Ceramics on an S8 - good thing or bad thing?
 

When window shopping for S8s I've tended to steer clear of cars with ceramics. I'm wondering now whether that has been the right thing to do.

Pros:
Supposedly better braking - can brake later, shorter stopping distance, less fade
No brake dust on your wheels
Should last 100k miles.

Cons:
- Cost a *fortune* to replace, and I have seen a few cars offered for sale with them that say they have been replaced under warranty at relatively low miles
- Can only work out how worn they are by weighing them
- Susceptible to damage when mounting/dismounting wheels or from gravel
- Squeaky when cold
- Less efficient when cold (not entirely sure about this one)
- Potential to use great braking force to smear your tyres onto the road

Interested in views, esp from those who have them. Happy with them? Think they are a gimmick, or an expensive bomb waiting to go off? Or a genuinely useful addition to the car?

TIA

Personally I don't really see the point, though I have driven an Audi with ceramic brakes - an R8 on track.

For a new car buyer it's probably a minor extra cost and seems like a good idea.
For people here, who are largely not in that category, it seems like a potentially very expensive time-bomb to be avoided.

Whilst I havent got ceramics I would have thought that the benefits are only really felt if you do a lot of track work. The advantage (for most, even if you do enjoy a bit of "spirited" driving) must be very limited and for the marginal benefit you get, you need to offset the potential costs. There do seem to be a lot of replacement of these items.

Pretty sure they were a relatively expensive option when new too.

Great if you really track it, or have something silly quick like Amar's RS6, but for normal driving, just seems like too much of a wallet buster waiting to happen.

I have them on my car, The cars done 57k and the discs look like new, there's no wear lip like you get on steel discs and like you say they are meant to be good for 100K

The stopping performance is impressive to say the least, easily will have your passengers complaining at the deceleration. although I have not driven an S8 with the steel discs for comparison.

Yes they squeak first thing when cold, but on my car its only when I back out of the driveway 20 feet later and the squeak is gone.

One thing I don't like about them is the feeling when they are wet, few occasions where I have been driving in heavy rain and went to use the brakes, it feels like they are doing very little but it only takes a slight squeeze harder on the pedal and the waters burnt off and they are back to normal.

As for accidental damage removing wheels, well you would need to be a complete klutz to manage that as there is a shroud all the way round the disc, and if you use the locating bolts like your meant too then the discs wont come to any harm.

As for replacement costs yes indeed they are stupidly expensive, but here's hoping that I won't need to replace anytime soon and if they don't come down in price to a sensible level by the time I need too then I would look into alternatives like replacing the discs with steel ones on ally hubs.