Low Dust Brake Pads

[Jetplate]

Has anyone found a solution for low dust brakes pads? I'm not interested in replacing replacing the rotors and everything, just the pads. The only offering I have found is a store branded pad from Advanced Auto Parts. Not exactly top tier.

 

[blkout]

Carbotech 1521 are perfect. Good performance and low dust.

 

[Jetplate]

Thanks for the info.

 

[flipray]

Contact KNSBrakes and ask them what their recommendations based on what you want. They sell a few different brands and can give you options for what you're looking for (ie low dust, better initial bite, less fade, etc).

KNSBrakes | Products | <!-- -->2025 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing - Iron Discs

www.knsbrakes.com

 

[Kawman]

I'd say go with carbon ceramic breaks and be done with it for the life of the car. No more brake dust.

 

[blkout]

I'd say go with carbon ceramic breaks and be done with it for the life of the car. No more brake dust.

$8k-10k vs. $400 for Carbotech 1521 pads. I'll take the pads and put the rest of that money towards other mods.

 

[Kawman]

You just need to be a better shopper.

I'm about to have the world's first CT4-V Blackwing with carbon ceramic brakes. With both street and track pads it was $3,600.

Custom made 18x10 and 18x11 magnesium wheels replicating the OEM look for $4k.

 

[dribs15]

You just need to be a better shopper.

I'm about to have the world's first CT4-V Blackwing with carbon ceramic brakes. With both street and track pads it was $3,600.

Custom made 18x10 and 18x11 magnesium wheels replicating the OEM look for $4k.


View attachment 35516

 

[Kawman]

Hey man, I'm on a five-year mission: to explore strange new suspensions, to seek out new wheels and brakes, to boldly go faster than any Blackwing has gone before!

 

[Kawman]

The fronts are ready to be shipped. Hopefully the rears are finished next week.

And you get to pick the color you want for your hats, so of course I picked blue.

Yup, they're long strand carbon , not chopped!

week.

About the same price as you'd pay for OEM iron brakes.

 

[ngoni]

The fronts are ready to be shipped. Hopefully the rears are finished next.

And you get to pick the color you want for your hats, so of course I picked blue.

Yup, they're long strand carbon , not chopped!

View attachment 35518 week.

About the same price as you'd pay for OEM iron brakes.

Let us know how reliability ends up. The price sure is right.

 

[blkout]

You just need to be a better shopper.

I'm about to have the world's first CT4-V Blackwing with carbon ceramic brakes. With both street and track pads it was $3,600.

Custom made 18x10 and 18x11 magnesium wheels replicating the OEM look for $4k.


View attachment 35516

The difference is that you have a CT4 Blackwing. CT5 Blackwings have much larger brakes and will be more expensive. Current CC offerings are in the $8k range for aftermarket sets. You're also willing to gamble on untested Chinese made products and some of us aren't. I'm not discouraging you, its your money but just saying some of us aren't willing to go there on critical safety items.

 

[Carguyshu]

The difference is that you have a CT4 Blackwing. CT5 Blackwings have much larger brakes and will be more expensive. Current CC offerings are in the $8k range for aftermarket sets. You're also willing to gamble on untested Chinese made products and some of us aren't. I'm not discouraging you, its your money but just saying some of us aren't willing to go there on critical safety items.

yea i just priced out oem CCB rotors at summit racing at its 12k. They are the cheapest I've seen price was too. The OEM 5BW brakes also have a bonded friction layer that is supposed to extended life by 2x. I tracked my last iron BW a lot and am concerned about replacement costs. I know the front rotors/pads are plug and play size wise between CCB and iron, but don't know what to do with the rears. I realize the magride programming is different, but throwing on some lightweight wheels like from Apex would probably get the difference so that it's not so large.

I'd definitely like to know how they hold up for track use. $3,600 is dirt cheap, but I'd be concerned you get what you pay for

 

[blkout]

yea i just priced out oem CCB rotors at summit racing at its 12k. They are the cheapest I've seen price was too. The OEM 5BW brakes also have a bonded friction layer that is supposed to extended life by 2x. I tracked my last iron BW a lot and am concerned about replacement costs. I know the front rotors/pads are plug and play size wise between CCB and iron, but don't know what to do with the rears. I realize the magride programming is different, but throwing on some lightweight wheels like from Apex would probably get the difference so that it's not so large.

I'd definitely like to know how they hold up for track use. $3,600 is dirt cheap, but I'd be concerned you get what you pay for

There's a company now making aftermarket CCBs for these cars, I feel like the price was about $8k. I think someone here already has a set and says they seem to be good quality other than they get an unexplained clicking noise. There's some posts here in these forums from the vendor selling them and the guy that bought them.

Here's the thing about unsprung weight, I know objectively it makes a small difference and I do mean small. Subjectively, some people claim that it makes them faster because of improved feedback too. I just can't justify paying more than $2K or so for rotors and pads, CCBs or not. Wheels on the other hand can shave off just as much weight for around $3500-4500 and they have a HUGE visual impact so I can justify that cost a little more. Its so much cheaper to make up for more weight with more power. Granted if you're on a VERY tight road course or autocross course, you might see a little more benefit from 50-100lbs weight savings, but in any other scenario, an additional 50+ HP will walk all over that 50-100lbs saved.

 

[Carguyshu]

supposedly on a 2 min track on z06 the unsprung weight reduction from moving to the carbon fiber wheels dropped 2 seconds off lap times, which is a LOT. I've not heard any claims from GM related to the weight reduction from CCB though.

the kits that exist now are to convert from iron to ccb, but i'm yet to see one the other way. i've seen posts on the vette forum where someone went aftermarket CCB and it was a complete disaster and waste of money as they were totally destroyed in 1 track day. there are likely a lot of different chinese vendors making CCB rotors, so it is hard to say who is good, what validation has been done, and who should be avoided.

as i posted before, iron/ccb front pads/rotors are plug and play to swap physically. the CCB calipers do have radiated pistons in them, though, so going from iron to ccb without making that upgrade could potentially lead to heat related caliper issues if pushed extremely hard. it was enough that they made the jump to them form the factory, but if someone is just after clean wheels they'll likely never push anything close to hot enough for that to be a problem. the rears are the real trick. completely different caliper, rotor size, and mounting. iron you can take off the rear dust shields and are there are cooling ducts that go on the control arms. with CCB you're not supposed to do that, likely to limit the chance of debris getting thrown at them and harming them. it's also interesting that the CCB rotors are side dependent vs the front irons are not when it comes to cooling vanes. the rear irons are side specific, but they aren't 2 piece.

 

[nordique14]

@Carguyshu Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Great info on the difference in front calipers. I did not know the pistons between the two were different.

 

[Kawman]

The difference is that you have a CT4 Blackwing. CT5 Blackwings have much larger brakes and will be more expensive. Current CC offerings are in the $8k range for aftermarket sets. You're also willing to gamble on untested Chinese made products and some of us aren't.

The $8K ones are Chinese made as well. Cut out the middlemen and buy direct from the factory for $4K for the 5BW.

 

[blkout]

The $8K ones are Chinese made as well. Cut out the middlemen and buy direct from the factory for $4K for the 5BW.

I won't buy either of them. If I couldn't get an amazing deal on the OEM CC rotors which are made by Brembo in Italy and Germany then I wouldn't buy any of them.

 

[Kawman]

I won't buy either of them. If I couldn't get an amazing deal on the OEM CC rotors which are made by Brembo in Italy and Germany then I wouldn't buy any of them.

Brembo doesn't make their own carbon ceramic brakes. They are made by SGL Carbon and the Brembo name gets put on them. They are made in Italy and Germany, but don't just hang your hat on a country name. Italy and Germany are capable of producing crap and China is capable of producing quality. I will evaluate things based on the merits of each item from each manufacturer.

The SGL brakes are probably also about $4K from the factory. Then Brembo gets $2K for their name being on them, GM adds $2K for being the distributor and then the retailer makes $2k selling them to you. So you end up paying $10k for a set a brakes the factory made and sold for $4K. I choose to buy direct from the factory if possible.

I just did some reading on the OEM CCB. Those Brembo rotors are made from "chopped carbon" fibers. My custom rotors are made from long strand carbon fibers. Yeah, no thanks. I'm not interested in rotors made from chopped carbon. I want the good stuff on my car!

 

[Kawman]

OMG!! This in mind blowing. Seriously do some Google searches on the topic of "Chopped Fiber" versus "Continuous Fiber/Long Strand Fiber" rotors.

Now I'm understanding the commentary I've read about the CCB not being long lived on the track.

Holy batshit, Robin!! The difference between the construction types is drastic.



Continuous fiber rotors are drastically more durable on a race track than chopped fiber rotors. While chopped fiber OEM brakes like Brembo CCMs perform excellently on the street and can handle casual track days, heavy track use exposes the massive structural and thermal limitations of short-fiber construction. [1, 2, 3, 4]
The primary differences in track durability break down into four key metrics:

Durability Comparison

Feature	Chopped Fiber Rotors (OEM / Brembo)	Continuous Fiber Rotors (e.g., Surface Transforms)
Material Structure	Randomly oriented carbon fragments shorter than 5mm.	Long, interwoven, 3D multi-directional carbon sheets.
Heat Dissipation	Fragmented structure traps heat, creating thermal hot spots.	Organized weave transfers heat uniformly away from the surface.
Wear Mechanism	Thermal Oxidation: Breaks down from the inside out, dropping density.	Slow, uniform outer-layer friction wear without losing inner mass.
Refurbishment	Disposable: Must be thrown away once they reach minimum weight.	Renewable: Can be resurfaced/machined up to 3 times.
Track Lifespan	Can wear out or crack in a handful of hard, high-heat track days.	Typically lasts 4 to 5 times longer under hard track conditions.