Brake Pads: Guides by Make & Model

Sizing and compound differ enough between cars that a generic brake pad guide isn't much use — find your specific model below.

Small Part, Big Consequences If You Get It Wrong

Unlike most parts on this site, this is one where getting the fitment wrong isn't just inconvenient — it directly affects how safely your car stops. Pick your make and model below for the specifics.

It's Illegal to Fit Uncertified Pads in the UK and EU

Since 1999, every replacement brake pad sold for a passenger car registered in the UK or EU has been legally required to carry ECE R90 type-approval. This isn't a marketing badge — it's a regulatory requirement, and fitting friction material that isn't R90-approved is against the law, full stop. The regulation exists because a poorly made pad doesn't just wear differently; it can throw off the balance between your front and rear brakes, which is a genuine safety risk, particularly on cars that still rely on basic proportioning rather than fully computer-managed brake-by-wire systems.

R90 testing requires a replacement pad's braking performance to sit within roughly 90–150% of what the original equipment part delivered, verified on a dynamometer that measures rotational speed, brake torque, line pressure, and rotor temperature through a full battery of tests — bedding-in, cold performance, speed sensitivity, and repeated braking cycles. Approved parts carry a stamped approval number inside a circle, followed by a country code — E11 for the UK, E1 for Germany, and so on. If a pad you're looking at doesn't carry this mark, walk away from it regardless of how cheap it looks, especially with pads imported from outside Europe that were never tested against the standard at all.

The Three Main Compound Types, and Why It Actually Matters Which One You Choose

Brake pad friction material generally falls into three broad families, and the differences between them are genuinely noticeable in how a car feels to drive, not just on a spec sheet.

Organic (NAO) pads use a resin-bonded mix of fibres — often ceramic, glass, or aramid materials like Kevlar — with less than around 10% metal content by weight. They're the quietest and gentlest on rotors, but they fade fastest under sustained heavy use, and because the material is comparatively soft, you'll typically press the pedal a little harder to get the same stopping force. Most cars leave the factory on some variation of this compound, since it suits everyday, unspectacular driving well.

Semi-metallic pads pack in anywhere from 30% up to 65% metal — historically copper, along with steel and iron — bonded with resin. They bite harder, resist fade better under repeated heavy braking, and are the usual choice for towing or drivers who live somewhere hilly, but the trade-off is more noise, more dust, and noticeably faster wear on the disc itself.

Ceramic pads sit at the premium end, built from a dense ceramic base reinforced with fine copper or aramid fibres. Independent dynamometer testing has shown ceramic compounds losing only around 20% of their friction capability at 650°C, against a 35–50% loss typical of standard pads at the same temperature — a real, measurable fade-resistance advantage. They also produce noticeably less dust, and what dust they do produce is lighter and easier to clean off alloy wheels. The catch is cost: ceramic pads typically run 50–70% more expensive than a standard equivalent, and they can take longer to "bed in" properly — some manufacturers quote as much as 500–1,000 miles before a ceramic pad reaches its full performance, so don't judge one on the drive home from the fitter.

A fourth category, low-metallic NAO, sits between organic and semi-metallic with roughly 10–30% metal content, aiming for a middle ground on bite, noise, and rotor wear.

Copper Is Being Phased Out — and That's Reshaping the Market

Traditional semi-metallic pads leaned heavily on copper to manage heat and control wear, but copper brake dust washing into waterways during rain has become a recognised environmental problem, particularly in the US where several states have already restricted it by law. Europe has followed with its own copper restrictions, and manufacturers have responded by shifting hard toward ceramic composites and aramid-fibre formulations that don't rely on copper at all. If you see a pad marketed with a "Leafmark" certification, that specifically signals a copper-free or low-copper compound — worth looking out for if you'd rather not contribute to the problem, and increasingly the direction the whole market is heading regardless.

Reputable Aftermarket Alternatives Worth Knowing

You don't have to buy the manufacturer's own part to get a safe, well-performing pad — R90 approval exists precisely so genuine aftermarket alternatives can be trusted. Brands like EBC Brakes, Brembo, Textar, ATE, and Ferodo all produce widely available, R90-certified pads that are cross-referenced against original equipment part numbers by most parts suppliers. EBC in particular sells clearly differentiated compound lines aimed at different driving styles — their Redstuff ceramic line is pitched as a low-dust, fast-road upgrade with a claimed stopping-distance improvement over standard equipment, while harder-wearing sintered and semi-metallic options exist further up their range for towing or spirited driving. When a specific make and model page on this site lists an OEM part number, it's worth searching that exact number on a couple of parts sites — most will show you the genuine part alongside two or three R90-approved aftermarket equivalents at a range of price points, letting you choose based on your own driving style and budget rather than defaulting to whichever is cheapest.

Confirming Fitment Before You Buy

Pad specification differs substantially between standard, hybrid, and performance versions of the same car, since performance variants often use a significantly larger braking package. Always confirm the exact pad size and specification fitted to your specific version before ordering, and check compatibility against your registration or VIN before buying.

Reading the Warning Signs Before They Become a Problem

Most modern cars have a wear sensor wired into at least one pad that triggers a dashboard warning once the friction material gets close to its minimum thickness, but don't rely on the light alone. A high-pitched squeal under light braking is often a built-in metal wear indicator doing exactly its job — a small tab designed to scrape against the disc once the pad wears down far enough, giving you an audible warning before you're metal-on-metal. A deep grinding noise, by contrast, usually means that warning has already been ignored and you're now wearing into the disc itself, which turns a straightforward pad job into a much more expensive disc replacement too. Vibration through the pedal, a car that pulls to one side under braking, or a pedal that feels lower than it used to are all worth having checked promptly rather than waiting for the warning light, since front and rear pads rarely wear at exactly the same rate.

DIY Difficulty

Swapping pads is one of the more approachable DIY jobs — compressing the caliper piston back with a G-clamp or purpose-made tool, sliding the old pads out, and fitting new ones, typically 30-60 minutes per axle with basic tools. The genuine risk isn't the swap itself, it's skipping the bedding-in process afterward (several gentle stops from moderate speed to build an even transfer layer on the disc) and not resetting the wear sensor or electronic parking brake on cars that require it before winding the caliper back — check your specific model for either requirement before starting.