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They are pricey but they have the research and vehicle testing to back them up. Aftermarket pads may have some dyno testing done (extremely rare standardized vehicle testing), and that’s a big may, with the exception of the Motorcraft aftermarket pads which had been tested on vehicles for both stopping distance and wear / noise / dust, at least in the past.

Not that aftermarket cannot be a good choice to improve some aspects depending upon owner’s views.

The rotor situation has just gotten way overblown. People and mechanics keep using the term “warping” and equate the supposed “warp” to heat when in fact it has nothing to do with this. They change to an expensive, unneeded rotor option along with different pads and declare the expensive rotors are the fix; not acknowledging they also changed the friction material.

Obviously your driving characteristics sound like your in the zone where rotor wear is high enough that improper rotor wear is not occurring, unless you neglected to mention rotor issues.

The OE pads will have the most in-stop stable friction, best wear, and best noise abatement amendments. Its weakness in this application is that it’s in the lower friction level (higher pedal effort) and low rotor abrasiveness. Not that it’s friction level is that bad with OE sized tires, but the overall brake design size does not have a margin for tire leverage changes. I thought the braking was good with my ’01 F-250.

What your looking for in rotors are ones that are machined well with low runout tolerances, cast well with low variance in thickness variations and inclusions. You also don’t want to waste money on enhancements geared towards racing that are unnecessary. If you towed heavy though mountains, or towed heavy with larger then stock tires, then slotted rotors may be an option, but even under those circumstances the usefulness is questionable if you’re using quality, temperature resistant pads.

Brake parts are truly the child of the statement “you get what you pay for”. Of all automotive parts, it’s the one area that historically been hammered with competitive pricing. Although I will say that ALL of the auto manufacturers do change a premium price for their “OE” parts. They know the tightness of specifications that they use compared to the A/M and use that leverage. Myself, I use OE rotors as I am willing to pay that premium for that piece of mind. But the higher priced offering do provide as good of life and performance. Ford offers their Motorcraft line of rotors, which if you look on the box are from Federal-Mogul, the parent company of Wagner. The rotors are the same, but Ford rotors go though different machining to tighten up the specs towards OE quality. Wagner’s also give many people good life, as do the higher priced rotors from NAPA and other stores. If you do go though rotors, the Wagner’s or other brands that carry lifetime warranties are a good deal.

There are no perfect friction materials. All compromise on some level. It takes a lot of work to develop a pad to achieve the performance, integrity, and NVH (noise/vibration/harshness) within an acceptable zone, and it all depends what your willing to enhance and compromise. The NAPA pads you mentioned probably were a lower price and quiet. Less costly resins and processes keep the price down and reduce the propensity for noise. At the compromise of wear.

I personally switched my OE pads on my ’03 to Performance Friction “Z” pads to increase the friction level at the expensive of some low brake pressure brake squeal. I can live with that. The PF are also more stable at very high temperature ranges, higher then I would drive at, but still provide the wear life that the OE did. But I went with 285 tires and noticed the increase in pedal force, and the harder time my truck had locking the tires. There was a change in the ’03 and up actuating system which increased the PE requirements, more then I cared for, although very acceptable to NHTSA and Ford requirements, just not mine. If this was an ’05 and up with it’s different friction material, I would have been fine.

Many like the Hawk pads, and if I was using very oversize tires, I might go there. They provide many of the same benefits as the “Z” pads with a little higher friction level, but I don’t really care for the in-stop increase in friction towards the end of the stop rather then a consistent friction level.

Other aftermarket pad can provide similar characteristics, but you have to stay in the high priced range. There is no free lunch.