Welcome to the forum.
Nothing I've heard says that the North American market has changed pad compound. I have 41K miles and 8mm of pad thickness, still; never a trace of noise or shudder. It's my belief that the great majority of Stingers do not have a shuddering brake, or pad deposit on the rotors problem. That said, it is apparently a crap shoot whether you get shudder/deposits or not: I don't know why. Owners swear that their driving style can't be to blame. But braking is a subjective business, so, who knows? Earlier today I had a multi-point inspection done during an oil change and the brakes are fine. I think it's mostly my driving style. In the event that you do have shuddering brakes you can rebed the pads and get warranty maintenance done. One of our group has reminded us just today that over 19K miles he's had his rotors replaced under warranty FOUR times (and he's flat out of patience). It does seem that the most consistent fix is to get aftermarket pads before your rotors are trashed (cementite, i.e. different hardness levels across the face of the rotor): bed them properly and go. A harder pad will stop the deposits from forming on the rotor and causing shudder. I haven't heard of anyone within the 12K miles brake warranty losing the warranty by going with aftermarket pads. You would have to eat the expense (not large) by supplying your own aftermarket pads: Kia has never, to my knowledge, addressed the shuddering issue by replacing pads, only turning/replacing rotors.
