I guess it doesn't matter to me as long as they are the "organic" pads. The ones I picked up today were called DURA and are made in Canada. I realize these are softer and dustier, but let me qualify my reasoning.

1) I guarentee nobody here on this list does more stop and start driving than me. ( over 600 stops per day, just for work)

2) I do my maint. per the "deutch methode" something I picked up on the VW diesel site.(or was it vanagon?) It's been so long ago I forgot. According to the Germans the prefered pad ( cost effective wise ) is the organic (read NON-METALIC).

The reason is simple... if you use a semi-metalic pad two things are going to happen. You will get LESS dust and you will wear out your rotors faster. The comparison is this:

A) Metallic, semi-metallic pad= 3 brake changes then buy a new rotor because it will be beyond the limits. Don't forget to add in the cost of having the rotors turned, it will be neccessary.

B) Organic NON-metallic pads= 12 brake pad changes before you need new rotors. also , you will NOT need to have the rotors turned. ( unless you run them down to the point that you have metal on metal)

So it appears to me that the "lifetime" pads will wear down rotors at about 4 times as fast. As for me I'm too cheap to buy rotors any more frequently than I have to!

Sorry, I gave more than .02. You all can keep the change!