5000 mile hawks after ~5000 miles started squealing really loud and the brake pedal would click a few times as I pushed it down. Notice the crack and the chip, can anyone explain this to me? Is this normal?




3 autocrosses and a lot of hard street driving on back roads, I thought the hawks would put up to the abuse

 

Friction surface failure like that might actually be warranted. I'd check it out. That's some pretty hard core breakage for Hawks.

 

Which hawks are they? Generally the more "race-oriented" the shorter the life.

 

thats not good... what type of driving are you doing and material used on pads?

 

I think they were HPS's but I dunno I got them from a local RX7 shop, they were 50 dollars, lol..I drove the **** out of the car as usual, lots of hard high speed (120mph+) braking, 3 autox's, and a little "track time" every weekend. I assumed the hawks were made for this type of driving though, I'll wait and see how these stock ($70) replacements will hold up to the abuse. I didn't install the hawks though a local shop did along with the rotors, maybe that was the problem?

 

This is the problem I have ran into with Hawk pads.. they seem to not take the abuse for long .. they work great for a while but then go out.. 5K on a set of racing pads is preaty good..

this is why I try and tell people to steer away from them and use a high quality ceramic daily pad.. they wont wear as fast and work fine my last car ran some ceramic centric pads and I got 12K on my 3200lb Conquest between drag, hard street driving and auto X.. I plan to use them again on my RX7 when I do the brake upgrade

One other thing.. what kind of rotors were u using.. slotted, dimpled, drilled or blanks?

 

How much pad is left- can't tell from the straight on shots- and what do the rotors look like?
How has the braking performance been up to now?
Brake pads are consumables and it sounds (and looks) like you work them pretty hard.
Heat is the big pad killer, maybe you could do some brake ducting to help the system out.

 

5000 miles? that sounds good to me. you are expected way too much

 

Not bad, but not great.

Lots of factors go into brake pad life, and there's actually still life left in those pads - its just the last 1/4 of it.

But I would ask - what kind of shape are the calipers in? (even braking and brake wear? free pistons?) Were the pads broken in properly? Were the brakes cooled down properly after hard runs? What do the rotors look like? What were the rotors? (as mentioned slotted, drilled, etc.)

Lots of factors go into pad/brake life. I've found more often then not Hawk pads d-e-s-t-r-o-y the rotor long before the pad wears away. I affectionatley call them "machining dies" as opposed to brake pads. And knowing this I'd be weary whether or not they are actually Hawk HPS on there if your rotors are relatively fine.....you *did* say someone else installed them correct?

 

The reason this worried me was that theres at least 30% of life left and the huge crack and chips. I changed them because of the squealing (on and off the brakes) and the loud clicking as I pressed on the pedal. The braking performance was great, on lower speeds it would feel like the rotors were warped but they weren't, they looked fine. The rotors were the stock ones from advance, I'm pretty sure the hawks were installed. I can easily tell the difference b/w the braking performance b/w the two pads. As for the break-in I did a few hard 60-0 stops and a few 30-0s when I first got them. The brake wear looks even and I didn't check the pistons at all. I didn't pay any special attention to cooling the brakes after hard runs, but they would always feel heated after runs due to the lack of braking performance.

At $50 a set I don't think its a bad deal at all for the hawks, I was only checking if this was normal to see if I was getting accelerated wear on the pads because of something else going bad. Do you guys recommend the EBC slotted/dimpled rotors to keep the brakes cooler? My friend got a set and they look great.

 

i have the hawk hps or the HP+ cant remeber. there on my vert, with all the hard driving i do they have held up so well iam very impressed. their matched with slotted and crossed drilled rotors ive taken them apart a few times for inspection and look great

 

If they are HPS, they are not meant to be "track" pads.
Autocross is okay due to the relatively low speeds, but if we're talking consistent triple digits speeds you're trying to slow down from, then that would explain the accelerated wear.
The HP+ is the proper pads for high-speed track use, but I would recommend the Blue's over the "intermediate" HP+.


-Ted

 

racing pads work great with slotted or drilled rotors because they provide extra cooling by allowing air to go through the rotors onto the pad surface.. blank rotors do not.

the cracks sound like over heating..

if there was any vibration then your rotors are warped and just because they are new does not mean that they are not warped in the box..

if u just did a pad slap and did not replace or machine your rotors u will end up with premature pad failure again with these ones..

be happy u got 5K on the pads..

 

I disagree.


-Ted

 

x-drilled, slotted or dimpled rotors only give you that extra 'bling' ricerboy factor.

+ yes, I have some on my FC, but they were cheaper than blanks. They don't do **** for performance though.

 

i have the hp+ and i called hawk about a similar situation and the noise thing ... and they pretty much told me to screw off

 

mine squeek too, is that normal?

 

http://www.hawkperformance.com/performance/hps.php

I have the HPS one. anyone?

 

what do u guys think the slotted and drilled rotors are for NOT FOR SHOW OR BLING.. they are for better ventilation and disipation of heat... if air is comming off the disc better it will keep the pad cooler as well..

I have tried this with an infored gun.. stock brakes were getting much hotter then when I put the drilled rotors on the car.. (not in my rx7)

 

I'd really like to see proof of that...

http://www.scirocco.org/faq/brakes/p...oorrotors.html

Part of the GRM "Brake Primer"...

RX-7 Forum thread...
https://www.rx7club.com/suspension-wheels-tires-brakes-archive-112/cross-drillled-slot-brake-rotor-207758/


-Ted

 

I still stand behind my original test.

 

possible that it is cooler because of less friction, ie, less surface area.

for example. blank = full brake pad contact every time brakes applied...

slotted drilled = atleast 5-10% less area of contact.

but you do have more "heat sink" style heat dissipation with the drilled.

i dont know, i do not see how this can really help cooling TOOO much, if it does its not enough to do it unless really really serious racing circumstances, ie, jgtc, f1, le mans, nascar? lol

 

They could have been cooler because the pads had not yet broken into the new rotor surface, causing less area in contact and less friction.

 

You're rotors are not warped. It takes alot of work to do that. Unless you have a habit of panic stopping then pulling the E-brake, they aren't warped. Most likely there is an uneven deposit of pad material from improper or no bedding.

 

wouldnt drilled rotors help cool... they allow air to pass through the rotor to disipate heat...