Hawk HPS Pads (on Z51)
 

OK so i needed brakes on the vette, and HOLLY **** the factory wants over 350 for rear pads, let alone the front...

so after some research, i can get stock pads cheaper but the hawk HPS pads are supposed to be a little better and are a little cheaper.

SO I resurfaces all 4 rotors, and put new HPS pads all around, did the BED in procedure they talk about and i am not impressed.

Maybe they just need longer time to bed in? once you get them warm they work but they are not impressive to me, the stock ones bite GREAT and worked GREAT at the track? so??

thoughts>?

I have to say the opposite. I have a Z51 as well. I just put mine on a couple weeks ago and I love them. After about 100 miles or so they worked great. The braking improvement over stock pads is noticeable. The dust is reduced by 75% and there is no noise. I love them.

I am familiar with the bedding but I never really did it. I just kind of drove it a lil hard. Ive done some track days on the stock pads and they got me by. I have an event next month so Im anxious to try the HPS pads.

How many miles have you put on yours? How does the rotor contact area look, nice and even??

Well I have done the bedding part 2 times and still nothing.

just went to lunch with my mother, she has a Z51 as well, we both drove both cars back to back and the hawks suck in comparison. Now they have all of....16 miles to work, today and 10 around the blocks trying to bed them?

Id say forget about the bedding then and just drive normally for some time. See how that goes.

I had HPS on my stang with cobra brakes and they were iffy at first. I had to really heat them up. I wouldn't run them on the track. I went to the Hawk Black compound for the track in the stang and those are awesome. But, you really can't run black on the street.

I thought about taking them back off, scuffing the pads up, and scuffing hte rotors up again? more brake cleaner on rotors to maks ure no oils?

they suck man. haha i mean they stop but not like they should i can push the pedal until you feel the hardness and still not close to locking up wheels.

Mine were never bad like that. Try calling Hawk customer service and see what they say.

You have a GMC too. I have a 05 2500HD Duramax CC. Great truck.

I dunno what to tell ya. Maybe its a bad batch. Im not sure re-scuffing would help. I also dont think there would be too many surface oils left after some driving but I could be wrong.

I agree with contacting Hawk at this point.

I put HPS on my C5 Z06 with new rotors and had a similar experience. The bedding procedure wasn't nearly enough to break them in. However, after a couple hundred miles of normal driving, they sorted themselves out and are now noticeably better than stock.

Put the HPS on my Z about 6 months ago. Have been to the track, dragstrip and autox. Work great.

You can't lock the wheels. ABS will pulse if you hit it hard. This should have happened during bedding.

thats what i am saying, they dont grabe hard enough to activeate ABS hence, not ever locking a wheel up. you have to be able to lock a wheel before abs kicks in.

if i use both feet and push HARD past the first and normal brakeing pressure it will START to make them chirp but only after the car is slower than say 25.

I called hawk they are the ones that told me to re do with scuffing. will call them again today. really tired of taking the car part. haha.

still suck.

Have you replaced your brake fluid with high temp fluid? I would put in fresh fluid if you haven't.

could be something else wrong with your braking system which was brought out by the new pads. since you're pulling the pads out again to do the cleaning/sanding, put your old ones back in and see if they feel better. it could be the new pads require more line/caliper pressure for some reason on your car. jus' thinkin' out loud...

cant runt he old pads, as thyere were shot, and grinding on the rear.

the fluid is not going to instantly go bad the next day when i changed pads, car stopped on a dime, heard griding, swapped pads, turned rotors, and now they suck. the fluid is working its the pads that just dont bite.

Called back tot gm parts house and hawk, hopefully they are going to take care of me.

i put the hawk ceramics on another car. i know exactly what you mean. they suck. dont bite at all and i put a about a thousand miles on them. get what you pay for i guess.

Ahhh, I never turn rotors. Ford Racing rotors were made by Brembo and I would put a new set on every year.

Brake fluid I changed every year which was the same as every 6 months of use which is recommended for high performance track usage.
Doesn't sound like fluid is your issue, but I will change the vette yearly too.


HPS was fine on the street for me, but not good on the track when they got hot.

Ok so after talking with GM parts house and Hawk, They are going to send me a new set of HPS pads to try because they feel I should have a big improvement, and this is not normal. So they must be defective, and they are going to give me a refund on the ones I bought. So a free set basically, to try fro all my trouble.

If they still don’t work I can then use my refunded to buy a set of stock pads from GM parts house.

Will let you guys know how it turns out.

pads are not defective, thats just how they are.