It's time to get new brake pads again. I currently have Hawk HPS pads and love them, no real complaints. I do mainly "spritted" city driving and about 3-5 track days a year. I heard that Hawk's ceramic pads are also quite good, but have no experience with them. Are they better, the same, or worse performance wise than the HPS. The only thing I know is that the ceramics are ultra low in terms of dust, but don't know anything about their stopping power or whether they need to heat up etc. Any advice would be great. Thanks.

 

I have Hawk HP+ pads on all 4's. I can tell you this: they squeel like mad at first then go silent. Leave tons of brake dust. Brake them in the right way. If you don't know how read up on it via google (Its not hard to do).
About ceramic pads, they will fade faster but hold heat better??? If you have the right mix they will last longer, thats what I was told, Could be wrong. Just call tirerack discountire or any auto store and ask about the diff ceramic pads.
If I can do all over I would go with MS pads. Best I have ever used.
-Gil

 

I have the Hawk HPS, they are very low dust compared to the OEM's. Braking feel was phenomenal at first, very linear and controllable, now it's not quite as impressive, although it's quite possible I need to bleed my brakes. I don't have any experience with ceramic brakes. One of our forum vendors DPE has done lots of testing the different pads, you might ask them or search for some of their posts.

 

Ahh... cermaics have less fade. They won't bitehard initially. They won't eat up your rotars.

 

I currently have the Hawk ceramics all around. Not a single, even remote, complaint. Never used the HPS, but I really don't see me switching to anything else after these wear out. Quite, clean, perfect. I heart them.:D

EDIT: Oh and I didn't do anything special when installing/breaking them in. Just swapped them for the OEMs. (No rotor cutting, no brake noise gels, etc)

 

I may switch to the Ceramics next time I change my pads. I currently have HPS and they have performed great so far. Took them to a track day at Streets of Willow and they performed consistently strong without fade the entire time. However, I feel that they dust a tad more than OEM, and right now they always squeal when a light pressure is put on the brakes. Nothing too annoying though.

 

Do you mean they don't bite as hard initially on every stop compared to the HPS, or that they don't bite hard when you first install them but they get better after you have them on for a while?

 

I have them , put on a couple of weeks ago . Honestly , no big deal .........

 

i have been with them for 3 months, they are good, so much better than OEM, and a lot more stopping power increased than OEM, but never had HPS Or HP+; for daily and street driving, its awsome...no loudly squeel but there is a little bit when i do light break;

 

I have the ceramics. I wouldn't go as far as to say that there's less dust. I get quite a bit of dust with mine, but I also have drilled/slotted rotors, so that might contribute. What I can say about the dust is that it's a lighter ash color, and it wipes off without any fuss. With the stock pads, the dust stuck and could get difficult to clean out. No issues with the ceramics - I would recommend.

 

Oh I still get dust... obviously. That's unavoidable. But it's a very reasonable amount and I have no squeals ever. Coming from OEM.... VERY happy with the results. Been about 6 months now.

 

This thread came along at exactly the right time, I was looking at the Hawk ceramics but was looking for some idea of how they performed.
They are now on order.

Thanks