selayan

I'm up to 46,690 miles on my 2011 lancer gts. The service people at Mitsubishi mentioned I will need new front brakes soon. They should last though until my next oil change.

They quoted me $320 for the front brake pads installed. I believe these are factory pads too. I was thinking of just getting my own pads and trying to have them installed at another shop. Although I have had a hard time finding a place that will let you bring your own parts.

So I was looking at Akinobo pads, does anyone suggest them? This will be the first time since I bought the car that I need the brakes done.

ninjacoco

GEEEEEZ. I can get race pads for that price!

So, pads are heavily dependent on what you do with the car. Spirited street driving? A more aggressive street pad will probably do. Use this to fetch groceries and putter around at 5 mph in stop and go traffic? Shoot, Autozone specials would probably even work in that situation.

Then there's other considerations like noise, dust etc. I am the scourge of drive-thrus everywhere with my Carbotech XP10 front/XP8 rear set-up, but dang, they're nice on track because they'll take lots of heat and keep going. Would not recommend if you're not full track-tard, though. It sounds like feedback over the little speaker at Starbucks. "Car isn't broken. Brakes work GREAT. Please don't look at me like that..." Ceramics are supposed to be the quietest, IIRC.

I don't have any experience with the Akebonos.

What else I've tried:

Mitsu's pads were eh, fine, but glazed quickly for track/autocross use.

The O'Reilly's "oops, I forgot to order real pads and need to find something on short notice" pads are fkdlsajfk;lsdjfkldsaNOOOOOO as they have no bite, but they are quiet, so there's that if you're worried about noise and aren't an aggressive driver.

I liked the Porterfield R4-S when I first started tracking and autocrossing the car. Decent, more aggressive street/track compromise pad with good bite, but they were dusty, dusty, dusty. When I started using the brakes more, though, they lost their bite fast, but that's only a concern if because not-racecar-used-like-racecar shenanigans get to be a habit. For street driving/autocross, they were nice.

Pad swaps aren't hard to do. If you have a friend who's done it before, consider sparing yourself the labor costs and offer him a six-pack to teach you how to do it, and remember to bed them in if the pad requires that.

Etrain49

Im running Akebono pads atm. They are ultra-premium ceramic s and im using them with oem size powerslot rotors, i fall under the spirited driving category. I got the pads and rotors for all four corners for $520 cdn total and installed them myself. I replaced them at 120,000 kms, my pads were pretty much done and rotors were slighty warped. Obviously the power slots arent necessary however since im still building my car and i was replacing them regardless i figured i might as well get them since i could need them in the future and i believe the cost for straight up oem replacements was around $380 cdn, and of course they look hawt with my wheels .

Performance wise they are excellent, nice bite and quiet while you're driving and stopping and don't lose any bite through the spirited driving flourishes i have, as for the track I havent hit one in this yet so I have nothing to add there.The only issue i have is they squeak a bit when i first leave my driveway and sometimes at low speeds in parking lots and stuff, but this us probably due to the rotors more than the pads and it sounds like you are just doing pads, so with that I would recommend them.

selayan

Well I don't take the car to the track or race with it. It is mainly my commuter car. I drive a lot of highway miles and spend a lot of time in traffic. Lots of stop and go traffic to and from work.

I'm not sure if my rotors are worn because the dealer quoted me that price with saying the pads would cost 100 bucks and the labor would be $170..maybe that included work done to rotors if needed?

I heard that ceramic pads will eat at your rotors a bit but since I don't drive the car like I am racing it most times, they should be fine?

Etrain49

yea, if i were you i would just get premium pads of a brand of your choice. i have the more aggressive grade but theyve been good so i imagine if you were to get a average premium pad in the akebono you'd be happy.

Beardly P

iTrader: (18)

Have you thought about getting quotes at places other than the dealership? They may be cheaper.

Etrain49

/Agree with Beardly

I get all my parts, performance or not at a local performance shop. I find the people you deal with are far more knowledgeable than those at your average large retail part stores and the prices are competitive with them, it may be slightly more but ill pay for good advice any day.

MUCH cheaper than the dealership I should add...like by lots.

selayan

I ended up going with the hps 435f.622 street performance pads. I got them on Amazon for $78 bucks new.

I called Meineke around my area and they said they would gladly put on the pads for me for 60 bucks. They also told me that I didn't have to buy brakes from them or online that I could get them at any part store and that aftermarket pads usually offer better stopping power than stock factory.

When you guys mention performance shops, what kind ? I don't seem to have many in my area unless I end up going downtown and that is a crappy drive.

edwardoh

If its used as a commuter car I would just keep it simple. If you run into you local Autozone or Orielly you could get front brake pads for 20 and rears for 40.

As for the rotors I highly doubt that a dealership would even touch them unless you tell them to do so OR they're trying to squeeze out a little extra cash from you.

Again if you need rotors they range anywhere from 35 for the fronts and 33 for the rears.

Now if you add that up its about 130 plus your taxes and should take roughly 2-3 hours to do the whole car. (:

selayan

Thanks for the information. I have a friend that referred me to his mechanic, I have to call and ask how much he would charge to put on the Hawk hps pads i bought. He is pretty far from my house but I also inquired at meineke if they could install the front pads and they said they would do it for $60 plus tax.

If I did not live in an apartment I'm sure I could try and do them myself.

selayan

Well now I am up to 50k miles and I have the Hawk HPS installed on the front. They have decent stopping power. They do squeak after long periods of stop and go driving. I don't race or rally with the car so just in the city driving and lots of highway miles. I think they are pretty good for the performance ceramic type.