volvo 850 cermamic brakes or oem.....

volvomileage · Post by **volvomileage** » 16 Jan 2009, 11:07

hello

i am about to redo brakes and rotors on front and rear...i was wondering if the ceramic pads are worth the little extra they cost...i should i stick to the oem volvo pads wich i beleive are semi metalic......are cross drilled rotors an additionnal plus ?
are they worth the extra for an every day driver or are they just a pad eater ?

i was curious on getting ur opinions..

thanks

timmyc · Post by **timmyc** » 16 Jan 2009, 11:40

I just did my brake job and I always use Volvo pads. The reason is that I have had squeaky brakes with aftermarket. The biggest downfall is the brake dust. It's bad. The nice thing about the ceramic is they have less dust and will last longer. Cross drilled. You race much? Unless you are doing some high speed braking and a lot of it, I'd stick with solid rotors. Obviously these are just my opinions. I have a 93' and 97' 850 that I do all the work on and I have always been funny about using OEM parts. BTW, if you are doing the rear brakes as well, get the shims for the pads. They will get rid of any noise you have. Good luck!

zhenya · Post by **zhenya** » 16 Jan 2009, 12:29

Cross drilled rotors are a cosmetic upgrade only, and most available are of poor quality. Stick with a good quality OEM rotor.

Post by **wheelsup** » 16 Jan 2009, 13:55

I used Akebono's on the front and so far so good. I like the fact that they aren't very dusty.

volvomileage · Post by **volvomileage** » 16 Jan 2009, 15:59

thanks guys

i was thinking the same thing....

bought ceramic pads + stock rotors...

i had previously some high quality semi metal in front and rear...
i hated the dust but honestly the performance was good and they lasted for a quite while...but got fed up of the dust...i was looking to get long lasting and good performing pads

thanks for the comments on the cross drilled rotors i wanted to have true and honest comments from people that have tried them on these cars..

cheers !

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 16 Jan 2009, 18:19

thanks for the comments on the cross drilled rotors i wanted to have true and honest comments from people that have tried them on these cars.

I have them on all three of mine. I get them on eBay from an outfit called UC Auto Parts in Canada. They are Raybestos rotors that have been drilled and I think I pay around US $150.00 per set (front and rear). They look great with the alloy wheels on all three cars (Persus, Columba, and Cetus) and I have yet to warp one. All of the OEM rotors that I did replace were warped and I drive the cars very hard on the county lake roads to the cabin.

Does the cross drilling help? I don't know. I have had very good luck but they do make a weird whirring noise when you brake hard from 80 to 0. I have noticed no more or no less dust with them but I am running Mintex pads which I think are supposed to be less dirty.

...Lee

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 16 Jan 2009, 20:05

I have cross drilled and slotted rotors that are zinc plated w/ OEM brakes pads. I got my rotors from R1 Concepts off of eBay and they have a great reputation on VolvoSpeed. I think I paid about $200 for the set of 4 for my S70...that was 2 years ago and I put on new front pads recently. I'll probably go another year before I have to do my rear pads. So far so good on my rotors. What I like about them is the hubs don't rust so they look brand new all the time. The OEM pads do produce a lot of dust but I find if I wax my wheels it comes off pretty easy- I just wipe my wheels off once a weak.

chax · Post by **chax** » 11 May 2010, 21:25

I installed d/s rotors and ceramic pads (also from R1 Concepts), both front and rear, and as soon as I first braked, the rears didn't just squeak: they absolutely screamed. I could practically play a song with them, they were so squeaky! I mean head-turning, what-the-f-is that? loud. I went to organic shortly thereafter: the squeaking went away for about a week, then returned. I reinstalled the solid rotors, too, which helped for another week. I finally got rid of the squeaking when I installed genuine Volvo pads (eEuroparts), and subsequently reinstalled the d/s rotors. They'll squeak once in a while, typically once or twice after the car's been sitting for a few days, and it's been wet.

Post by **kcodyjr** » 20 Apr 2013, 23:34

As times and parts availability do change, these things deserve a poke.

I've had good luck with a Zimmerman rotor, cross-drilled, chamfered, and then coated, with the Akebono ceramic pads, both bought from FCP. You'll have to call and ask for those rotors in particular, it's not the ones in the catalog last I checked.

In fact, I'm running on two years with these, and two and a half on the OEM rears. The rear rotors were warped and the pads were nearly worn. The fronts are still perfectly straight and plenty of meat on the pads. Six months difference in age notwithstanding, the fronts get more demand, and they're clearly aging much slower. I just had the matching rear rotors and pads installed by my indy.

Note, part of the reason cross-drilled rotors get a bad rap, is the number of slackers buying plain rotors and running Daddy's drill press through them. This is bad news for myriad reasons I won't get into. These are drilled and coated by Zimmerman.

Some say they're cosmetic, and as far as raw braking performance they're mathematically correct - in perfect conditions. In heavy rain, though, the cross vents give steam a place to go, which means the first stop works, instead of having to dry the rotors off with a pre-stop. My $0.02.

Post by **E Showell** » 21 Apr 2013, 06:09

OEM are very dusty, but stop exceedingly well. Ceramic are virtually dust free, but I have been told stopping power is not as great as OEM. Having used both, I've never noticed a problem with stopping distance using ceramics and I much prefer the cleaner wheels. That's entirely personal preference, however.