Which brake pads for winter (and summer)? - Cold & wet stops

[rsco]

Here in Alberta Canada its winter-ish for about half the year, the brakes do not reach high temperatures during mundane driving tasks. Many of the stops may be on wet rotors and rotors cold enough that that they might as well be considered cold stops.

I have narrowed the field to two main choices (any others?) for my 2005 Toyota 4Runner Limited:

1) Akebono Performance - Ultra-Premium (Ceramic)
Akebono PERFORMANCE Ultra-Premium Ceramic Pads | Akebono

2) Hawk HPS – High Performance Street (Ferro-Carbon)
HPS - High Performance Street | Hawk Performance

Would the Hawk HPS be gentle on rotors as they claim? Ceramic would be easier on rotors but I wonder if ceramic would have respectable bite on cold and wet rotors - I assume the Hawk HPS would be better in the cold and wet?
I have heard that ceramic pads have poor cold bite.

The Hawk HPS pads have a FF friction rating to the best of my knowledge.
The Akebono Performance pads have a GG friction rating to the best of my knowledge.

They are both respected manufacturers, I have used Hawk HP Plus pads when I used to have a 240sx set up for the track, those pads were great at track temperatures.

Price difference doesn't matter, I will buy the better choice for my application.
Brake dusting between the choices are negligible to me.
Brake noise between the choices should be negligible to me.

Its easy to say just buy OE pads from the dealership, but where is the fun in that! Also, OE is made for quietness and long lasting, I am more concerned in braking feel and performance.

Thoughts?

 

[ZebRuaj]

Have you looked at Stoptech (TRD's) pads? Supposed to have good initial cold bite (but who doesn't advertise that?).

I ran them on my Si and Tsx in MN with no problems through any weather. Good pads, probably over kill for normal daily driving. They do dust up quite a bit. Will probably go for a set for the 4Runner when I need to replace, knowing that they are the TRD pads without the Toyota price gouging.

 

[00Sebby]

My understanding of most HP brake pads is that they are designed to provide better bite and resist fading under high-performance conditions where high brake temps are a concern (i.e., track day, autocross, etc). This heat resistance usually comes at the expense of cold braking. I don't know if the Hawk HPS pads fall into this category of requiring a warmup since they are still classified as street pads.

I would choose a pad composition closer to stock like the Akebono for cold weather as they should work best in the cold and still handle situations where you are on the brakes a lot.