[Hooter]

On my 92 Dodge Dually, not sure what pads are on it now but they fade really bad when pulling my trailer. Thought about putting ceramic on it, but did a Google search and seems like semi-metallic are what is recommended for towing over ceramic. Any recommendations on the best brand or what pad to run.

[goatless]

When I replaced the pads for the first time around 37K on my truck, I put on Napa "Safety-Stop" pads. Absolute JUNK! Turned the wheels black in a week and wore out to the metal in 9K miles! Luckily, the guys at the local Napa are real good to me and covered them under warranty. They gave me a set of "Adaptive-One" pads as replacements and they've been great so far. They seem to be wearing well, no dust and breaking performance has been good. They are ceramic though... What seems to be the reasoning on not using ceramic for towing?

[Hooter]

The Google search I did said something to the effect of them heating up quicker and not dissipating the heat as quick. I automatically was going the ceramic route until I started seeing this. Found the same posted on several truck sites too.

[saltman 1965]

Put ceramic on my 05 Dodge 2500 mainly because I hate brake dust.Have pulled a 28 foot enclosed trailer a few times with no problems. But things are pretty flat around here.

[tiacguy]

I would avoid the ceramics. I tried them on my 2000Ford and eat up both front rotors in a short time. Every time I towed the trailer I could smell the brake/rotor heat. Had to replace both rotors,calipers from the heat. I run semi metalic stops great no problems.

[stimpy]

semi metallics here , I don't care about rotor wear or dust , I care about stopping . also if you have drums in the back ytou can get a semi metallic shoe for those also , you have to look for them , I found them for my 13x3 1/2 drums, also check the adjustment on the rear drums as the self adjusters are often not selfadjusting on the bigger drum sets , just too much mass to make it function or not enough time driving backwords ( this is when most self adjusters work ) I have to crawl under about every 10K miles to tighten them up a couple of clicks, the braking is night and day when you do this .

[SRR]

Originally Posted by stimpy

semi metallics here , I don't care about rotor wear or dust , I care about stopping . Also if you have drums in the back you can get a semi metallic shoe for those also , you have to look for them , I found them for my 13x3 1/2 drums, also check the adjustment on the rear drums as the self adjusters are often not self adjusting on the bigger drum sets , just too much mass to make it function or not enough time driving backwards ( this is when most self adjusters work ) I have to crawl under about every 10K miles to tighten them up a couple of clicks, the braking is night and day when you do this .

Are your trailer brakes working correctly? Do you use "Tow haul" mode if equipped? I ended up bleeding the brakes on the back of my dually and it made a big difference, it might be worth a try.

[stimpy]

Originally Posted by SRR

Are your trailer brakes working correctly? Do you use "Tow haul" mode if equipped? I ended up bleeding the brakes on the back of my dually and it made a big difference, it might be worth a try.

back brakes are working fine , so are trailer brakes ( all axles are braked ) . , just nature of the beast on these , every one of my pickups I have (2 personal and 4 commercial gms and dodges but same brake systems ) have this problem , even my older trucks which are long gone ,the trucks that do plowing and do alot of backing they stay somewhat adjusted ( as backing adjusts them up ) , most people don't realize it till they tow or put a heavy load in the box that the discs do most of the work on the front and the shoes rarely touch the drums on the back ( when they do grab while empty it can make it quite interesting ..) now disc brake duallys they stop nice as the brakes are in constant touch with the rotor.and pull down evenly when towing .

[beemergary]

I have a 2003 F250 ford diesel. Its got disc front and back. I tow around 8000# around 3,000 miles a year. Got 100,000 miles out of the original brakes and still had plenty of life. Replaced with semi metalic with 70,000 mi now. Never a spec of brake dust. My 1/2 chevy was only good for 30,000 and brake dust everwhere. It had drums on the rear though. Thats one good thing I can say about the Ford.

[Elarson]

The only pads that I'll use on the front disc brakes are Performance Friction Carbon pads. They will not fade, period. (23,000 lbs. total rig weight) Performance Friction also makes ceramic pads and they rate the carbon pads as better for friction & fade resistance. Since they make both kinds, it's a fair comparison instead of sales BS.

Our rear drums have ordinary shoes and they're pretty glazed. We're going to change to NAPA Severe Duty Ultra Premium and see how they work.

Hope this helps,
Eric

[Elarson]

I also agree with the previous post....manually adjusting the rear brakes a few clicks tighter helps....been doing that for several years now.

Eric