Hawk Brake Pads

[98V6 K.I.T.T.]

Well, it's time to get new brakes. After some thinking I've decided to go cheaper and wait for my big brake upgrade, but figured that I would upgrade getting some Hawk Brake pads. They don't appear that much more than a OEM pad and was wondering if they are worth getting especially on a stock GT rotor. American Muscle sells the Hawk HPS pads and was looking at those. What's your opinions?

 

[Jbauer]

they work Excellent- however, from my experience Hawks braking compound doesn't like to be applied to used rotors that haven't been resurfaced.

 

[AdRock]

The hAWKS ARE GREAT PADS.

Get some 60 grit sandpaper and rough up the rotors if you aren't going to resurface them. This will help the new pads seat to the rotors. If you don't resurface or rough up the rotor and just put the pads on the most likely won't seat correctly and will start squeaking big time when stopping.

 

[spederman]

Got hawk HPS on mine, and love them. Very low dust compared to the OEM bremebo pads i was using

 

[the98stang]

I HATE my Hawk pads. They create TONS of brake dust and they make lot's of noise. Honestly I will never by them again. I say OEM pads FTW.

 

[bdcardinal]

I HATE my Hawk pads. They create TONS of brake dust and they make lot's of noise. Honestly I will never by them again. I say OEM pads FTW.

who installed them? were teh rotors new or resurfaced and cleaned properly? was lubricant applied to the specified areas? were they bed in properly?

i had them on my mustang and im putting them on the volvo, although these are HPS. i had no problems with them whatsoever.

 

[the98stang]

who installed them? were teh rotors new or resurfaced and cleaned properly? was lubricant applied to the specified areas? were they bed in properly?

i had them on my mustang and im putting them on the volvo, although these are HPS. i had no problems with them whatsoever.

I installed them. All rotors were resurfaced. I used anti-squeal brake lube on all brakes between the pad/caliper. Brakes were bedded properly as well. I have had several people complain about these brakes as well. I just don't like them.

 

[steve_stang2003]

I HATE my Hawk pads. They create TONS of brake dust and they make lot's of noise. Honestly I will never by them again. I say OEM pads FTW.

+1

OEM or Bendix which if bedded properly work great and have a lifetime warranty....

I hated the Hawks i put in my 2003 GT vert.
Noisy, dusty and no difference in stopping power that I could detect.

All properly installed, rotors resurfaced, anti-squeal, caliper grease on the pins etc.
I've been doing this for 35 years or more....

 

[heyzuess]

I get a ton of dust from my Hawk pads... hate it.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I HATE my Hawk pads. They create TONS of brake dust and they make lot's of noise. Honestly I will never by them again. I say OEM pads FTW.

+1 here.


Before i did my 13" swap, i tried Hawk pads on my GT. I used BRAND New rotors and the pads in the front only. All i got was dust like crazy and noise. I took them out and put the stock Ford pads back in. Honestly, i didn't notice a difference either.

I noticed a huge difference when i did the 13" swap though.


A friend of mine just bought a set of Hawk pads for his Cobra. When trying to install them, they were too thick and could not fit over the front rotor. The pistons were pressed in all the way but they wouldn't fit. He had to get another set of pads from hawk to put on...and this time they fit.

 

[Roos85]

I hear the hawk pads sucks my self. Just go OEM if your stock anyways. The stock brakes work fine and dont create alot of dust

 

[98V6 K.I.T.T.]

Hum....seems like a toss up, maybe I will just stick to an OEM brake pad until I get my brake kit. I'm not fully convinced that the hawk pads are as bad as you are saying, but I'm more so not wanting to deal with changing pads twice if I feel the same way. I am however going to paint my calipers...so, I guess it wont be 100% stock afterwards.

 

[Conechaser]

I'm betting that everyone who are saying Hawk pads dust way too much were using HP+ and not HPS. I've used Hawk products for many years (both street and race pads) and they've always worked well for me.