brake dust?
 

Not long after I took delivery of the car I started to noticed an odd black residue in the wheel wells (particularly noticeable since my car is white). When I went after it with a wash mitt while washing the rest of the car the black stuff remained in the mitt fabric as though it were some kind of grease.

I was thinking maybe it was excess tire dressing that slung off after they applied it at the dealership, but then I noticed it in the spokes of the wheels. Its a fine black brake dust, and more of it than I usually see on other cars I have owned. I have to wipe it out with a rag and some degreaser, otherwise it just makes a mess.

Anyone else seeing this? The brakes work fine, I don't think its a defect because its on all 4 wheels. Is it just a breakin phenomenon and will eventually settle down? I thought they were using ceramic brake pads these days.

Nope. Not on these cars. Sounds like its just normal brake wear.

If this is normal I'd hate to see what abnormal looks like. So these are 'semi-metallic' pads? If that's the case I expect I will be looking at more frequent pad replacements than I am used to.

You should see less and less as time goes on. I'm not sure what kind of brakes but I know its definitely not ceramic. I'm leaning towards carbon-metallic.

Well we know they are ADVICS sports pads according to the Japanese Toyota site. And if you look here: http://www.aisinaftermarket.com/Engl...cts/Advics.php it says they are carbon ceramic. However, if you look at their Japanese aftermarket sports pad site here: http://sports.advicsaftermarket.co.jp/index.html they don't specify what material type they are but they rate them as having moderate dusting (3/5). The pads on the FR-S/BRZ may be a newer custom compound but I would imagine they'd still be similar.

Maybe after they have worn in a while and the surfaces mate up they will shed less dust.