I'm getting close to needing to replace the brake pads on my '02 Z06. I've got 33k on the original stock pads, and they have about 20% left on the fronts, and 40% left on the rears. I've been very pleased with the stock pads, and they have served me well with 3 autocross events, 1 full HPE track day (about 220 track miles), and about 1k miles of hard canyon driving when I was living in CA.

Although I've been pleased with the stock pads, I'm always looking for something better, if it's out there.

Since I don't track my car that much (but plan to again in the near future), I don't want a full race pad that needs to heat up to work well.

I've narrowed my choices down to the stock Z06 pads, or the Hawk HPS. I have Hawk LTS on my Suburban, and I'm very pleased with their performance, but obviously that is an entirely different animal. It's just that I know Hawk makes some good pads.

The question I have is: are the Hawk HPS better than the stock Z06 pads? I can buy the Hawk HPS for about $10 more than the stock Z06 pads, so they are pretty much the same in price. I just don't want to have a pad that isn't as good as the stock pad, which I know is already an excellent pad for all around use.

My preference in a pad is strong initial bite, low fade, and low noise (I can deal with a little more noise than stock, but not much more). I don't care about brake dust - doesn't bother me (actually I think a Z06 wheel looks tough with some brake dust on it after a few laps on the track - I'm weird, I know).

If anyone has experienced both the stock Z06 pads and the Hawk HPS and can share their opinions, I would appreciate it.

 

If you are just driving the car on the street, stick with the stock pads. They are as good as anything else for the street.

If you are doing track days or autocross, go for the Hawk HP Plus pads. They provide better braking than the HPS, are still streetable, and work well with stock rotors. Better initial bite and resistance to fade.



p.s. You've been around here for a while. There are about 50 thousand threads on brake pads. Do a search. Take a look. You'll find a justification for the use or non-use of just about every brake pad out there, one way or the other. YMMV.

 

They have worked great for me. Replaced my dirty and noisy stock Z pads at about 40k. Now, there is hardly any dust at all (my wheels stay clean!) and there is no noise whatsoever! I highly recommend these pads.