It is true, most Europeans brands such as Volvo use softer pads than normal. Ever wonder why European cars have so much brake dust on the front wheels as opposed to American cars? Softer pads give better braking performance than other pads, but there are also pads out there that give excellent stopping performance, without the brake dust. IMHO, having great stopping performance for 20k to 30k miles is a reasonable price to pay. My car has about 80,000 miles on it and I have only had to change out the rotors once, and change the pads twice. But, I am going to have to take the car in during the holidays to get the front rotors refinshed, because they are warped unfortunately.<P>-Drew<P>