Brake dust

[SilentUnicorn]

does anyone know the cause? seems some cars have it really bad and some dont have it at all. is pad composition the reason?
mark

 

[Steve]

Yes, pad composition is the cause. Softer pads will create rather more brake dust.

 

[Guest]

My wife's Ranger P/U had really soft pads that threw off massive brake dust and wore completely out in 39K miles. I put on a harder pad and the problem is gone. I've noticed this problem on several other Ford P/Us and SUVs

 

[SilentUnicorn]

this particular vehicle is a ford mustang. are hi proformance pads softer or harder?

mark

 

[Guest]

most of them are harder and require a bit of heat to stop their best

 

[Eric]

Many hi-po pads dust enormously. There's been lots of discussion of this on the Miata board, and there doesn't seem to be a high performance pad that isn't dustier than stock. After a day on the track, my wheels are black. Mind you, some of that is bound to be due to the fact that 2 weekends of use will completely eat a set of pads. So, more pad material "dematerializing" in a fixed length of time.

I'm sure there's a Mustang board out there where you can find many opinions (informed and otherwise) that can help you choose.

Also, most brake dust washes off fairly easily when its fresh. After it has "baked on" for a while, not so much.

 

[Henri]

I'll have to check out the pads I have on the Healey...because they do not dust much...very little as a matter of fact...which I'm happy... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yesnod.gif

 

[Alan Black]

Brake dust is a tremendous problem on the Ford Escape/Mazda Tributes. The pad of choice to fix it over there is the Raybestos QuickStop ceramic pads. I put those on my wife's Tribute and the dust is nowhere near as bad and what dust comes off them isn't black and isn't really noticeable.