best track/street pads ? hawk black?

[Just Me]

Update since i wrote this: HPS can cause some real trouble. Unlike most pads on the market, it derives most of its stopping power from pad-to-pad material adhesion. Therefore it must have a very carefully bedded. Any deviation and you will have nearly-uncureable vibrations and noise. In fact, they wound up telling me that even if i bedded them correctly, if i did a lot of cold stops, i might undo the bedding (which explained what happened to me). What a PITA. OEM does all this does, except has more dust. But they work. I did install HP+ (sent by Hawk to cure the problem). Oh yes, they stop. And handle heat (700+ deg MOT). But the noise! The dust! Dust that simply wont come off - really nasty stuff. They also turn rotors into scrap metal while you watch. Not a realistic street pad. I continue to like the Stoptech 309s as a track-capable pad i can run every day (on my other car, which sees 10-20 days/year on the track). Anyway, beware the HPS. I would not touch them with a 10-foot pole. And ECS, who recommended them, ran from the problem. Hawk itself provided the only insight, and a bit of assistance. G

[pocketchange]

"Yellow Stuff" Pads (center slice/cut rear pads)

Cryo'd (Slotted G3500 Iron Front) Rotors.
Rear rotors are from NAPA.
SS Lines
Dot 4 Fluid

Stops well enough to be concerned w/people behind me.

NOT dust free pads.

[Just Me]

the truth is that any pad on brakes in good working condition will lock up the tires. The limiting factor on the street is your tires' limit of adhesion. That's why they either skid or engage ABS. Ont he track the limiting factor is long-term max operating temp (MOT). Most track pads have very little friction on the street, since they are not up- to design temp.

So anecdotal evidence like this is really meaningless. What it means is the pad has more friction, and requires less leg strength.

G

[Just Me]

you do know audi recommends every 2 years, and within warranty, requires it.

Not that anyone changes it :-)

[wibs]

Well, I've had those HPS for a while now and without going to the track I managed to build up a later of carbon on the rotor after some aggressive driving sessions. I thought my caliper was dying and even had the dealership look at the car then the problem went away and then I had it again in the past few days after a very aggressive driving session... So the post here made me read just me's response again and now I understand what he cautioned. The warped rotor feeling is quite annoying but it appears as a few high speed breaking tries fixes the prob because at higher speeds today it didnt feel warped this morning. I like these pads due to the low dust but the warping feeling isn't for the faint at heart. If I was on a budget again, I'd buy these but if the budget is 400 or so I'd seriously look into the best of both worlds (track+street).

My two cents... PS I'd melt these HPS for sure on the track if I can beat them up this much on the street... I think only the more/most aggressive track drivers would need to worry but that's just my opinion, just me knows better.

[wibs]

Interesting read, I just saw the post from justme about the HPS, I'll keep that in mind. When I did the bedding on my rotors I used he racing bedding "guide" and they work like a charm for me but the only stops for me before I hit the highway are 35-40 mph stops so I haven't experienced the de-bedding yet but it's good to know about.