TPDNRX7

Installed Hawk HP Plus pads in 10k ago and these pads have a serious problem of squealing on short stops. It has gotten so bad that it is deafening. To solve the problem I cleaned, replaced all minor brake hardware, and used the squeal shims that were on the new Hawks. Put anti squeal compound on the pistons. Are the Hawks supposed to do this?

DamonB

The HP+ are known for it. I just installed my fourth set last week. Sets one and two were quiet except for a little squeaking during the last few feet of the stop. Set three was the same way but after worn halfway began squeeling like crazy; very loud at all speeds. Set four is in now and they are quiet.

I tried hardware, cleaning rotors, anti-squeel grease etc on the noisy set. None of it worked.

redrotorR1

Ditto. Some sets are just plain loud. I've thought about scrubbing down the rotors and re-bedding them in ... but I always forget to do that when I start working on the car.

poor college student

mine squeak like a mother. doesn't bother me anymore. When it does get annoying, i brake late and i brake hard, they tend to not squeal when i do that.

Gene

iTrader: (1)

I think it's because you're not getting them into their heat range on the street. I've been using some panther plus pads because i was too lazy to change to normal pads after my last track event and they're super noisy because they're cold. They don't squeal on the track when they're nice and hot.

clayne

Moly.

Moly.

Moly.

Check the TYPE and AMOUNT of brake backing plate lubricate you are using. If you are pounding the brakes day in day out you may already have trashed the lubricant. The entire point of it is to prevent the backing plate from vibrating back and forth against the pad - producing a very annoying high pitched sound.

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

HP plus are street pads... should be no heat range issues. i'd just buy something else... no excuse for that.

rynberg

My HP+ pads squealed very loudly but only under very light braking. Under normal/hard braking, they were silent.

Between that and the heavy dusting, I switched to HPS pads. They don't grip as hard as the HP+ but they are very good street pads. They don't hold up very well on the road race course though. It's all about compromise....

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

You'll have trouble finding ANY pad that holds up to roadracing conditions, and is a livable street pad... you've gotta bite the bullet and have two sets....

For the street, low dust, zero noise are my only concerns...

poor college student

i thought hps pads were hp's street pads...?

TPDNRX7

Bullshit......

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

Hawk's real track pads are blue's and black's... i'm pretty sure the others are street/auto-x... somebody correct me if i'm full of it :-)

clayne

TPDN,

Oh is it now?

Why don't you let me know why...

rynberg

Nope, you're right.

The HPS are street pads, the HP+ are street/auto-x pads, the Blues/Blacks are hard-core track pads and shouldn't be used on the street.

PVerdieck

I had HP+ pads. After about 5K miles, they started squealing. By then I was sick of the dust and I went to EBC greenstuffs.

Houdini

iTrader: (3)

I have the HP+ for about 8 months - 10k miles and they're squeeling now. I'll probably try pulling them and using this stuff my brother bought for his Corrado to fix the same problem. The stuff he got, you coat the back of the pad with it, and then let it air dry. He said it worked good. Will let you know once I get to it one of these months.

I do like the grip. The guy before me had the EBC greens and they were aweful. I ate through half of it in one track day and I wasn't even pushing it very hard. When I pulled them, they were cracked down the middle.

DamonB

Greens will not live on the track, they are street use only.

Houdini

iTrader: (3)

What are they good for? They don't grab very well and the don't last on the track. It was night and day difference when I put in the HP+ pads.

DamonB

EBC greens are roughly similar to Hawk HPS. Both are meant for street driving and some autox, but on a road course both will die.

It's also possible your greens were glazed from being overheated, that takes much of the initial "bite" out of any pad.

Houdini

iTrader: (3)

well, that is where I use my car. Daily driver and AutoX. I only did one track day for fun last year. The EBCs were on the car when I bought it and they were almost new along with the cross-drilled and slotted rotors. I thought they gripped OK when I first got the car, but after installing the HP+ on the car, I realized the EBCs were crap in comparison. I always thought EBCs were good brakes so I was really disappointed that they faired so poorly against the cheaper Hawks. I don't think they were ever overheated since I never really pushed the car much in braking and the rotors are cross-drilled.

DamonB

Regardless of the type of rotor, if the friction material of the pad overheats you still have problems. Pads don't get cooled and so they must be designed to operate within particular temperature windows.

The problem is that true race pads which can survive the heat are terrible when they are cold; they won't bite until they get hot. On the other hand a pad that bites when cold can't survive race type temps. So far nobody has been able to build anything that lets us have our cake and eat it too. The Hawk HP+ is still not a real track pad, though it can survive for a while. It takes a lot more pedal pressure once they start getting hot.

Houdini

iTrader: (3)

Yes, you are correct. But having drilled rotors does keep the heat of the overall system down. The rotors will cool off a little quicker, and in turn, they will transfer less heat back to the pads.

For me, the EBCs never gripped well cold or hot, relatively speaking of course. I'm not trying to be a commercial for Hawk pads, but they gripped well in both conditions. Actually, a little too well. Until I got used to them, I always found myself stopping too short at stop lights. But some of that might be contributed to replacing the brake fluid at the same time. I replaced/flushed the entire sytem with ATE blue. That made a huge difference in pedal feel. I can also that I'm a fan of ATE. It's half as much a Motul and you can get it in 2 different colors so you know when your system is flushed out completely. While I'm at it, I also liked the Motive Brake Bleeder that I used for bleeding the brake system(courtesy of my brother). It serves as a reservoir, as well as a pump that presurizes the system so you don't need to pump the brakes and refill the reservoir every 2 minutes. All you have to do is open the bleeder valve and the fluid comes out by itself, making it a one man show to change your brake fluid. Also, you don't need to buy a special adapter for the bleeder, the one it comes with screws on perfectly to the FD brake reservoir.

Both the ATE fluid and Motive bleeder were the fruits of labor from my brother wasting hours and hours on the internet researching stuff for his Corrado.

DamonB

You're entitled to your opinion. I disagree

thread #1

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thread #3

Houdini

iTrader: (3)

Sounds like this is a pretty controversal topic. I'll give it to you that having drilled and slotted rotors is primarily for protection against the pads floating due to outgasing. But since the front calipers are vained, and not solid, having holes that go through them will promote air flow and in turn, cool off the rotors SOMEWHAT through convection. Air ducts behind the rotors would probably be 200 times more effective for cooling. But yes, I guess until the day someone does a complete side-by-side comparison on the FD, it'll be a matter of opinion on whether or not it makes any difference in braking. I can't say what difference the rotors made on the car anyways since they were installed already when I purchased the car.

DamonB

Ummm, read again. Outgassing is an urban legend