stock pads are fine up front and dont bother putting anything else in as its just not worth it oh and u could get done by your insurance stock pads unless you have big brakes
Stock OE pads on the rear for road use, always. Anything more is a total waste of money.
However, there is value is some decent (i.e NOT EBC) fast road front pads. At the risk of starting to sound like a Ferodo fanboy, I fitted some DS Performance pads to my old car (heavy diesel which in my opinion was under-braked). Unlike DS2500/DS3000 these are completely legal and type approved for road use. They behave like normal pads when cold but warm up very quickly and have quite a bit more bite when heated up.
They were an excellent investment and improved the braking significantly, they had real bite on OE disks and were nice and progressive. They also saved me from injury and a large insurance claim after an emergency stop (through no fault of my own!) on the motorway - I'm convinced that the OE pads would've taken a few more metres to stop - space I didnt have at 70(ish)mph. They also weren't as dusty as the OE pads. Woth noting this was a Ford, not a VW.
The only thing to add is that I can get Ferodo pads at trade price plus a discount, so they were a lot cheaper for me than even OE pads which helped the decision. I'm not one for wasting money on stuff I dont need (i.e. huge brakes for road use) but IMHO if better pads cost about the same and are legal, why not?
From a safety stand point, better, legal pads surely aren't going to hurt?