I have tried a bunch of stuff to get my brakes to bite better, not fade, and not burn up the pads. I found that my pads were glazing and I was wasting half the pad. I finally found a great combo that works as long as I don't ride the brakes on long or steep downhill sections and use a on/off brake stroke. The brakes are 2 piston Shimano Saints, rotors are Shimano Ice tech 203/180mm, and Shimano saint finned resin pads. I went back to resin as they bite better without the warmup and don't glaze as much, the tradeoff is they don't last as long as metallic. The other trick is I get new rotors ever other set of pads, a little excessive but I can really tell a difference.
I ride about 3k miles a year for exercise since my bad knees can only handle a bike for exercise. I usually only go through one set of pads in that 3k!
Amazon.com : Shimano H03A Resin Disc Brake Pads and Spring with Fins : Sports & Outdoors