Performance Brake Pads

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I just got a set of brembo sport pads (rebadged ferodo)
dusty as heck but stop great, I like them slightly more than the Hawk HPS pads I had before, better initial bite.
I have heard the ultimate street pad is the Carbotech Bobcat, awesome bite coupled with low dust and noise, you pay for it though.
 
 
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Thanks for all the input guys. I definately have plenty to work with now to do my homework. I emailed Hawk about the HPS pads and was suprised because they said the ceramics were better on heavier cars which my intrepid is. Guess I'll take a look at the other mentioned brands. Here is their reply. I asked them which pad had superior braking capabilities, HPS or Ceramic...

I am sorry but we do not have any data on the difference in stopping distance for the HPS and ceramic pads. As for a difference in general overall stopping power it will vary depending on the weight of the car. The heavier car will stop better with the ceramic and a lighter car will work better with the HPS. The other difference is that the ceramic produce less dust than the HPS. I hope this helps.

Thank You,

Todd Miller
Product Specialist
Wellman Products Group/Hawk Performance
6180 Cochran Road, Solon, Ohio 44139
Office 440.528.3216
Fax 440.435.2790
 
I've been using the Bendix CE ceramic pads with Centric premium rotors. Very happy with the performance. My Tribute had very good brakes from the factory (except for the cheap, warpy rotors).

The Bendix/Centric combo is reasonably priced, around $45-50 for the pads and the rotors around $50.
 
If Hawk doesn't have any data on stopping distances, I would recommend them for tricycles only. I'm sure Todd meant they don't have any data that they will publish.
What is a heavy car & light car?
How is the pad formulation spec affected by vehicle weight?
 
Originally Posted By: benjamming
If Hawk doesn't have any data on stopping distances, I would recommend them for tricycles only. I'm sure Todd meant they don't have any data that they will publish.
What is a heavy car & light car?
How is the pad formulation spec affected by vehicle weight?

I think they said correctly, that heavy car is better with ceramic, because the material is very hard, so when you stomp on the brake, it will brake until you lock your tires (very linear) and not shedding dust like HPS. But not everyone like to drive and brake with heavy foot.
Frequent heavy braking may give HPS advantage on dissipating the heat fast (through dusting) compared to ceramics.

Stopping data is not easy to be found for apple to apple comparison, because most of the time I find the limit is the tire rather than the pad itself and nowadays car equipped with ABS that have various calibration.
 
Originally Posted By: kr_bitog
Originally Posted By: Char Baby

I guess that high performance brake pads aren't for my type of driving. Deffinately not for normal driving. I need the brakes to feel the same from the first stop to the last stop. I don't do repeated hard stops even though I may do stop & go driving. The brakes that I use on my vehicles are usually the normal factory replacement type pads/rotors/shoes or I'll upgrade to ceramic which I like very much.


I bet you will love Akebono ProACT with your driving style.
It is ceramic OEM formula, very less dust, very quiet and great initial bite.


You know it! I put Akebono Pro Act from TheTireRack w/Brembo rotors on my wifes Lexus and we love em. I put a combo of Bendix and Raybestos Ceramic(F/R)from Rock Auto w/ Centric Rotors on my Altima and love em. I'll be doing the same thing for my daughters Mazda3(not sure which combo I'll be using yet!)
 
Originally Posted By: kr_bitog
Originally Posted By: AdRock
Cryo treating them hardens them big time. Also, makes them less likely to warp.

I had Hawk Racing pads and some cryo slotted rotors on my last car. They worked great together. I even tried to warp them a few times just to see if I could. Wasn't able to warp them. Also, after almost a year the rotors sill looked as if they had just been turned. Pretty much no wear.

check out frozenrotors.com. That's where the ones I had came from.


I think your racing pads shed a lot of dust, so the rotor did not warp. My experience with cryo rotor and ceramic pad, is otherwise, there is one time my pad overheated and the rotor warp. I turned the rotor, but the noise is unbearable like braking on sandpaper, and when the rotor heated up the vibration is coming back.

Currently I use Akebono ACT with OEM rotor, so far good braking, only quirk is the pad quite grabby when it is cold, so need to brake softly.


They did dust quite a bit but they grabbed great and never faded. The rotors were stocker OEM's. I was testing a package that a guy was thinking about selling. He worked at a Hyundai dealer as a parts guy. He would get rotors out of stock, send them to frozen rotos and have them slotted and cryo treated. Then sell them, stainless brake lines, and the Hawk pads as a kit.

2 different times I got the brakes extyremely hot. Then pulled into a carwash and sprayed down the rotors. They never warped. I was surprised to say the least. I also did quite a bit of racing and never managed to warp them. That's just my experience though.
 
Originally Posted By: tenderloin
The link I posted for Amazon... selling Performance Friction pads FRONT AND REAR for $44.00 Total..DELIVERED is IMO a no brainer.

Great brakes. Great price


I tried to get a set of front Performance Friction pads from Amazon for '04 S2000 and '00 E430, but they don't have it for my cars. Great brakes at great price, but no applications for my cars
mad.gif
 
Originally Posted By: AdRock

They did dust quite a bit but they grabbed great and never faded. The rotors were stocker OEM's. I was testing a package that a guy was thinking about selling. He worked at a Hyundai dealer as a parts guy. He would get rotors out of stock, send them to frozen rotos and have them slotted and cryo treated. Then sell them, stainless brake lines, and the Hawk pads as a kit.

2 different times I got the brakes extyremely hot. Then pulled into a carwash and sprayed down the rotors. They never warped. I was surprised to say the least. I also did quite a bit of racing and never managed to warp them. That's just my experience though.


Maybe the OEM Hyundai rotor is better than Powerslot rotor.
 
I have Hawk HPS pads on my current car and also had them on my previous car. I have to say they're fantastic! Good feel, excellent modulation, outstanding power and low dust. Good rotor prep or new rotors with a non-directional finish keeps unwanted noises away. Of course I bed my pads in properely and bleed the brakes every 2-3 yrs with DOT4.
 
Originally Posted By: AdRock
kr_bitog said:
AdRock said:
2 different times I got the brakes extyremely hot. Then pulled into a carwash and sprayed down the rotors. They never warped. I was surprised to say the least. I also did quite a bit of racing and never managed to warp them. That's just my experience though.


I'm glad someone noticed that detail!

That's because rotors are almost never really 'warped'. They just get pad deposits welded into their surface.

http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_warped_brakedisk.shtml

Another caveat is the word 'ceramic'. It is a marketing term that is severely over used. So be cautious about buying anything labeled 'ceramic' until you know what it really is.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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HOw could Hawk have data for stopping distances?
All cars, parts like tires, and conditions, are different.

It seems that their ceramics work better hot, by their description. The very good Hawk HPS must be somewhat better cold/warm.
I can't see why any composition is better for heavier or lighter cars. That is not the issue. The pads rating is, and maybe they are 'talking down' to you, instead of giving hard data like pad material specs.
 
For Hawk to claim that one set of pads is better for heavy cars should, no - must, be based upon data. They won't have data for every possible scenario but they better have some scientifically valid data. I assume the customer service dude (or dudette) didn't really mean exactly what they said. However, taking them for their word means they produce a consumer product w/o testing. I simply refuse to believe that. Nit picking if you will.
 
Originally Posted By: cos
I have Hawk HPS pads on my current car and also had them on my previous car. I have to say they're fantastic! Good feel, excellent modulation, outstanding power and low dust. Good rotor prep or new rotors with a non-directional finish keeps unwanted noises away. Of course I bed my pads in properely and bleed the brakes every 2-3 yrs with DOT4.


Same here, and mine are even quiet with the ATE "elliptical groove" rotors I am using because Brembo ceased production of their excellent blank rotors for my marque.
Ditto on the bed-in, and I flush the whole system out every 1-2 years with ATE Blue/Gold (Type 200), or Motul RBF 600.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8

I'm glad someone noticed that detail!

That's because rotors are almost never really 'warped'. They just get pad deposits welded into their surface.

http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_warped_brakedisk.shtml

Another caveat is the word 'ceramic'. It is a marketing term that is severely over used. So be cautious about buying anything labeled 'ceramic' until you know what it really is.


I beg to differ, the disc rotor runout can be caused by contamination or warping.

Here some good write-up on it:
Disc Rotor Warping
 
yes it can.

sorry, but my opinion is based on the gazillions of rotors turned in our family machine shop. Not Internet smarts.

Been years now since we've seen a really warped rotor, especially hat style. And we turn dozens on a slow week!

Wikipedia is partially correct, but their data is off the mark.
 
I haven't tried everything available by any means.

But if noise and dust are no problem.

Carbotech AX6 compound works very well cold, has great fade resistance, and better friction (low pedal effort) than anything else I tried.
Their characteristics did not change any detectable amount from cold to smoking hot.

I paired them with Raybestos Premium rotors on my Solstice GXP.

Alas the pads and rotors are now on the shelf with little wear.
I shelved them due to them squeaking like the brakes on an old school bus...really.

But man did this combo stop !!
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
yes it can.

sorry, but my opinion is based on the gazillions of rotors turned in our family machine shop. Not Internet smarts.

Been years now since we've seen a really warped rotor, especially hat style. And we turn dozens on a slow week!

Wikipedia is partially correct, but their data is off the mark.



it is very difficult to check the warpage by just looking at it without measuring the runout using dial indicator.
The complicated part is, most of the time the measurement is done when the rotor is cold, and in certain circumstance the runout go out of spec when the rotor is hot.
 
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