Like you said, it's subjective. Akebonos don't feel soggy to me.

I understand not liking the bite profile of the stock BMW pads. But I don't understand how people don't even notice the soggy feel of the Akebonos. I've tested the Akebonos in multiple cars. Sliding calipers, fixed Brembo calipers... They sucked everywhere.

I get not caring. I don't understand not noticing. Maybe I have too much race track time, and too much time in cars with brakes that don't suck? (Because let's be honest - all variants of stock E53 X5 brakes suck.)

If your comparison is track brakes, then all brakes will suck.

All sliding caliper brakes suck and have terrible pedal feel. (Which is why the G80 M3's brakes are such a joke.)

IMO, the X5's brakes are tolerable with cheap textar pads. They provide among the best brake feel possible, short of using an aggressive pad with major other compromises. (The Hawk HP+ feels like a track pad, but works at street temperatures. If they figured out a way to make them not shriek like banshees, I'd run them in everything.)

So yeah, nothing is ever going to make some shitty sliders feel good. But you absolutely can make them feel worse. Akebonos feel worse.

I think that's the issue right there.

Compared to most cars on public roads, the X5 has excellent brakes with virtually any pad. But compared to any car on a track... they'll feel downright dangerous I'm sure.

Compromises are made with a pad selection. Dust vs. bite vs. feel, etc. It sounds like you expect a certain level of braking that most of us have probably never even experienced.

It's NOT brake torque that is the issue. Brake torque is limited by tires more than anything else, even on the X5.

What I expect is to not feel a squishy brake pedal. Akebonos always produce a squishy brake pedal. If you push through the squish, Akebonos will stop an X5 just fine. Almost no one is running enough tire on an E53 to be brake torque limited.

The thing that people rarely seem to understand about BBKs is that they do NOT stop cars meaningfully faster. In a street car, the benefit is almost entirely pedal feel (OK, and looks). There are lots of benefits for race cars that don't apply.

Anyway, I think we're pretty far off in the weeds here.

My point remains pretty simple: In my opinion, the Textar pads are tolerable. You can also get them on all four corners under $100. In my opinion, the Akebonos are horrible, and I've wasted hundreds of dollars over the years buying them and then throwing them out.

That's ok. I learned something. :thumbup: