If you are going to order brake pads for your car, do you have a choice of getting a "softer" type pad that has alot of stopping power but does not last as long ....and do they have a "hard" brake pad that does not have as much stopping power but lasts a really long time?

If so what are the terms for asking for them, I just made of "soft" and "hard" type pads because I imagine that the materials used vary like that.

Since installing new front pads two years ago, the front pads still show almost no wear, however the original type of rear pads are still used and my mechanic has to replace them every 6-9 months which is much more often then before I swithced and installed the new front pads.

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1996 E320
2000 C230 Kompressor
1988 190e 2.3 - 225K miles, owned for 7 years. I cannot say enough good things about this car. Very well built, even at 225 it ran like new.