Hawk Blues
 

Anyone running them with stock rotors? I have HP+ right now, and am thinking about taking the next step for track days.....

those are track only pad, it will not stop when cold, and it eat you rotor.

and besides being totally unacceptable for street use they'll totally destroy your wheel finish too

You may want to consider the Hawk Black pad, which is between HP+ and Blue, they'll squeal and dust like a SOB on the street though, I ran them on a BMW E36 M3 many years ago

otherwise look at the Hawk HT10 if you don't object to swapping them in/out with your street pads when you go to the track.

ya when you use black and blue, those are not brake dust, it call brake sparks. you have to clean it off right away or it will never come off.

Just curious - What types of tracking are you doing that the HP+ isn't good enough? I've done track days at VIR (easy on brakes) and Summit Point/Shenandoah (tough on brakes). I had stock brakes/pads at both, but at Shenandoah I got serious brake fade after about the 8th lap, though that might have been due to having the stock DOT-3 fluid at the time.

maybe it will just take someone else hopping in your car and lapping several seconds faster than yourself to fully understand the gravity of the situation ... :grouphug:

running road america, coming down into 12 and 5 i would like a little more stopping power.

I dont mind switching them out once I get to the track, but if the HT-10 is a better compromise then I might look into those

If you can get by with stock pads at VIR then you are not using enough brakes. Point by please.

Paul - correct me if I'm wrong...I think you've only done VIR-N. North course isn't that hard on brakes, at least not when compared to some of the other configurations. VIR-S is quite hard on brakes, significantly more so than the North course. I assume you'll be doing VIR Grand East w/ MazdaDrivers in June (I'll be there...). That should be quite a bit harder on brakes, as it incorporates most of the braking zones of the South course.

As for the original topic, I echo the commentary on Hawk blues. I've seen Hawk blue brake dust rust to my wheels overnight. I've also driven them on the street, and it was frightening. They REALLY don't work cold.

Sorry for the brief thread hijack... See you at VIR in June. Can't wait.

Hey Tom - Yes, VIR-N only (so far) and I'll be doing the full course in June (see you there). :) What brake pads are you using now? I'm not sure how much I have left on the OE pads, so I may switch before June. I'll probably go with HPS next, though the ceramics sound interesting too (ponder ponder).

I'm running Carbotech XP-8 pads in the front and OEM in the rear. The XP-8 is a good entry level track pad, and it's mild enough to drive on the street to and from the event, unlike the Hawk Blues in the thread title. The XP-8's make a hellacious racket on the street, but they stop the car just fine.

I just put the OEM front pads back on yesterday for an autox this weekend (I don't drive my car much...) and they looked good after 2 schools.

I am a firm believer in track pads for the track. For me, there is no excuse. It's so easy to swap the front pads on this car - it takes longer to jack the car up than it does to change pads. The only car I ever tracked with street pads was my old Eclipse GSX, and that was my very first event. I faded the crap out of those brakes and vowed never again to run street pads. Track pads may be a little overkill on a stockish street car on street tires, but they work VERY well for me. On track, you can never have too much brake.

Blue - are you getting fade with the HP+ pads? If so, the next level pad is prob a good idea. If you are not getting fade, I can't imagine the HP+ offering inadequate braking force for HPDE level driving.

I havent had any issues with fade, but I would be interested in being able to brake harder and later, esp for the hard turns from flat out