in a particularly spirited manner, you'll probably want to select pads that provide good stopping power without sacrificing ride quality. This guide will help you understand how your brake pad choice can affect your vehicle's comfort level.

How Do Brake Pads Differ?

Consumer brake pads typically come in organic, ceramic, and semi-metallic options. Each pad option has several advantages and disadvantages, so there's no single correct choice for every application. Since organic pads tend to be low-cost, these often come with many cars from the factory. While generally relatively quiet, organic pads tend to be less durable and more prone to creating a lot of brake dust.

Semi-metallic and ceramic pads offer some advantages over organic pads, and manufacturers sometimes use these pads in factory braking systems. For example, many trucks use semi-metallic pads since they provide better durability and stopping power for heavy loads. Conversely, semi-metallic pads can be noisy and hard on other braking components, such as your rotors.

Finally, ceramic pads offer long life, low noise, and low brake dust generation but tend to cost more. While these pads offer many advantages, they don't provide the same robust stopping power as semi-metallic pads, making them unsuitable for hauling, track use, or other heavy-duty applications.

Which Brake Pads Offer the Most Comfortable Driving Experience?

If your primary goal is comfort, organic or ceramic pads are your best option. Not only are semi-metallic pads potentially noisy, but they also tend to be "grabbier" when compared to other options. In other words, stepping on the brake pedal can produce a sudden jolt as the pads "bite" into the rotors to bring you to a stop.

Meanwhile, ceramic and organic pads offer good performance while keeping your ride comfortable and smooth. Since ceramic pads typically last longer and keep your wheels cleaner, many people view them as a more premium option. However, organic pads still provide a quiet and smooth ride, with the additional benefit that they tend to wear out brake rotors less quickly than ceramic pads. 

Stop by an auto shop to learn more about brakes. 

Share  

Search