Hawk Brake Pads

cruisin' · Postby **cruisin'** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 9:04 pm

The time has come for a new set of brake pads & after talking to a few club guys I've narrowed it down to either Hawk HPS or HP+ for my mostly spirited road driving, no track work other than the odd day at Deca or so. Can anyone offer advice where a good deal can be had on these at the moment ?

rascal · Postby **rascal** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 2:22 pm

With the strong AUD at the moment, Goodwin racing http://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda-Pe ... /Pads.html work out very good for price, especially compared to Oz vendors..

They also have a US$15 shipping fee for 1 full set Front&Rear pads.

I've bought my first full set off them six months ago, and another set last month (as spare while AUD is strong)
Both delivered to my door within 4 days..

cruisin' · Postby **cruisin'** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:29 am

thanks rascal, yeah I thought the states might be well worthwhile with the current exchange rate - I'll give them a try.

Wivvix · Postby **Wivvix** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 9:42 pm

I would pass on the HPS. I have them and don't think they're all that great.

You need to get quite a lot of heat in them before they really start to grip. If you're mostly doing daily driving, they aren't the best choice.

I personally will be going with EBC green or yellow next time.

Locutus · Postby **Locutus** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 12:10 am

rascal wrote:They also have a US$15 shipping fee for 1 full set Front&Rear pads.

how does that work? the only shipping option the website gives me is USPS $64.70.

d-mag · Postby **d-mag** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 9:50 am

Forget the website, contact Brian directly.

rascal · Postby **rascal** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 9:14 am

Locutus wrote:
rascal wrote:They also have a US$15 shipping fee for 1 full set Front&Rear pads.

how does that work? the only shipping option the website gives me is USPS $64.70.

The USPS only starting offering the option in the last few months, and Goodwin havent as yet updated their website to allow you to select the $15 option.
As d-mag said, contact Brian directly and he'll note it on your order..

cruisin' · Postby **cruisin'** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 12:19 pm

thanks rascal, waiting on a response from Brian now.

Meantime, in light of Wivvix comments, how have you found the HPS pads for street driving over the past 6 months. I assume you are happy with them or I guess you wouldn't have reordered a spare set. Have you had any issues, cold or otherwise.

rascal · Postby **rascal** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 1:48 pm

hi cruisin

Unfortunately I cant give you any feedback on HPS for street driving, as I actually bought Hawk blue pads, as my car is predominantly a track car.
The hawk blue are an awesome track pad, but guess this isn't relevant to you nor are they suited to street driving..

Steampunk · Postby **Steampunk** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 8:05 pm

Wivvix wrote:I would pass on the HPS. I have them and don't think they're all that great.

You need to get quite a lot of heat in them before they really start to grip. If you're mostly doing daily driving, they aren't the best choice.

I personally will be going with EBC green or yellow next time.

I should have checked this thread more often.
I agree with Wivvix, BUT that was before my research found the HPS compound is meant to be very progressive and thus not have an aggressive bite upon initial brake application.
motorkhana/skidpan abuse last month made these pads come to life. Stomping on the brakes to get around cones, and especially stopping in the "garage", the HPS were freakin awesome.
You don't brake as hard on the road and circuit, hence they felt a bit lacklustre on first impression, but I can imagine in an emergency situation, these will pull you up lickety-split.
I also want to try Greenstuff or Yellowstuff next time round, just for comparison.

CPDJ · Postby **CPDJ** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 2:34 am

I have had Hawk HPS pads on my NC for over a month now and wanted to give my impressions.
On first install (on freashly machined disks) they had about 30% stopping power before performing the recommended bedding in procedure.
After the procedure this increased to 60%, and a week later I had seen only gradual improvement. The very progressive nature took some getting used to, especially with the lack of confidence about full bite.
A day of sprints that weekend at Sandown had me wondering if I had made a mistake- my times were good (class lap record) but I was using full pedal travel.
One week later they were up to 80%- however a session at Deca on the skidpan showed the handbrake as useless as a turning aid (the progressive nature of these pads preventing the sudden lock needed).
After one more week the car was transformed- the brakes were still progressive but very solid and I was fully confident.
Another track day at Phillip island and I had no hesitation.
No squeal (a slight coarse sound from the rear on light braking but not in an unpleasant or annoying way), strong braking from cold, very low dust (even on the trake), no fade on the track.
Only negatives are I don't know if handbrake turns are possible and the long embedding, however I would definately get these pads again for road and track use.

/Colin.

Charlie Brown · Postby **Charlie Brown** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 9:12 am

I've used the Hawk HPS, EBC Reds and Yellows pads in my NC many times over the last five years.

I found that the Reds and HPS pad material ripped off the backing plate when I used them on the track. The Yellows are great on the track but wear out very quickly.

If I made up a dust scale from 1 to 10 with stock OEM pads being 1, HPS would rate a 2, Reds a 5 and Yellows a 10. Using Yellows made my rims black in a week of driving.

All three work well on the road for daily driving. Yes the HPS take more to bed in than the EBC's as they don't have the same aggressive bedding material on the face that the EBC's have.

I've just ordered a set of HPS from Brian to try them out again on the road because of the current dollar rate. I swap back to Yellows for track work. I considered trying some EBC Greens from MX5 Parts but the HPS worked out cheaper as I was getting a thermostat at the same time.

Postby **NitroDann** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 4:58 pm

As part of my 1.6L stock hardware challenge..

Im looking at a set of hawk blues.

In a supersprint situation, how many laps are these taking to get up to temp?

Cheers,
Dann

rascal · Postby **rascal** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 7:05 pm

NitroDann wrote:As part of my 1.6L stock hardware challenge..

Im looking at a set of hawk blues.

In a supersprint situation, how many laps are these taking to get up to temp?

Cheers,
Dann

I've used Hawk Blues for over two seasons now, (21 sprints) and the warmup lap prior to the first flying lap is enough time to get heat into them...

jerrah · Postby **jerrah** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 4:54 pm

I've been using HP+ for a few months now, they squeal when cold but warm up by the time the engine temp has come up.

Considerable more bite than the stock pads, I've found them great on the motorkhana/track days, haven't felt the need for any more performance. This is with NA8 discs and calipers.

Edit: They dust like crazy.