I purchased the vehicle used with Akebono ProAct ceramic brake pads on the front and Duralast Gold ceramic pads on the back. The previous owner said he had the rotors done recently, and I believe him, as he was honest about everything else during the transaction.

The unfortunate thing is that his new rotors were already hotspotted/"warped." The front pads left uneven deposits over the rotor, which creates that pulsating sensation when braking that people like to attribute to "warped" rotors. Rotors don't physically warp from heat. They can be distorted if you don't torque your lug nuts correctly, but they aren't affected by heat from braking.

So I replaced the Akebono front pads with EBC Yellow Stuff pads and cheap Raybestos R-Line blank rotors. All pulsation went away. Braking power was animal-like. There were numerous times when I would be coming from a high-speed stop and thinking "am I going to rip my seatbelt?" Braking felt like getting thrown through the windshield. Braking power felt nearly unlimited but relatively easy to control. The issue was that the brakes didn't work very linearly in the first third of pedal travel, and that was probably due to the crappy Duralast Gold pads in the back. When braking, there is a weight transfer from rear to front. The rear pads might not do much in terms of overall braking power, but they control brake "bite" and modulation. The crappy Duralast Gold pads in the back barely had any bite, so the first third of pedal travel was pretty much dead. Once the weight of the car started to hit the front, the Yellow Stuffs took the leashes and would create car-crash levels of deceleration.

I thought it would be a good idea to replace the DG's on the back with Yellow Stuff pads after about 12,000 miles with EBC on the front and DG on the back. You know, put the same manufacturer's brake pads on all corners. This helped a lot at first. When I got the Yellow Stuff rear pads, I noticed that they were only EE rated in terms of friction (relatively low). However, bite was increased. I liked this combination a lot. After 300 miles of driving around, I decided to finalize the break-in of the new pads (this is EBC procedure: drive around normally, then finalize break-in). I did five hard near-ABS intervention 60-5 MPH stops. The rear pads started smoking and I felt a fair bit of brake fade.

Brake bite, however, never really returned after this. The pedal felt soft and mushier than before. Stopping power was still animal-like in the latter-half of pedal travel, but initial bite was kinda gone. I don't really know what happened. I'm guessing that I removed all of the abrasive coating on the EBC Yellow Stuff pads on the rear--which is exactly what's supposed to happen during break-in--and their true EE friction coefficient nature became apparent.

Anyway, I was unhappy with the EBC pads, having spent $200 for all the pads ($100 front, $100 rear). I decided to get some Raybestos Element 3 (EHT) pads, which mostly carry a GG friction rating (highest you can get for cars). These pads are GG rated front and rear for the IS350, while the EBC pads are rated only FF on the front and EE on the rear. EE is really low...even the worst pads you can get at the local parts store are almost always FF rated.

When I pulled out my Yellows, I found that the front pads were worn down to only 5mm of brake material after just 15,000 miles of driving on them. Perhaps this is also why brake bite wasn't quite there in the first-half of pedal travel, I don't know. I was a little disappointed--$100 dollar brake pads only lasted me 15,000 miles. That being said, they were very, very nice for most of the 15,000 miles.

I've had the EHT pads on for a day, and put about 100 miles on them, and they are shaping up to be quite nice. I broke them in, and they still retained their bite. They aren't quite as savage as the Yellow Stuff pads in terms of raw stopping power and the ability to throw you through a windshield, but they do perform at a consistently high level. They're way better than the first Akebono+Duralast Gold combination--braking feel is linear, there's no pulsating, and I haven't gotten any "rotor warping" even after breaking in the pads with a very severe break-in procedure (ten stops from 40 to 10, ten stops from 60 to 10, and five emergency stops from 60 to 5). Not even the five emergency 60-5 stops killed the pads like what happened with the Yellow Stuffs.

So, to sum it up:

1) If I had unlimited piles of cash, I'd equip my car with fresh EBC Yellow Stuff pads again. The front EBC Yellow Stuff pads for the IS350 are exemplary. The amount of braking power makes you feel invincible. I've bombed down numerous highway exits at 80-90 MPH and only used the brakes at the last moment, and never had any issues with coming to a stop at the light. The EHT pads were only $30/set, so $60 for both axles.

2) EBC Yellow Stuff pads dust like no tomorrow. I got used to the murdered out rims look. My wheels used to be the standard, OEM silver color. Now they looked Plastidipped, except in black brake dust.

3) Rear EBC Yellow Stuff pads seem a little lacking in the friction department (EE rating, come on??)

4) Raybestos EHT pads perform at a consistently high level, but I don't think it quite hits the same highs as the EBC (EBC has advantage in absolute deceleration rates)

5) Akebono ProAct pads are trash, they destroyed the rotors with hotspotting

6) Duralast Gold pads are trash; they barely have any stopping power (versus EBC or Raybestos)

 

Yep I've been on the EHT for a little over a year. I definitely like them over the Akebonos. I just placed an order from RockAuto for some Centric C Tek metallics. I'm still looking for a better bite. Hopefully they do better than the EHT as they are half ceramic/semi metallic. Just looking to see how a full semi metallic feels on my 250 AWD the damn thing is heavy. The only thing about the EHT's the front brake hardware doesn't sit well. I had to use the OEM ones on the calipers. Other wise I would have some serious screeching where the hardware was touching the rotor. As for I don't care about brake dust. I still manage to wash my car once a week.

 

I agree, these ISs aren't light. I think that bite is primarily determined by the rear pads, and then the majority of stopping power falls into the fronts. I wish the rear EBC Yellows had a full layer of that burnishing coating. That was awesome. The coating is designed to abrade away any old friction material on the rotors from previous pads. It also made for some great bite. Prob would eat rotors for breakfast if the abrading layer was any thicker, but I'd give up rotors for great brake bite. I can get 2 year unlimited rotor replacements for 80 at AutoZone.

Let me know how the semi metallics do!!

 

Good review!

I've only had one case where I had new pads smoke on me, and it was on my IS350 on the rears when installing new Axxis Ultimates. It wasn't the pads, it was the fact that the calipers were frozen. Have you explored that being a possible issue?

Anyhow, I like my Akebono ceramics; I agree it lacks initial bite that I like AND does fade over time. But the pads I LOVE (Axxis Ultimates), they don't make for our front calipers...only rears. I have a new set of Yellows for the fronts I had planned on swapping out when the current front Akebonos wore down too far; but that is just taking a while and who knows when I'll get to use those Yellows. LOL!

 

I've had some time to drive around some more with the Raybestos EHT pads, and it's clear that even though they are GG rated, unlike the Yellows (FF/EE), the EHT pads are not even in the same league as the EBC pads. The EHT pads are fine, but don't have that decisive stopping power the Yellows give when really stepping into the brakes.

I spoke with EBC about why the Yellows seem to have lower than average friction ratings (especially why the rear Yellow pads are only EE rated) and their answer was that the two letter ratings only go up to 600 F. Yellow Stuff pads operate up to 1200 F, and that answer made perfect sense. The Yellow Stuff pads really will put you through a windshield when you really step into the brakes in a high-speed stop. That's probably where you break past that 600 F temperature level and where the friction level of the Yellows keeps increasing. The Raybestos EHT pads don't behave like this: you can push into them as hard as you want in a high-speed stop, but it seems that their stopping power plateaus early, unlike the Yellows, which will just stop faster and faster the harder you press into the pedal.

The more I think about the friction ratings, the more sense it makes. The friction ratings were devised by the friction materials industry. It was a collaborative effort. They are useful as a rule-of-thumb, but don't seem to actually be that helpful in real life. My Duralast Gold pads were "FF" rated, but they were crap and I threw them out. The Akebonos were likely FF rated, and they were also crap. The Raybestos are GG, but don't seem to stop any better than the Yellows. Each friction rating has a huge range of performance too. It seems that the industry came together and asked "how can we better market our brakes" rather than "how can we help consumers tell who making the better brake pads?"

 

I installed the the Centrics yesterday. Rating seems to be FE front, and rear. They have a rough feel like sandpaper. So I'm thinking it's just like a pre layer to prep the surface not sure. Initial bite so far is about 10-15% more on these pads. I got about 11 miles on them LOL. So far I have no pulsation from previous pads being on there. After about a little over a year the EHT they still have a lot of life on them too. Side note I think my rear right caliper is either sticking on the pin guides, or piston is not retracting. The inner pad was worn compared to the outer. I'm planning to remove the tire, and check this upcoming weekend to check for wear on the pad. I also need to flush the fluid. Picked up some Wagner 5.1 from rockauto. Not sure if the wet boiling point is good. I couldn't really find any information on it.

 

That's good to hear that the Centrics have more bite than the EHTs. I put about 1000 miles on the EHTs this weekend, and I came away a little disappointed. They weren't super grabby on the highway or when coming to a red-light.

 

Thanks for write up OP...

For anyone buying OEM hardware, there are two Anti-Rattle springs (big leaf spring that push the pads into caliper) for the front of the IS-350:

2IS 350 PN's front:
OEM Anti-Rattle Spring#
04947-22070, FITTING KIT, DISC = 1 Kit contains 2 springs and 2 pin clips.
47748-22460, SPRING, ANTI-RATTLE = 1 kit contains 1 leaf spring (Requires 2 kits, has no pin clip).

OEM Shim kit#
04945-30350, SHIM KIT, ANTI = contains 8 SS shims, 4 are backed with something looking like Kevlar but no real clue what it is.
OEM Pads#
04465-30450, PAD KIT, DISC BRAKE // Front pad set, NBK D6893H, I think these are blue or green FWIW.

Good timing with this thread coming up as I need to make a choice with front pads. Running OEM pads in the rear ATM and whatever is left of unknown in the front.
That said can anyone recognize this?

 

Are those the only codes on your brake pads? I remember washing my brake pads, yes, literally washing them in the laundry room sink, and finding more codes on the shim as well as under the shim.

With regard to brake fluid, Wagner 5.1 should be fine. I ran used Super Tech DOT 3, and I don't believe I ever boiled my fluid significantly. I later ran some new Prestone DOT 3 through the system, and then some Super Tech DOT 4. All working fine. 5.1 should be well above the requirements of the IS350.

Another report in on the EHT pads: they are okay, not exceptionally memorable in any sort of way, which I guess is a good thing. I do miss the Yellows ...... trying to bring myself to spend another 100 dollars on front pads alone.

 

Thanks Olds... No, nothing on the backside or anywhere else. Brake cleaner easily takes the writing off. I tried searching for the letters I can make out but no homeruns to figure out who made them and what they are.

 

Hard to tell looking on my mobile, but they seem to be BEN first 3 letter. They could be Bendix brakes GH rating on the web.

 

I was about to pull the trigger on a full set of EBC yellows. Then decided to try the Centrics first. If you look in the build threads on Redspencers he has some good reviews on them. Yeah they might have a short life span, but if they bite well like they claim. It might just be what I'm looking for.

 

The Yellows are like rock stars: they live fast and die way too young.

 

Well, it looks like the Yellows for the 2IS are 25% off right now on Amazon. I paid over 100 for them earlier this year, and now they're like 75. I'm tempted to order some...

 

I still use Yellows as my daily driver/autox setup. Great initial bite and can take the abuse of light track days but the downside is always having wheels coated with brake dust (though it does give your wheels that gunmetal look. )