I just did my brakes. Got 107,000 miles out of the original ones, then went with Axxis Ultimates. The Axxis pads dusted a lot more than the stock ones, were a lot rougher on the rotors and stopped the car a ton better than the stockers. The Axxis pads also only lasted 26,000 miles, which is a bit deceptive, because the original pads were 95% used on the freeway, the Axxis pads were 95% used on the city streets(I moved) Was going to going with Raybestos pads and rotors from Kragen, but the HS drop-out who was working that day was a MOE-RON. He had an LS turbo(he claimed it was turbo anyway) but he did not know they made GSR sedans, thought you could get a GSR with an automatic tranny, and ordered the ITR rotors(I think that is what he ordered, they were for a 5 lug car) I returned all that stuff, because I figured if they were making mistakes like that, they probably gave me the wrong pads too. Glad I checked before I took it all apart.

So I go to the dealer, and the guy at Nello Acura told me, "You don't need the inner shim", when I asked why the brake pad set was missing some shims. Actually they told me it just came with the bigger shim, and I said, "So you only need the one that goes on the piston side?"(Which I knew was wrong, but I was checking the dumbass quotient on the other end of the phone) He says yeah, that is right(but he was full of crap, when I called the other dealer in Elk Grove, they told me you needed the inner and outer shims) I went back and bitched, they gave the inner shims to me, which would have been like $7 apiece. The guy who seemed to know what he was talking about said he asked the mechanic, who said the shims come with the pads sometimes, sometimes not. In the manual, it says the ITR does not have an inner shim, any one know for sure?

Got the brakes done, rotated the tires while I was at it. I was extremely glad I put anti-sieze on the little retaining screws last time I did the brakes. The first time around, i broke like 3 bits for the impact driver from Harbor Freight before I went and got the Craftsman one. This time around the screws came out with a screwdriver, regular kind, no hammering to get them loose. I highly recommend using that coppery crap, makes life so much easier.

I sort of forgot how much better the Axxis pads stopped the car until I started driving it. Huge difference in stopping power. I would tell anyone who is more interested in stopping really fast than having immaculately clean wheels to go with the after market stuff