Sintered metal pads are the answer when you're wearing through resin pads too quickly, riding a lot of wet or gritty conditions, or spending real time on long descents where heat becomes the enemy of consistent braking. The Shimano G04S is the metal compound replacement pad for a huge swath of Shimano's 2-piston caliper lineup, covering XTR, XT, SLX, Deore, Alfine, and Shimano's road and cyclocross flat-mount and post-mount calipers from the last several generations. If your caliper accepts the narrow G-shape pad, this is the metal version of that footprint.

The pad uses a sintered metal friction compound bonded to a stainless steel backing plate. Sintered pads take longer to bed in than resin, but once seated they deliver more consistent bite in the wet, shrug off contamination from mud and grit, and last significantly longer between replacements. The tradeoff is a bit more noise under certain conditions and slightly more heat transfer into the caliper, which is worth knowing before you commit — if your bike sees mostly dry, moderate-terrain riding, resin pads (G03A, G05A) may suit you better. For heavy trail use, loaded touring, tandem duty, e-bike braking loads, or riders who chew through pads in wet Pacific Northwest or muddy East Coast conditions, metal is the right call.

One pair covers a single caliper — front or rear, not both — so plan accordingly when ordering. The return spring is included, which is the small W-shaped clip that sits between the pads and pushes them off the rotor when you release the lever. Reuse of an old, fatigued spring is one of the more common causes of pad rub after a service, so installing the fresh spring that comes in the package is worth the two minutes. Compatible calipers include XTR BR-M9000/M9020/M987/M985, XT BR-M8100/M8000/M785, SLX BR-M7100/M7000/M675/M666, Deore BR-M6100/M6000/M615, Alfine BR-S7000/S700, and road/CX calipers BR-RS785, BR-R785, BR-CX77, BR-R517, and BR-R317. This is the version without cooling fins — if your current setup runs finned Ice-Tech pads and you want to keep that heat management, look at the G04Ti or finned variants instead.