HPS is probably one of the worst pad I used, it doesn't work when it rains. It also doesn't stop as well as the OEM stock pads per my datalogger. If you love them, more power to you. I personally like the carbotechs for track use.

 

Read the Brake FAQ!

 

very very accurate..

but i would not park them near a track or an autox!

not aimed at you jason.. but for those that have not been reading the whole thread..

beers

 

I definitely like the HPS better than the OEM pads. The HPS pads give a stronger initial bite & do not fad after sessions of aggressive driving on tracks.

I have recently switched over to the Hawk Ceremic pads & I am quite disappointed with them. The pads still stop the car consistently without fad on the track, but I miss the strong bite of the HPS. I thought the ceremics will perform similarly to the HPS with less dust, but it did so by giving up strong initial bite. I am thinking about going to the Racing Brake ET800 for my next track event.

 

Hmm...I'm using Hawk HPS but feel that it's not as good as OEM.

On track:
When I was on OEM I was able to hit the brake at 150m at 185km/h slow down enough to turn into corner.

When on HPS, hit the brake at 150m at 195km/h (ya, i ran slightly faster now) but CAN'T slow down enough for the corner and have to trail brake a bit and turn in slightly later.

 

I can't really say if the OEM pads bite better (street) as I rarely jumped on them due to squeal. I've hit the Hawk Ceramics much harder and they're nearly silent and almost dust free. I did bed them in properly, on new Racing Brake Sport rotors, which is a must. Very satisfied with them.

I would expect the OEM or Hawk HPS are better for occasional track/autox use.

 

I have a Mazda 2011 RX8 R3. I'm deciding whether to get the stock front & rear brake pads OR get the hawk high performance 5.0 street pads.

Please advise? I'm an aggressive and occasionally go for an autocross.

 

I am an HPS fan.

 

HPS is for street, HPS=high performance street. HP plus is for Autocross. Hawk black is for HPDS, it don't stop at low temp, Hawk blue is for racing.
I out break Porsche using Hawk Black, I advice you paint your stock rim to black when using Hawk black.

 

I have run a few different sets of pads on my rx7 which eats brakes. I have the upgraded 99 spec brakes as well.


I thought Hawk HPS were complete and utter garbage. I swapped those very quick.


Most stock pads are great for the street, run them if you don't heat your brakes up.


I have run ebc yellowstuff and bluestuff and they seem to be good pads. The issue I have is the yellowstuff does fade quickly if you have a fast car, I run 400WHP. The bluestuff are much better but these pads bite pretty damn well, which sometimes locks up the wheels a little too easy with RE-11 sport tires.


Endless MX72 are pretty good pads as a buddy of mine is running those.


One pad that is both inexpensive and intrigues me in trying is the carbon ceramic power stop. Z26 formulation.


I have Cmax duralast on the car right now which are ceramic, the person before me put them on the car and the car has little initial bite, but they do work well when cold and a little heat into them where they come a live a little bit. I have not done anything above a little heat though. They definitely feel dead in comparison to the endless and ebc pads above.


Keep in mind that bite and tire grip need to be matched well. higher friction levels like higher grip tires.

 

I tried a set of Hawk HPS and couldn't come up with a compelling reason to use them over OEM. I am currently running Hawk Street 5.0 as my street pads when my street rotors are installed. They are better than HPS, but not much better than OEM, if any.

Otherwise, I use Carbotech 1521 pads when my track rotors are on, but I am driving on the street. I use Carbotech XP10F and XP8R on the track. I find Carbotech to be far superior to Hawk in every regard, except for price.

 

Has anybody tried those Power stop z26 since this last post? A friend of mine used their track day pad on a C7 Z51 and was pretty pleased, whereas both he and I were disappointed by the EBC blue stuff on the Z51 (I know, very different car so not comparable...). I am doing a tune up on a newly acquired 2004 RX-8, I'd like to put good but not too expensive pads for an upcoming track day - intermediate group (the car is being used as a daily driver as well and not planning on changing pads back and forth).