Interesting info for sure, thanks for the update. I would be on the alert for higher rotor wear, as ceramic is known for being very hard and could be generating lots of stopping friction but also eating rotors like there is no tomorrow.

I like the thought of less brake dust, as cleaning the wheels on the XC cars is a never ending chore.

regards,

P

 

Interesting info for sure, thanks for the update. I would be on the alert for higher rotor wear, as ceramic is known for being very hard and could be generating lots of stopping friction but also eating rotors like there is no tomorrow.

I like the thought of less brake dust, as cleaning the wheels on the XC cars is a never ending chore.

regards,

P

Can you post link on study that says ceramic pads eat rotors like there is no tommorrow
Been using ceramic pads for years, never had problem with rotors being destroyed.
We live on top of hill, wife likes to ride brakes to the bottom in our XC90 and Jeep Grand Cherokee both purchased new.
Jeep stock pads lasted 25K miles. Replaced with ceramics, ceramics we get about 70K miles on front pads, 90K miles on rear pads. Guess what? Still have stock rotors in good shape with 165K miles:thumbup:
Our 04 XC90 T6 replaced stock Volvo pads at 20K miles with ceramics. XC90 now has 117K miles, replaced front and rear pads few thousand miles ago. Very little wear on stock rotors at 113K miles :thumbup:

 

Mr. P, thats the interesting point, after 5000 miles or more i dont see any wear on the rotors, it looks really good.

 

They have been on the front for about a year and on the rear since the summer. no dust, for street driving they are more than adequate, no fade on the street and trips through the mountains when driven like it was meant to be driven (a high station wagon(

i probably wouldnt put them on my bmw unless i read some reviews by people that drive the car hard, and with back to back comparison of say cool carbons, but for the volvo they are excellent. i highly recommend the akebonos for the xc.

 

Was interesting that my local dealer has long lasting volvo pads also seems to be different than normal, but i went to akebono to test something different. For the price and quality is the way to go for me. Will replace the rear ones anytime soon.

 

I had put these on my odyssey at one point. but about 8 months in I started getting a horrible vibration under braking. I put up with it for a while thinking I warped the rotors, but eventually I decided to go back to a semi metallic pad. About 2 weeks later, no vibration - all was good. It seems that the akebono pads were depositing pad residue on the rotor and making it pulsate. Once it was worn off from the new pads, no issues. I really wanted to like the pads and did quite well, until they started pulsating.

 

With city driving, our XC90 burned through the stock front pads in ~15k miles (as well as the first set of tires). Replaced the brakes with the Akebono ceramics and have been very pleased. First and foremost, no more black front wheels -- only a very light gray dust. Second, they are still going strong (original turned rotors included) with the same city driving mix now with 64k on the odometer. They may not bite initially quite as strong as the originals, but I am not able to really compare (and I may be reading into this from what others have written in the past). The rear stock brakes lasted until 60k, and I replaced them with stock at the Volvo dealer even though they still produce dark brake dust. No issues with vibrations under braking.

 

The vinration can be produced by a bad brake-in process

 

'08 XC90 V8 purchased new. ~70% highway, 40% urban. 52K miles and OEM pads, fronts at 40%, rears 70%. OEM tires too, but they are getting replaced this week.

There are significant ridges on the front rotors. Expect to replace them at pad replacement. No ridging on rear rotors. Braking ability seems to have degraded as pad wear progresses. Since there is less heat dissipation because there is less brake mass to hold that heat, I'm thinking that heat may be the cause, but that's purely seat of the pants.

Several vehicles ago I owned an '84 Audi 4000 Quattro. OEM pads were replaced at 19K with ceramic pads all around because of dusting. The car was sold at 142K miles and those ceramic pads still had significant life remaining. All four rotors had sever wear and clearly would need replacing when the pads were replaced. No warping however.

When the OEM pads are replaced it will be with ceramic pads. Are Akebono pads the pads of choice for the XC90?

I have not researched the rotor size issue, but what XC90s have which size rotors?

 

I have not researched the rotor size issue, but what XC90s have which size rotors?

I asked a similar question earlier and got no definite response. The only way to know for sure is give the dealer your VIN number, or measure them. My 06 V8 has the 365 rotors, I would imagine that the V8's all got 365mm rotors, the T6's are probably in the same boat. The 2.5 and and 3.2's are probably mixed depending on AWD and tire size options on the vehicle. Some have claimed that there is no difference in the pads or the calipers between the two sizes of rotors. Supposedly, just the rotors and the caliber mounting brackets are different.

 

365mm rotors? or you mean 336mm?

 

Well after doing a little research I see claims that ceramic pads actually are easier on rotors, so armed with that info and recommendations here I guess I'll be trying some soon.

Thanks guys,

P

 

im reaching almost 10k on this pads, and cant not believe that the rotors still looks like new. For sure i will get them for my rear anytime soon.

 

With a name like Akebono, they must be darn good pads.

P

 

I recently changed out the OE pads and rotors for Zimmerman rotor's and Akebono pads about 1,100 miles ago. Aside from the lack of excessive dust on the wheels all I notice is that I stop just fine with no visible wear on the rotors. Time will tell if that changes.

 

sounds good, i guess this time aftermaket works better than oem. Before my XC90 i did have a RAV4 2007 and tried different aftermarket pads and nothing was better han oem, thats why i was not enough confident to try other than volvo parts, but i guess this case the akebono is perfect match.

 

While having a fresh set of Nokians installed on my V8 Sport recently, the tire shop informed me that my front brakes were in dire need of replacing (~54K miles). The rotors were grooved like an old LP record and the pads were definitely worn out. The tire store carried Akebono pads, and had them in stock. I was reluctant, but the I trust this shop as they only carry quality stuff, and they highly recommended these pads, so I said yes to the pads and new front rotors. Too soon to tell, but so far, so good. My main concern is that in the summer I tow a 22' boat and I need all of the braking power I can get. Here's hoping the Akebono pads grip as well as the OEM (which did a great job, although my wheels were always dirty).

 

XC90 Pads

I am on my 2nd XC90. I had an 07 that had 37,000 miles when I traded it in and it still had the original pads and rotors. My current XC 90 has 56,000 miles and I still have the original factory pads and rotors. I must be driving like an old F but brake wear has never been an issue.

 

My experience is that the OEM pads and rotors "bite" quicker in emergency stops. I put aftermarket (best out there ) on my s60 once and learned the hard way. Aftermarkets in my experience when seem to get cold and require more effort - which can spell disaster.

 

It depends of brand from my point of view in my brembo r brakes the hps is a lot better than oem and i have tested akebono in hard stops and no issues at this point.

 

Just curious, how cold does it get near you? My bad experience, although not common, made a big impact (pardon the pun) on me. It was a 5* winter northeast morning. I drove for a few minutes without using he brakes. Common around hear as I am in the country.

When I did use the brakes for the first time, it was an unexpected, fast stop, not really an emergency stop... The brakes did not bite - just kind of slid for a split second which caused me to rear end the car in front of me. I noticed this same issue while driving on the highway on long very cold runs. With this set, I actually started to periodically apply the brakes just to keep them a little warm... I know this is totally anecdotal, but my experience non the less. I have and will always stick with OEM. Not worth the risk - don't care about brake dust at all.

 

This concerns me. I need to do my brakes and rotors and want something with more stopping power than OEM and the Akebono's are very appealing. However, even though we live in DC and have mild winters, we are constantly up north in the winter. I notice exactly what Uncle Peco describes with our current setup, however its not attributable only to the cold, but to cold+winter weather ie freezing rain/snow. When it is sub-freezing and weathery and we are traveling on the highway, ie long stretches where there is no braking, and the brakes are applied, there is a one to two second delay from when the pedal is depressed and braking force is felt. Any thoughts if this will continue with the Akebono's?

The part that is confusing is in cold weather, braking is totally fine. Cold+precip weather is where I experience the issue.

 

here in my city, we dont see temp under 25-30F.

 

Thank you for this post! My front driver brake started squeaking recently and I decided to look at the pad, looks like it needs to be replaced. I will be tackling this project for the first time this weekend, hope its not too complicated. My question is how do I determine when I need to replace the rotor?

Searched on google regarding the "lips" on the rotor, seems like all four rotors have this "lips" that they speak of. This can't clearly be an indicator of when to replace the rotor?

Thanks guys.

 

Thank you for this post! My front driver brake started squeaking recently and I decided to look at the pad, looks like it needs to be replaced. I will be tackling this project for the first time this weekend, hope its not too complicated. My question is how do I determine when I need to replace the rotor?

Searched on google regarding the "lips" on the rotor, seems like all four rotors have this "lips" that they speak of. This can't clearly be an indicator of when to replace the rotor?

Thanks guys.

Generally speaking, you do not want to re-use rotors when you change your pads.

 

I just did the brakes on my V8 this past weekend. 108k miles, unknown history with brakes though there was a deep groove cut into the rotors and the front pads were ~10% remaining, rears ~50% remaining. Pads and rotors that were removed were OEM Volvo branded.

Replaced with Centric blank rotors all around with Powerstop Z16 ceramic pads. Just finished bed-in process, will update in a few weeks with dust and noise report. Initial impressions - zero noise. Very happy with them, and quite a bit cheaper than Akebono pads or the EBC Reds that I was going to go with.

 

35k on my set all the way around, dealer said I have at least 50% of the pad still left and rotors look great

 

Can someone give me some idea on how to change the rear rotor and pad? Is it the same as the front? I'm assuming its going to be harder because of the parking break. Can I just remove the rotor without messing with the parking breaks? Thanks in advance.

 

Just make sure the parking brake is released, but other than that the procedure is the same