Anyone have ceramic brake pads? Any experience with Traild ceramic pads?

[Revjames]

Needing new brake pads for my Spyder at just over 15,000 miles. I am wanting to go ceramic. Anyone have any recommendations for ceramic pads, or any experience with Traild ceramic pads? Thanks in advance

 

[Mikey]

Why ceramic, what do you think you're going to gain by that? If you go with too hard of a pad, you're just going to wear your rotors out with your pads faster, not to mention heat input and all of the things that go along with it!

 

[Hypurone]

Be careful! Ceramics NEED heat to work well! They have less initial bite as a rule and unless paired with a matching rotor, usually have less braking power overall until they are blazing hot then work very well...

 

[Revjames]

Have had good success with ceramic pads on vehicles. Longer life and less & easier to clean brake dust are primary reasons why. The wheels on my F3 Limited are very difficult to clean thoroughly with so many spokes and small crevices.

 

[BajaRon]

Ceramic is not a good friction material for a motorcycle. That's why they are so hard to find. Reputable brake manufacturer's know this and simply provide materials that work well for the application. It's mostly unknown (My guess is Chinese) sources that provide the ceramic pads that you can find.

If you want to stop, get Sintered brake pads. Stopping when you need to is better than more easily cleaned wheels.

 

[Revjames]

Ceramic is not a good friction material for a motorcycle. That's why they are so hard to find. Reputable brake manufacturer's know this and simply provide materials that work well for the application. It's mostly unknown (My guess is Chinese) sources that provide the ceramic pads that you can find.

If you want to stop, get Sintered brake pads. Stopping when you need to is better than more easily cleaned wheels.

Absolutely stopping when needed is better than ease in cleaning. My main consideration though was longevity. I was disappointed at pad life on my OE’s. It is something of an emergency now as I noticed some grooving in outside of right front rotor, at only 15K. So Spyder is parked (raining every day lately anyway) and will be replacing at least that rotor as well. I figure when doing one rotor probably a good idea to do both.

Thanks all for the input. And Ron I had already planned to call you Monday to chat about this very topic.

 

[BajaRon]

15k is not a typical lifespan, especially for the fronts. I'm wondering if there might be an issue with the offending caliper. Check to see if one side is wearing more quickly than the other.

Those that use engine braking typically see longer brake pad life (and better rotor health) that those who do not use this option. The OEM rotors are fairly soft. But some scoring isn't going to necessarily mean replacement.

If replacement is in the cards, I highly recommend EBC rotors. You'll need to replace both as the EBC rotors stop better than the OEM rotors do. You don't want uneven stopping power on the front wheels.

 

[Revjames]

I wondered that same thing. I do use engine braking a fair amount I feel. I have pretty much settled on EBC rotors. The inside of right front rotor does not have any noticeable grooving. The outside isn’t bad, but definitely not as smooth as inside, left rotor seems good. My bike is a 2022 F3 Ltd with best warranty. Thinking about that now I wonder do I need to get a dealer and BEST involved…