In which case, no, they do not wear faster than standard steel rotors. They are more wear resistant and extremely costly. IIRC, Porsche has (had?) a ceramic brake system that was an $8,000 option. Major weight reduction potential though. Where was your dad looking at these rotors?
Brembo was going to bring carbon composite ceramic brake rotors to mainstream, but I haven't heard much since. Guess you could say I've been out of the automotive loop for the past few years.
A full ceramic brake kit would last a lot longer than normal brakes. Of course, they only come on supercars, and it would cost probably twice as much as your car's worth to get them custom made (if it's even possible). A friend of mine was doing some engineering consulting/design work with Ferrari and GM. They almost put the full ceramic brakes on the new Corvette - and they were estimated to last 100,000 miles. They pulled out of it at the last minute because of costing (typical, huh?).
If you just got ceramic brake pads from a parts store they would cost about twice as much and would give you little to no brake dust and no squeeking. They will last as longer as a normal semi-metallic pad. GNO said they would wear rotors faster? That is not true - they are gentler on rotors. I have a second job at a car repair shop and know this for a fact. Here's a Tire Rack article about it: http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/tech/why_ceramic_brake_pads.html
I stand corrected. Traditionally, wear resistant pads caused more wear on the rotors. Apparently that doesn't apply to ceramic pads. Poor assumption on my part.
