Brake pad confusion – G03s vs G04s

I’m not hard on my brakes, just a recreational pootler and have been happy with both resin and sintered Shimano pads.

I’m currently using G04s pads and need to pick up some spares. The thing is, G04s pads aren’t far off twice the price of G03s pads (similar for both resin & sintered flavours).

Is there something significantly different between the two types to justify the price difference?

I can’t recall off the top of my head but are the more expensive ones Ti backed?

No, I don’t think so, the S in the designation is for steel backed pads (A for aluminium and Ti for titanium).

I think that G03s listing is just wrong.. I believe G03S is resin and G04S is metal / sintered.

I reckon they are (pretty much) the same – Shimano tech docs show the G03s for older XT and G04 for newer SLX calipers. Ti backed ones are G04Ti

XT Tech doc

SLX tech doc

“ti” (XTR)

XT and SLX pads can be used in either, I think

I think that G03s listing is just wrong.. I believe G03S is resin and G04S is metal / sintered.

I think you’re right. A quick look at other listings does show G03 pads as resin. Cheers.

Running G03s pads on my M8000 brakes. Silent and with great bite. They’re also on my XC pootling bike and they last a very long time.

G03 are resin and G04 are sintered. G03S have been discontinued and will become G05S, Shimano part number Y2S398010.

Shimano tech doc is wrong then? (and Merlin description)

18 Y8J79803A Resin Pad (G01A) & Spring w/Split Pin
19 Y8JZ98020 Metal Pad (G03S) & Spring w/Split Pin

Y8JZ98020 is an old part number, discontinued about 3 years ago. Current G03S part number is Y8WW98030 which is a resin pad.

https://www.freewheel.co.uk/shimano-spares-g03s-disc-brake-pads-and-spring-steel-backed-resin-y8ww98030

https://www.merlincycles.com/shimano-g03s-resin-disc-brake-pads-251729.html

So the OP was probably linking to Y8JZ98020s, which Merlin still have listed, but aren’t in stock 🙂