Martin S.

I have done a search on Rennlist and came up empty. Has anyone had experience with the Hawk brakes? The Hawk brakes are about $285 a set, and the Pagid Orange brakes run around $400 a set (for Big Red Calipers).

The Pagid brakes require a break in, Hawk says this is not necessary. If the Hawks are close to the Pagids in performance, I could use the extra $115 for race gas. Any help will be appreciated.

Greg Fishman

Which Hawk Pads, they have lots of compounds. I use the Blues on my race car and they are cheaper and better than the Pagid Oranges. Downside is that the dust from the H.B. is very corrosive and you must be dilligent about removing it from your car before it rains,etc. They are also more aggressive on your rotors, and they are not very responsive when cold, I wouldn't use them on a street/track combo.

I use the Hawk HPS on my street car and they seem to be fine pads. They do occasionally squeal when cold but once warm they are as quiet as the stock pads. The vendor I got them from said that the HPS were good pads for a street/track car and would not overheat and glaze like the stock pads do.

Greg

chas911

Greg, what is the price difference between the Hawk "Blues" and the Pagid. I know that the Pagid will cost $400 +/- but the stopping power is terrific. Which vendor do you use for these pads?

thanks,
Charlie

B-Line home

Although it was a different car with a different brake system, let me share my experience.
I had Pagid Orange pads on my Audi S4 with Stoptech brakes.
I am not sure what your break in procedure on the pads is but I can tell you with my car and the Pagid's, it was a simple and fun break in. You have to do it at night or in a really open area but it's fun.
The break in for the pagid's was.
drive to 60 mph, threshold brake to 5mph.
then drive up to 60, threshold brake to 5mph.
Do this 10 times.
Then do it from 70mph to 5mph
5 times
Then from 80 to 5mph
another 5 times.
This does not so much break in the brakes as it does, leave a layer of pad deposition on the rotors. Essentially your heat cycling the pads to form a bond between the rotor and pad.
I know a Porsche is a completely different animal but part of the reason for doing this is, if you get uneven pad deposition you will get shaking and bad noises from the brakes that feels like warped rotors. The only correction for this is to purchase new rotors which can get costly. But regardless any and everytime you switch pads you should do this process. EVERYTIME, from street to track, then from track to street.
When your doing the brake in, it is normal to feel some fade from the brakes, your getting them real hot. The brakes should also smoke and smell real real bad. This is normal and means your doing it right.
Like I said, not sure if this is all true for a Pcar. But this is what I did with my Audi, the Pagids, and every other brake pad I used.
Hope this helps..

Greg Fishman

I don't have an invoice from my last set of Hawk Blues but I think they were about $80 cheaper on the fronts and over a $100 on the rear. I use Paul Weston at Weston Motorsports for pads, rotors, etc. His email is WMSBrakes@aol.com and phone # is 888-558-0631. I think he is with the Potomac region PCA, nice guy and knows his stuff.

Greg

chas911

Greg, thanks for the info. I might give the hawk blues a try.
By the way will these pads give me the same "firm" pedal feel of the Pagid orange pads?

Greg Fishman

I thought they were as good if not better.
Stopping power was better and the pads didn't "drag" like I felt happen on the P.Orange.
The improvement over P.Orange was almost equivalent to the change from stock pads to P.Orange.
Greg