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The stock pads and rotors front and rear on my M235i are pretty much metal on metal so I'm purchasing replacements soon, but was hoping to have a noticeable improvement in braking. While the stock rotors/pads were decent, it was possible to start cooking the pads and get brake fade with prolonged aggressive driving, but especially with repeated stops from triple digit speeds. With the OEM pads, I'm basically always managing the brakes if driving aggressively and using them at maybe 6-7/10th's, but it'd be nice to have a little upgrade and bump that up to maybe 8-8.5/10th's. The car isn't going to be seeing any track time, but will be seeing very aggressive street driving. Since I tend to run through pads rather quickly, I'll be purchasing from FCP Euro and these 3 pads are pretty much my only choices.

Does anyone have direct experience comparing:

1. OEM M Sport Pads vs. Ferodo DS2500
2. OEM M Sport Pads vs. Hawk HPS 5.0
3. Hawk HPS 5.0 vs. Ferodo DS2500

Specifically, I'm interested in:

1. Ability to withstand heat / less fade? I'd like to minimize fade.
2. How is the noise? I'm okay with a little bit of noise.
3. How is the bite? Modulation? Not overly concerned with this, but curious.
4. How is the dust? Not really concerned with this either.

With the stock pads, I've noticed that when fresh they can definitely have a slightly grabby bite initially, but do fade with repeated braking abuse. I'm fairly sensitive and can feel when the brakes get down to less than a 1/3rd of pad material, well before any sensors let you know....where you start to get a bit of juddering and more fade under aggressive braking. From what I can gather, the Ferodo DS2500 seem better suited and the more aggressive pads, but I'd still like to hear feedback especially as they compare to OEM pads. I am not a fan of EBC Green/Red or even Yellow stuff pads, which can supposedly handle track, except they can't even handle aggressive street driving. I'm not a fan of pads that claim to be able to do light track duty, but really don't hold up at all.

I'll be going with the Zimmerman 2-piece rotors, which seem to be a great value as they cost less than the OEM 1-piece and I've had good luck with Zimmerman in the past.

Also, how critical is it to replace guide pins, spring/clips, and dust seals? They're all super expensive (each $30-40/piece) and I'm not going to replace them if it's not necessary. Can easily add up to over $300 just to replace all of these.

Lastly, any preferred brake pad pastes? I was thinking about going with the Permatex Ceramic Extreme stuff. What's the difference and pro's/con's of silicon and ceramic paste? Tips on installing everything? Will be my first time doing it on a car. I've worked on all my motorcycles in the past.

Thanks in advance!