[ainarssems]

especially if I was into 130 to 20 mph hard braking!

That was just to test the cheap £20 no name pads to see how they cope with heat. To be honest I was pleasantly surprised that heat did not seem to affect them. I have had pads (Ferodo comes to mind) in the past that just start to turn to powder and disintegrate from the edges when overheated or detach from metal backing. Cheap are often not good but more expensive does not always mean better. All pads and discs on our A6 are OEM Audi as they sometimes come up on e-bay cheaply, I think I paid less than £150 for all 4 corners OEM discs and pads. And rear discs and pads on S8 are OEM as well. The problem is I have never seen pads for PF D2 323mm discs come on e-bay cheaply. There have been some in £40-50 range for FL but not for PF. If I could get OEM for that money I would buy them but I cannot justify near £200 for the front set. If I need to choose between £70 for Pagid and £9 for the Apec I will give Apec a go first. Apec is not the cheapest brand, I think these might be just clearance, overstock articles that's why they are so cheap. For example Apec pads for A6 are in £30-40 range while the cheapest ones are under £15. Besides that they come with 2 years 24k mile guaranty, don't think even dealers offer that kind of guarantee for brake pads. Obviously there are terms and conditions to follow like you need to install new Apec discs at the same time and needs to be done by workshop not average Joe himself.