TheDurk

I think you are putting too much emphasis on the friction material. The big issue with AM shoes is some of them don't pivot correctly and hang up, causing uneven braking or none at all.

That said, I use centric shoes with good results.

SodiumFlouride

I agree with you that the cold (grab) and hot (fade) friction coefficient, surprisingly, isn't the most important thing about brake shoes - even if I would like to wish it were because it's the one thing we know about the friction material for sure, other than the manufacturer and the unique registration of the compound and how much copper it contains.
You hit upon one of the most important things, which is fit for proper operation.
So if anyone knows what shoes work and which ones do not, that's critcial.
I ran about fifty to a hundred searches, where most of the bad fitting situtaions where actually when drums were replaced with aftermarket drums, along with the shoes.
In my case, the drum has 2mm of meat left so I'll just be replacing the shoes in back and pads in front (I already measured the thickness of the rotors and they're OK also).
It's good to know you like the Centric shoes and that they fit properly as I've had long discussions since my last post with Centric technical support as I've already decided that I'm going with the Centrics.

In the end, despite gleaning as much as we can from the mandated edge codes, what matters is how they perform in about a handful of traits, none of which can be told just by looking at the shoes in your hands or by reading the marketing literature.

1. manufacturer and material (this only matters if two different brands have the same registration number)
2. friction (cold and hot and repeated applications hot)
3. fit (it has to work as the OE specified!)
4. feel (pedal pressure and linearity)
5. noise (all pads make noise but they make noise differently)
6. dust (all pads dust just as all rotors turn to dust but they dust differently)
7. wear (friction materials and rotors/drums)

In the end, there's no way to know anything but #1 and #2 above, and even that doesn't help us all that much.
The good news is that they all work. The bad news is that they all work differently.

About the only safe way to buy shoes & pads is to either try them yourself first (obviously a long term test), or ask someone who has a similar vehicle and driving style.

SodiumFlouride

To update the thread, and to give payback for the kind help, I picked up the Centric brake pads and shoes that The Durk kindly recommended.

I was surprised to find they came complete with the correct hardware kits.

The AMECA Edge Codes (aka DOT Edge Codes) indicate "CEN" which is who brands the pads, that they're Centric part number 105.04360 which is made by unique manufacturer 15AA (aka Centric) with a registered composition of 2256 (a proprietary secret, where Centic calls it "Ceramic") and that they tested cold friction is the higher F coefficient and hot friction is a lesser E coefficient and that they were manufactured in the 41st week of 2016, and their composition is A which indicates more than 5% copper (among other things).
I also flushed the old amber DOT 3 out and replaced it with new blue DOT 4, where it took only 12 ounces.

I accidentally tore the caliper boots because my disc brake spreader didn't fit (if you don't just use a pry bar, what purpose-built tool do you use?).

Given I tore the piston boots, I'll look up a DIY for how to rebuild the calipers.

And since they're different than the rear, I wrote up a thread just for the fronts, because a bunch of questions popped up while I was doing them, and I love to learn more about brakes.

• Did front brakes & bleed - what could I have done better (especially that torn boot)?

That's the only update I have for you because what I have to do next weekend are the drum brakes, which I held out for last, since they're more complex.