I have an 08 SD that I would like to do a bit of modification to the brake system. I hate brake dust and will usually have to remove the wheels once or twice per year just to clean and wax the back side of the wheels. [What a PITA]. I heard that ceramic pads while having dust, it normally isn't as visable. Is this fact or fiction? And if I were to change the pads, would that have any negative or positive effect on the braking? Any other options to eliminating the typical red/brown dust that is so much a part of the ford brakes? I'm not a big fan of the dust covers that mount on the inside of the wheel.

 

The brake dust that is a red tinge is from iron oxide that is the metal from the rotor
getting ground off the rotor and basically rusting. If your rotor get's a bit of scale
rust on it overnight after a storm or driving through a puddle the first stop in the
morning peels all that scale and that ends up on your rim. So what I'm saying is it
isn't all from pad material and replacing your pads with tougher pads will cause the
dust to be more red from iron oxide. You may want to try organic pads if you are
using metallic pads right now. But and a big but is the type of driving you do, If you
are a hard driver and brake late or you tow all day long at least twice aweek or more
you will want metallic or even the ceramics. If you drive pretty sanely and don't tow
but maybe once aweek and you drive mainly on open roads(not much S&G driving)
then organics would be better since they perform better at low temperatures and
will make less dust at their temp, Versa vice metallics need to be warmed up to get
the best performance out of them and at low temperatures they take longer to stop
and will make more debris from the pads and rotor. IF you tried some slotted rotors
the dust may go into the inside of the rotor instead of the outboard pad letting all
the dust come out to the face of the rim.

 

I changed from regular pads to ceramic pads on my Expedition and it made a great improvement on lessening noticeble brake dust on the front wheels. Well worth the $ 62 at Advance Auto. I could not tell any difference in braking but appearences have greatly improved. I didn't change the rear pads as they were not a problem, just the front wheels. I had never seen any reddish or orange dusting on the factory aluminum rims.
Charlie

 

I just did the hawk lts pads , made a nice difference in stopping and no brake dust.

 

ceramic is the way to go ... you dont get the little squeal that you get from metallic pads through out the life of the pad and the ceramic will reduce the brake dust ..
check out the adaptive one pad set from napa ... gr8 pad set i had them on my old truck
i own a towing and repair business and we are a napa car care center .. most of the time we install the safety stop ceramic because they are cheaper and i let the customer choose which pad they want .... but i run the adaptive ones on my trucks and a few of our customers will spend the extra money for the better pad and they love them as well.... here is a link about them
http://www.autocarepronews.com/defau...=art&id=83398&