Massive Brake Dust

BigTexas · November 11, 2008

Went to Autozone and paid over $60 for Duralast Gold ceramic brake pads.

Now I get massive brake dust. Dust noticeable on both wheels after about 75 miles.

Chrome wheels almost black after 1 week.

Anyone else have this problem? I don't think I had any dust with the stock pads.

Do they use ceramic from the factory?

txab · November 11, 2008

Went to Autozone and paid over $60 for Duralast Gold ceramic brake pads.
Now I get massive brake dust. Dust noticeable on both wheels after about 75 miles.

Chrome wheels almost black after 1 week.

Anyone else have this problem? I don't think I had any dust with the stock pads.

Do they use ceramic from the factory?

Factory was ceramic. I'm not familiar with Autozone's brake pads. Have you asked your AZ parts guy about it?

CapitalTruck · November 11, 2008

Your problem was not going online or elsewhere (even a Napa or a Carquest) to get ACDelco or another decent OEM spec'ed set of brake pads. I wouldn't trust that lowest bidder crap at AutoZone if my life depended on it (and it does when you're dealing with brakes!)

C & A s Dad · November 11, 2008

Your problem was not going online or elsewhere (even a Napa or a Carquest) to get ACDelco or another decent OEM spec'ed set of brake pads. I wouldn't trust that lowest bidder crap at AutoZone if my life depended on it (and it does when you're dealing with brakes!)

+1,000

Your first mistake was not going to a real parts store as Jeremey has pointed out. Not that everything at AZ is bad but their brakes have never been one of their better products.

I work for CARQUEST so I am just a little bit biased but I would stongly suggest a set of our PCD Gold Pads supplied to us by Akebono. No dust, no noise, no harshness and a very log lasting pad. Even our next step down, BCD line which is supplied to us by Raybestos is a great pad.There are certainly other good pads out there. However, if you do go to one of our major competitors, they are now offering what they call a premium pad called Adaptive One. From all indications, it is a marketing gimmick and is made in China. I have not read good things about them. This same competitor also handles Akebono just as we do.

jrrod2004 · November 11, 2008

Your problem was not going online or elsewhere (even a Napa or a Carquest) to get ACDelco or another decent OEM spec'ed set of brake pads. I wouldn't trust that lowest bidder crap at AutoZone if my life depended on it (and it does when you're dealing with brakes!)

+1,000

Your first mistake was not going to a real parts store as Jeremey has pointed out. Not that everything at AZ is bad but their brakes have never been one of their better products.

I work for CARQUEST so I am just a little bit biased but I would stongly suggest a set of our PCD Gold Pads supplied to us by Akebono. No dust, no noise, no harshness and a very log lasting pad. Even our next step down, BCD line which is supplied to us by Raybestos is a great pad.There are certainly other good pads out there. However, if you do go to one of our major competitors, they are now offering what they call a premium pad called Adaptive One. From all indications, it is a marketing gimmick and is made in China. I have not read good things about them. This same competitor also handles Akebono just as we do.

stupid question, is Oreillys like Carquest?

C & A s Dad · November 11, 2008

Mike,

O'Reilly is very much like CARQUEST and NAPA. They offer premium brands just as we do but also offer economy lines as well. Where CQ and NAPA depend primarily on the Professional Installer market for our sales, O'Reilly does a great job selling to the Prof Customer as well as Walk In DIY ers. This is primarily due to their locations and very attractive facilities. Companies such as AutoZone, Advance and a few others see very little of their business coming from the Professional Installer market. There is a reason for this. Their premium offering is limited for the most part and a Professional Tech making his living repairing cars typically wants to install the absolute best products available to him.

Bostonsfavson · November 11, 2008

Sorry to hear about your brake issues Joey. Whether you decide to keep those pads or swap them out for something new, I would suggest putting a good sealant on your wheels. Menzerna FMJ is a great choice, and you can use it on the rest of your vehicle as well. Obviously it won't stop the dust, but it will make removing it much easier. Every day (or couple days) just wipe the wheels down quickly with a dry microfiber towel; the dust will practically fall off. If you don't want to get a good sealant, you can always use an OTC wax. I would recommend Meguiar's NXT liquid wax, as it's synthetic and will hold up longer than a conventional carnauba wax. Keep in mind, though, that a sealant is the way to go, as even a synthetic wax won't hold up well to the heat that your wheels are subjected to. Good luck

zxcv · November 11, 2008

Your problem was not going online or elsewhere (even a Napa or a Carquest) to get ACDelco or another decent OEM spec'ed set of brake pads. I wouldn't trust that lowest bidder crap at AutoZone if my life depended on it (and it does when you're dealing with brakes!)

+1,000

Your first mistake was not going to a real parts store as Jeremey has pointed out. Not that everything at AZ is bad but their brakes have never been one of their better products.

I work for CARQUEST so I am just a little bit biased but I would stongly suggest a set of our PCD Gold Pads supplied to us by Akebono. No dust, no noise, no harshness and a very log lasting pad. Even our next step down, BCD line which is supplied to us by Raybestos is a great pad.There are certainly other good pads out there. However, if you do go to one of our major competitors, they are now offering what they call a premium pad called Adaptive One. From all indications, it is a marketing gimmick and is made in China. I have not read good things about them. This same competitor also handles Akebono just as we do.

+1 for CARQUEST - great store. I'm biased because my dad used to manage one before and just after they bought McKerlie Millen. Good store.

NFSGamerUSA · November 12, 2008

Your problem was not going online or elsewhere (even a Napa or a Carquest) to get ACDelco or another decent OEM spec'ed set of brake pads. I wouldn't trust that lowest bidder crap at AutoZone if my life depended on it (and it does when you're dealing with brakes!)

+1,000

Your first mistake was not going to a real parts store as Jeremey has pointed out. Not that everything at AZ is bad but their brakes have never been one of their better products.

I work for CARQUEST so I am just a little bit biased but I would stongly suggest a set of our PCD Gold Pads supplied to us by Akebono. No dust, no noise, no harshness and a very log lasting pad. Even our next step down, BCD line which is supplied to us by Raybestos is a great pad.There are certainly other good pads out there. However, if you do go to one of our major competitors, they are now offering what they call a premium pad called Adaptive One. From all indications, it is a marketing gimmick and is made in China. I have not read good things about them. This same competitor also handles Akebono just as we do.

+1 for CARQUEST - great store. I'm biased because my dad used to manage one before and just after they bought McKerlie Millen. Good store.

+2

Although I didn't get them from CARQUEST since the nearest store is almost 15 miles away, the Akebono ProACT Ceramic Pads (the CARQUEST Gold Ceramic pads C & A s Dad spoke of) I got have been great so far. I've had them on a few weeks, but finally washed my wheels today (I didn't wash them before putting on the pads), so I'm not sure how much dust they've made. They're not supposed to create a lot of dust, and I don't believe that much more dust has accumulated since I put them on. I get the impression that they're just about the best out there, and they were put on early GMT800s and current GM trucks from the factory. That being said, they're probably the OEM replacement for your truck. I payed a little over $60 shipped for them off eBay, so not much more than those Duralast pads.

As for the dust, I know very little about brakes, but maybe they tend to dust a bit more initially until the outer layer is rubbed off. Would this make sense (anyone who knows about brakes)? I'm not sure what you could do about the pads now that you've used them, but it wouldn't hurt to see if you could get something worked out with AutoZone.

tramz · November 12, 2008

Don't know who make pads for AZ anymore, use to be Fed-mog and their AF ceramic pads are not quality stuff. NAPA ceramics were use to be manufactured by Bendix and the same pad from NAPA was the same material as OE on DR and DN Chrysler and GMT General Motor platform vehicles. I buy my pads from NAPA or GM dealer.

jrrod2004 · November 12, 2008

Mike,

O'Reilly is very much like CARQUEST and NAPA. They offer premium brands just as we do but also offer economy lines as well. Where CQ and NAPA depend primarily on the Professional Installer market for our sales, O'Reilly does a great job selling to the Prof Customer as well as Walk In DIY ers. This is primarily due to their locations and very attractive facilities. Companies such as AutoZone, Advance and a few others see very little of their business coming from the Professional Installer market. There is a reason for this. Their premium offering is limited for the most part and a Professional Tech making his living repairing cars typically wants to install the absolute best products available to him.

Thanks trey, I actually learned something new today...I might start to seek out Carquest from now on

GMC Era · November 12, 2008

In my experience, the cheapest AZ pads that have a lifetime warranty are great. They usually only cost about $15 and if/when you wear them out, just take them back and get a brand new pair. The more expensive ones were noisey and had more dust. I've used them on a grand am, nissan frontier, chev. corsica, ford escort, mazda mpv. the only ones I ever had to replace again were on the corsica and it had brake probs. from the factory that were replaced 5 times before the warranty ran out.

BigTexas · November 12, 2008

Sorry to hear about your brake issues Joey. Whether you decide to keep those pads or swap them out for something new, I would suggest putting a good sealant on your wheels. Menzerna FMJ is a great choice, and you can use it on the rest of your vehicle as well. Obviously it won't stop the dust, but it will make removing it much easier. Every day (or couple days) just wipe the wheels down quickly with a dry microfiber towel; the dust will practically fall off. If you don't want to get a good sealant, you can always use an OTC wax. I would recommend Meguiar's NXT liquid wax, as it's synthetic and will hold up longer than a conventional carnauba wax. Keep in mind, though, that a sealant is the way to go, as even a synthetic wax won't hold up well to the heat that your wheels are subjected to. Good luck

Thanks for the recommendations! I will try the NXT wax next. I have been using the Michelin brake dust repellent and it does make it easier to clean the wheels. As for the brake pads, they will be replaced by the ProAct from CarQuest. Hopefully AutoZone will do something for me on the junk pads they sold me.

C & A s Dad · November 12, 2008

Hey Mike, I did a quick search and it appears we have about 8 stores located in the Austin City Limits (hmm sounds like a good name for a PBS show) and several more in and around you. Check out This to see specifics.

We are undergoing some major changes in many markets relocating and remodeling some of our stores. However, with 3400 stores in the US, they all cannot be done at one time.

Joey, you will not be dissapointed with the PCD Akebono pads from us.

Let us know what you think once you get them on your truck.

Jje121 · November 12, 2008

I have come into the same brake dust problem that you have encountered. I am a truck driver for a local auto parts company called Consumer Auto Parts. "C.A.P" We were recently bought out by a Canadian company called Uniselect USA. We get a pretty good discount so I have no problem buying the more expensive parts for my truck. I recently changed my front pads with a set of Wagner ceramic pads. Just like the stock pads there was very little dust, but after about 3 weeks they developed a squeal that was starting to piss me off. So I just swapped them out with a pair of Satisfied ceramic pads. The brake pedal feels more firm with the Satisfied's but they produce a lot of brake dust.