firesprite

I need to replace mine and would welcome any suggestion in brands or types to use. Veh is used for commute and some drives to the mountains..vented ,solid ect

Vegas-roadster

Brake pads have 4 qualities that people desire; no noise, low dust, great stopping power, and long life. At best you can get 3 of 4. 15 years ago, most folks were using Mintex Red for replacement pads. Then they had a production issue and some pads separated from the shoe. This is no longer a problem I had them and they had everything except their stopping power was about the same as OEM.

It appears that the most frequently mentioned pad today is the Hawk HPS (not the ceramic version which has less stopping). Some folks have complained that this pad is scary bad when first starting out. That is, its braking is poor until the pad gets warmed by the first few stops.

Make sure the front pad you buy has the wear sensor wire. Tirerack.com has a brake comparison chart but not everyone agrees with their results. Car and Driver did a report a few years ago if you Google it.

Relative to rotors, there are dozens of suppliers. People who race have had issues with some cross-drilled rotors cracking. Slotted rotors are supposed to give you better braking at the expense of increase pad wear as the slots slice the pad. I like the look of cross-drilled and don't race. A lot of cheaper cross drilled rotors are made by a supplier buying solid rotors and then having a local machine shop cross-drill them. These are the most problematic. Make sure the cross drilling is done by the manufacturer. Zimmerman is the supplier to Audi for TT rotors and they manufacture a factory cross-drilled version that can be bought on several web sites. I've used them on both of my Mk 1s and had no issues. also, make sure the rotors are anodized or coated, or the non-wear areas will quickly rust.

If you have $$$, look into the Brembo products, including the BIG Brake kit. I have heard no complaints about their products but beware buying fake Brembo parts from some lowball suppliers.