what effect does brake pad material have? i'm thinking of using organic pads in the rear instead of semi-met for cost reasons. is there going to be a difference in braking, or are they just going to wear down faster?

 

if you switch to organic pads, you need to be careful of a couple of things. the organics will stop the car a little faster, but nothing to get too excited about, and yes, they will wear down faster. however, if you do a lot of hard stopping and fast driving, you will need to be careful not to catch the pads on fire. organics have a much less heat tolerance than the semi-mets do. if you do a lot of racing type driving, do not go with the organics, unless you try putting on cross-drilled rotors. even that may not be enough to keep the pads from overheating and burning.