I'm just about to do my own brakes, and am considering Porsche OEM (Textar), Hawk HPS or Hawk Ceramic. I use my car just as a DD, and (sadly) do not do track days or DEs - in fact, Calgary lost its track last year.

What are the best pads for me?

 

me too my Light is been on for 500kms now lols.

I have read online and been advised by a indy porsche shop that the Hawks HPS is Inferrior to Porsche Genuine Brembo/Textar/Pagid Pads.

Also have been told Textar Pads are bit more Squeeky but have the same Performance compare to Porsche Genuine Textar Pads.

So im going to skip Hawk's and am going to get Textar (Non-Porsche) Pads and give them a Try

 

I would like to report that the Hawk HPS pads are superior in every way to the Porsche OEM pads.

I have used the Hawk pads exclusively in all of my Porsches, and other german cars and can report that they have better feel, better stopping power, and NO DUST.

Again, they are superior in every way. Don't be fooled by shops that are trying to peddle you high markup products.

 

My experience with both Hawk HPS and Ceramics have been quite different on BMW's at least. The Hawks from my experience didn't have as great of a cold initial bite. Dust was considerably less than OEM but not too much less than other aftermarket pads like Mintex Red Box. I was actually a bit disappointed by the dusting characteristics of the Ceramics as I expected a more dramatic improvement. The Akebono Euro Ceramics seem to be better at controlling dust than the Hawk HPS Ceramics. I found the HPS pads to squeal after some wear during the cold.

With that said, both Hawk HPS and Ceramics have very much improved fade resistance in high speed and/or repeated stopping over the factory pad and some other aftermarket brake pads.

If dusting is your only and main concern, the Ceramics might not live up to your expectations(also dependent on wheel/spoke design). However, I feel the Hawk HPS Ceramics are still a great option if you are looking for a good blend between less dusting and high performance braking.

Once again YMMV depending on wheel design, driving style and environment, what car you use it on.

 

has anybody tried the 550"Z" Hawk performance ceramic pad in the 996?

Orient, does the "F" pad also work well in daily stop-n-go freeway 680/880 type traffic?

 

OP, how about a update including rotor wear ?

are people posting about HPS Ceramics instead of HPS Carbon?

 

My 328 coupe has terrible dusting on the front rims! I couldn't find a set of the Akebono Euro pads that would fit though!?

Oops, never mind, found the right set!

 

Just changed to these pads a couple of days ago along with rotors, did a bit of bed-in and have put about 100 miles on them, while I wouldn't say these pads slowed or stopped my car like dropping anchors, they were certainly adequate in performance, note that I was begining to wonder if I was needing more effort even with the stock Texar pads that came off the car, so perhaps I need to bed in the pads and rotors more, and also may need to bleed the brakes in the near future as well.

I am going to do a good wash of the car as well now for the Saturday morning area owner get together, and will monitor the dusting to see how it compares to the stock pads and the cermaic pads on my daily driver.

 

I am using the Hawk HPS pads which are a Ferro-Carbon Brake Compound.

East Bay is that what you mean by the "F" pad, and if so, yes they are great in the freeway driving we have in the SF bay area.

 

Hi Orient, you posted that you installed the "Hawk Performance HB550F.634 HPS Brake Pad"

Since I know nothing about hawk pads I went and RTFM on the Hawk website, here is the rundown:


I'm wondering if any of the others are all talking about the "F" pads also.
I could see confusion between the HPS and the HPPlus "N" pads
The "Z" pads also look interesting to me for the DD 996 since I am looking for the best street bite for CA freeway driving. You know, repeated 80 to 0 stops for ladders, drivers, pedestrians, etc. in the road and all the other CA type surprises

 

I have had nothing but good results with the F compound pads. Very very low dust, great stopping power, no fade, no noise. These have been excellent pads for my use.

 

Anyone have any updates? I need to do my brakes soon. Looking at the Hawk webstie, it seems to me that the Performance Ceramic "Z" compound pads would be better suited to a DD than the HPS "F" pads.

Has anyone tried the Akebono pads on a 996?

 

For daily driving, I still don't like the Hawks. Cold stopping is a joke. However, I was pleased with the way they performed during a 2-day driving event in Oct. 2012. After a 20 minute session, the best way to describe the resulting dust is -- graham cracker like. My instructor mentioned he likes Hawk pads, but not the ones I installed (same as Orient's). I cannot remember what compound he recommended. I'm going back to Textar (1/2 the price too) for daily driving, and may throw on the Hawks for 2013 DEs. Hope this helps.

 

For the amount of dust that the Z compounds exhibit over the F, I'd rather stick to the stock Textars. If dusting is high importance to you and you have complex spoke pattern on your rims, stay away from the Z's.

I've regretted it on the wife's ride but just letting it wear down some before I switch to something else.

Fwiw, I tracked down some Mintex Red Box for the 996 and will be installing them this spring. We'll see how they compare...

 

I contacted Hawk and asked if they would recommend Performance Ceramic or HPS for my street only C4. Their suggestion was PC. Looking at prices, it seems the PC and HPS are basically the same. The Akebonos, however, are a fair bit cheaper. Since there does not seem to be a consensus about which pad is the best for a 996, I think I might try the Akebonos since they are the cheapest.