So I had my brakes done back in January, it had been slowly leaking fluid for a while but I had just checked it whenever I stopped and kept the resi filled, then one day the pedal just went to the floor. I took it to the local brake place to let them deal with it. The seals in both my rear calipers were squirting fluid when the pedal was pushed.

Anyway, I got rebuilt calipers, already had stainless lines. The rotors were on their last turn so I went ahead and got new Brembo blanks along with Hawk HP+ pads for all the wheels. I chose the HP+ because I had HPS on my old Miata and loved them, and I could step up to HP+ for the same price.

Ever since I got everything installed, my car stops fine but sounds like a train! I searched a while back and found a thread with someone else having the same setup (Brembo blanks and HP+) and his did this too, but no one could figure out why. I took it back to the brake place thinking they had messed something up (they didn't hook my e-brake back up to the rear calipers after all) and they checked it out again and said it was because of the brake compound.

Is it really just the pads? They are supposed to be street/autox/track day type pads, but other cars at the tracks don't sound like this. It is way louder than my catless 3" single exhaust for comparison. After looking over my brake system the only things I could find that aren't how they should be is the brake place overfilled my reservoir, it is filled almost to the cap instead of to the fill line, and part of the rubber seal under the cap tore off. Could these have something to do with the noise?

It seems to be coming mostly from the front brakes. I tried using the ebrake to slow to a stop from about 5 mph and the noise doesn't come up, but if I use the pedal at those speeds it does.

 

I don't have any personal experience, but from what I've heard and read, I guess it just comes with the territory.

 

HP+ are some of the worst around from a noise/dust standpoint. They quiet down once they get some heat in them, but that probably won't happen on the street. If its only a street car, switch to HPS's.

 

Yeah its mostly street, I got them over the HPS because I plan on starting some autox this year, but for the noise its not worth it. I figured there would be a little noise but this is ridiculous.

 

You don't need special pads to autocross as the brakes don't get hot enough. Street pads work just fine.

 

Try removing the pads and scuffing them up as well as the rotors. Then go out and bed them in again....hard. How did you bed them in initially? If you just went crusing around that is probably your problem.


My HP+ pads are quite liveable.. I have been very suprised as I was expecting the worst. I get a little squeal under 10 MPH, and they dusted a lot the first track day I had them out, but the dusting has gone down quite a bit since.

 

Wait till you see how long your brand new Brembo blank last.

Did you think they were joking when they say

Warning! Due to the dramatic friction levels produced by this product to achieve “Race Level” braking, rotor wear, noise, dust and pad life may be affected. The HP Plus compound is perfect for street driven cars that are used for HPDE and Time Trial track events.

Welcome to the reality that 'racing parts' don't belong on the street. Now someone will post up tell us how streetable his HP+ brake are, along with his 6-puck unsprung clutch and lightweight aluminum flywheel.

Edit: See above-told you so!

 

I wasn't expecting these pads to be this good on the street... it just happened that way. I'll take a picture of my rotors if you want.. 6 track days and almost 2000 street miles. They look great!

Unsprung clutches are rough.. I agree.

 

I bedded them in per hawk's instructions, but who knows what the guys at the non-ebrake-connecting shop did with them before I got it back. I'll try scuffing them up and rebedding them tomorrow, hopefully it'll help.

I knew when getting them that they would dust and wear the rotors more, and that's fine, just the noise bothers me (and everyone in a one block area from where I am braking ). I took "The HP Plus compound is perfect for street driven cars that are used for HPDE and Time Trial track events." to mean that while they will hold up to the occasional track day, they will be, well, "perfect for street driven cars".

 

I think the scuff/rebed is the right thing to do. I've used HP+ in the past for light duty track work (when I was first learning) and drove them hundreds of miles to and from the track. They were dusty, but not noisy.

 

I took it out to a backroad I know of with a 55 mph speed limit to rebed them today. I used this place's bedding method http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm Somehow, at 2 pm on a Wednesday afternoon, when everyone should be in school/at work, some *** got behind me after my 4th near-stop. Even though there is a designated passing lane on that road he refused to pass me, and just stayed on my butt the whole way (couple miles before any turn-offs). So I only got them half re-bedded and will have to re-re-bed them tonight I guess, when there is nobody on that road at all.

Long story short, even only being able to half re-bed them did wonders. Such a huge improvement in noise. It used to be so loud all the way coming up to a stop so I used a lot of engine braking. With the half re-bed it still squeals some from about 3-0, but is nice and quiet from 40 or whatever to 3ish. Hopefully getting all the passes in tonight will fix the last couple feet and I won't have to buy new pads (again).

 

I've had hp+ for a year now, and 7 track days (its my daily driver). It made my rotor which was a little bit warped and you can feel the curves to a point where if you see my rotor now, its smooth and flat.....

The noise is not that loud, atleast not for me. The braking power is pretty average when cold, but when warmed up, if you dont have grippy tires, then you are locking them up.

Bedding in pads is always crucial.