Okay, I asked recently about Autozone pads.... Performance Friction regular and Z rated pads. Then I saw the GP deals on the forum mall.... Hawk HPS brake pads. Just a few bucks more than the PF Zrated. Are they any good? This is for a street car that is rarely raced.... but I do drive very aggressive on the street.

Opinions?

 

Hey Craig.
Here's something related: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=241754 my replay is about the Hawk pads you mention. It's half way down.

 

[Rant Alert - nothing personal]

Maybe I don't understand what "aggressive" driving on the street is. Do you make maximum braking effort every 10-15 seconds? I can't imagine needing racing compounds for any kind of street use. You need repeated, heavy brake applications at very short intervals (road racing) to need "racing" pads.

Regular pads stop as good or better (higher friction coefficient) than "race" pads under street conditions (stock calipers and low pad temps) - even heavy braking requirements. They will do it pretty frequently without a problem.

With few exceptions, the street pads (especially the ceramics and kevlar based pads) are much kinder to rotors than "race" pads used on the street. Real race pads don't work so good at street temperatures and they grind the rotors up in no time.

The inbetween pads like the PF Z don't stop any better and they dust, but they will take slightly higher temperatures.

The only reason for race compounds is heat. Not the heat from an occasional heavy application - continuous high heat. They can operate at 1000+ temperatures. They dust cuz they don't make a 1000 degree compound that won't dust.

I wonder how many people experience fade due to heat with stock brake parts used on the street. I can't see how you could stay alive and out of jail if your pads are staying at hi temp on the street. You may get them hot with the occasional big stop, but they will cool quickly and not be a problem. Lots of rookies (slow) at track events don't fade their stock pads even though they are max breaking 10 times a minute. Much more abuse than they could apply on the street.

I think a lot of people think racing stuff is better, but I can't see how that applies to brake pads for street use. Maybe it's all the racer talk about how bad the stock parts are that is causing concern with the street crowd. The stock stuff is perfectly fine (are I say better) for the street.

 

No offense taken to the 'rant'!!! :D


I just know that when I get the chance to hit 135 on the highway, and brake hard to get back to 80, they seem to fade when I get off the highway and try to come to a stop. Or if I am on the highway driving from 70-100-70-100 back and forth, they don't seem to like it much. Or from stop-light to stop-light, heavy braking... they seem to fade after a few of these heavy stops.


or when I'm at the track (which has only been once in almost a year) it seems that it doesn't want to stop quickly after running the quarter mile. If I make 2 or 3 back-to-back runs (about 10 minutes in staging lane) they fade a bit.


I have no idea what pads are on the car now, I bought it last summer like this. Could be fluid boiling problems too. Don't know.


Guess I'll try the PF pads from Autozone and see how they hold up....

 

Like I said before, the PF Z rated pads have been good to me. They don't dust THAT bad, remember, you can clean just the wheels if the rest of the car doesn't need it. I know what you mean about pads fading on you, I've had the same thing happen and it's no fun. The PF pads might not stop as quickly at street temps than a normal pad, but when they get hot they still hold rather than letting go.

On my usual trip home I get on my brakes HARD. There are a couple of 90 degree turns and one good straight that is good for the tripple digits, you've just got to slow down REAL fast. The PF pads have never let me down on this route and I can tell you without a doubt that they get VERY hot. A couple of 40-90-20 bursts, followed by a few 0-110-0 bursts are too much for a stock pad.

At the track I boiled my fluid before my PF pads even began to show any sign of fading. That's pretty good in my book. If the fluid was hot enough to boil, think of how hot the rotor had to be. Granted my fluid was OEM, a situation I have now fixed, but it's still pretty impressive.

I'm a firm believer in the "you get what you pay for" attitude, especially with things like brakes.

If you do get the PF pads, be sure and get the anti-squeal stuff as well. BTW, they do squeal a little bit when hot. I usually don't even hear it unless I've got the window down. IMHO a slight squeal and a stop is better than no squeal followed by crashing noises.

 

I like 'em for street use too. Although when pulling out of the garage for the 1st time in a day with *no* heat in the pads or rotors, they probably don't work as good as a street pad. But after a few stops, they get some temp in them, and seem to work great for the street from then on. Even after 1/2 hour on the highway with no use of the brakes, you can still come up on an exit ramp at ungodly speeds and stop like a champ...

 

135 to 80 will heat them up. Driving a mile at 80 will cool them off. Going from 100 to 70 will heat them up too if you do it over and over without any cooling off period.

I think you may have some other issues.

I would definitely do a few things before going to racing pads. Completely flush the system and replace with Valvoline synthetic. You can use other exotic fluids, but this fluid has the wet temp rating you need and it does not absorb water as fast as some others - perfect for people that don't bleed real often.

Next I would examine the pads and see if they are tapered. Lots of heavy braking will cause this. Nothing you can do about it except change to some trick calipers. It can give you a faded kind of feel, but will usually pump up and work.

If you don't know what pads you have, and considering the performance you are getting, I would change them. The PF z's are reported to be good, but dusty. The NAPA ceramics are good as are the Greenstuff kevlar pads (Tire Rack).

I think you would have slightly better high temp performance and decent cold performance with the Z's.

I have used stock and kevlar pads on the street and find the kevlars stop better and extend rotor life. They work amazingly well even at track events without fade - up to a point. Yes, they do fade and will scare you bad enough to get some track only pads when you get good enough to need them. It's all heat.

Once you have enough heat in any pad, it will fade. It's hard to maintain that much heat on the street. When you do something to get them that hot, they will cool quickly at speed - just give them a munute before you do it again.

Once you get your brakes up to spec, it would probably be better to use driving habits to keep them cool rather than going to racing pads. If you have ever tried to stop with cold race pads, you will think you have no brakes at all. You can push real hard and get them to work, but its a real PITA for normal driving (not to mention that some will kill your rotors in no time when used cold).

Good luck with it.