Hawk Brake Pads

what are your opinions on these?

i need to replace my fronts and gm quoted me like 150 for ac delco ones! and thats with a staff discount!

i can get the hawk ones for like a 100 bux..

how are these for stopping and brake dust?

Are these the ones advertized on TV - I think they are a Canadian Tire special.

Naw, Hawk pads are mostly race pads. I believe they make one street compound but the rest are just too much for street use. They make lots of dust and noise and destroy rotors. The street ones are a little more aggressive than other stock parts, but yes, they make a little more noise and dust, and will wear rotors more. Id sooner give bendix's performance pads a try for the street. Dont get me wrong, the hawks are not bad, but not great for street use.

wow.. thanks for the advice!

raybestos is what i use. i think it was about 80 or soemthign at lordco with a 30% discount. they have two or three different ones though. i think i got the better ones.

Raybestos are pure, 100% ****. Not trying to be an ass, but they are awful. I am a mechanic and we started having major problems with raybestos. Linings cracking and un-bonding on almost all our customers vehicles. Serious safety concern. As if that wasnt bad enough they are a hard compound that eats rotors and squeaks. Thats a LOT of problems to just pass off. We have been using bendix for the last year or so and they are for the most part very good. Quiet, good stopping power, and easy on rotors. You can put them into melt down if you rag on them too hard..... or at least I did once having fun in the corners in my badly underbraked camaro :D . Never heard of anyone else doing it though.

i am a mechanic also and we use raybestos

its the cheap ones that cause probs. we use the higher grade ones and never had a problem.

I have the Hawk "H" pads ($75 from Mopac;)) and so far I like them. Very little dust. I put them on the car right after 3months of not driving it, so I can't say if they improved the braking performance....I'd buy them again

Andy

yeah the lordco guy told me not to get the cheaper one, used the better one for over a year and a half no problems, put on about 50k kms:D

Not sure what brakes I have on my hawk? All I can say is no noise and great stopping power. :)

Performance Friction Z rated brake pads on my car very satisfied.

Amit Eagle Ridge G.M. told me that the AC delco ones are crap and are extremely noisy,and will no longer put them on F-Bodys.

I use Hawk HPS pads.. They dust as much, or even more than stock pads. I think they are a step up from stock.


The next step up for the street are Hawk HP+ pads.. I believe this the same pad compound GM uses on the Z06's from the factory.

My next upgrade, I plan on putting C5 front brakes up with HP+ Z06 pads and perhaps Hawk HPS pads out back.


Alot of people like putting stock or less agressive pads out back on the LS1's, since the back brakes are huge and there's tons of rear brake bias from the factory.


Then there are the race pads.. Some roadracers use Hawk Blue's, but they relatively tear up your rotors and leave metal dust behind.. and if you don't clean it off right away, it'll imbed into your body panels and the dust rusts! :eek:

I ran Hawk HPS+ and Performance Friction Carbon Metallics on the firebird. The Hawks dusted WAY more then the PFZs, and the PFZs dusted worse then stock. Both were excellent pads considering the weak brake system that LT1 f-bodies are cursed with, but the Hawks did chew the rotors.

Ken, are you planning on road racing your car? If so I would leapfrog the C5 brakes and go bigger. The C5s are barely adequete with upgraded pads, ducts, and lines and vettes weigh in at 3150-3250lbs.

I'm planning nothing more than open track days on street tire at first, but in reality its spends 99% of its time on the street. So I think the C5 brakes would be plenty for my app.. I've heard the C5 brakes will satisfy most people's needs, with ducts and a nice race pad and spare rotors..


I'd love the big brake kits, but they cost $3000, and rotors are like what, $300 each? Then again, you won't be chewing thru rotors and pads though..


So I'm going to stick with the plan of C5 front brakes. I guess time will tell if I should ahve heeded your advice or not.. :)


But first, I beleive the driver training they give at PIR with Team Continental was it? requires me to have a rollbar in my car, since i have a removable roof (T-Tops)




Originally posted by Draco
I ran Hawk HPS+ and Performance Friction Carbon Metallics on the firebird. The Hawks dusted WAY more then the PFZs, and the PFZs dusted worse then stock. Both were excellent pads considering the weak brake system that LT1 f-bodies are cursed with, but the Hawks did chew the rotors.

Ken, are you planning on road racing your car? If so I would leapfrog the C5 brakes and go bigger. The C5s are barely adequete with upgraded pads, ducts, and lines and vettes weigh in at 3150-3250lbs.

Originally posted by BPS
Are these the ones advertized on TV - I think they are a Canadian Tire special.

Those are Munroe's. I just bought some for all 4 corners. ~83 plus tax I think is what the total was. What a deal. If they are crap, oh well... they were cheap. I have Raybestos Sure Stops right now. They seem to be OK, and they only fade when I stop HARD from a good clip.

thanks for the input fellas.


Amit Eagle Ridge G.M. told me that the AC delco ones are crap and are extremely noisy,and will no longer put them on F-Bodys.

what pad would you recommend then? the stock pads havent given me any problems with noise or dust..

I dont know enough to recommend any. I ordered the OEM ones for my car they are going to take a while to get and im sure will cost me a arm and a leg.

what about ceramic pads ?

The Performance Friction pads have worked very well for me in Improved Production roadracing in the last two years. Easy on rotors (relative to Hawk 'Blue' anyways) and almost no dust. I'll be trying them this summer on my much faster GT1 '82 TA and we'll see if they stand up to real abuse. I have Delco on the 'Hawk still, and they seem very good so far (30,000km) with 'spirited' use ;)