Ceramic is just a fancy way of saying: low dust, low noise, and low performance street pad - no matter the brand. I buy the cheapest set of ceramic pads I can for the street. This extends rotor life, reduces noise and dust, and increases wallet width.
Ceramic sucks.. They don't rape your wheels with dust, but all they do is make heat and don't really stop very well.. I had drilled and slotted rotors and ceramic pads from Posi-Quiet and they fade instantly and absolutely roast my rotors, honestly my stock brakes were better.. The worst part, they smell like you're raping your clutch anytime you stomp the brakes hard.
I have them and like them. IMO they are way better than the hawk brake pads I used to have, really quiet, way less brake dust, and have a great bite. Oh yeah, they're cheap too.
Thanks for the response fellas. Its funny that some of you recommend the oem pads because thats the first thing i actually thought about then started looking into ceramic pads.
Hey Jroc I think I might just go that route. I have to admit money is a little tight. RockAuto has motorcraft front and rear for $97 shipped.
I've been running the Hawk Performance Ceramics for years in all my cars and think they are great. I have to say that I just drive normal around town with no racing. I've got them on my Brembo GTs and work great. They only smelled bad when I bed them to the rotors. I'd say it all depends on what type of driving you do whether to go with carbon metallics or ceramics.
I put centric posi quiet ceramic pads and cross drilled rotors on a previous cobra and they were great. stopped great no squeal and little dust. When my stock pads need replaced on my 04 I will use the centric posi again!!