Shawn,

You stop the van by creating friction between the pads and the rotors.
Something's gotta wear, and if the pads are harder, the rotors will wear
out sooner.  My '85 Westy uses semi-metallic pads, and has done quite
well with them, but the rotors do go away faster.

Karl Wolz

I have heard that some OE
> pads
> that claim better performance will result in much short drum/rotor
life.
>
> Shawn Wright
> http://zuiko.sls.bc.ca/~swright
> '85 Jetta TD (retired)
> '85 Jetta D
> '88 Westy 2.1L
> '82 Diesel Westy