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What about Hawk Ceramic? Anyone try those?
just put a full set of Hawk Ceramic pads with new blank rotors, and new DOT 4 fluid on my BMW E46 330i (which has similar brakes in size to the MS3 but bigger, vented rear discs, and less beefy front calipers) about 4 days ago ... so far they are an above average pad for stopping power, but nowhere near the stopping power of the HPS, I'm hoping the "low dust" factor keeps me happy with them

as far as stopping power, with the pedal to the floor my 205 series winter tires are the limiting factor as to how fast I can stop, ABS kicks on before the pads stop slowing me down, I'll test again whenever I get around to getting my summer wheels painted and installed.

they're pretty low noise, and I'm excited to see how they pan out over a months worth of driving.

not to threadjack here though

HPS is great though, and I almost regret not getting them for the 330i. Until I go to clean my split 10 spoke summer wheels that is. lol
 
Holy bump Batman :arrow:

Just thought I'd contribute to this thread, as I installed new Hawk HPS pads yesterday and got quite a few scares on my way home.

After a couple excellent years from my OEM pads, I was expecting at least as good or better from the Hawks. But after a few minutes, as quite a few others have mentioned here, I experienced the "softer" pedal feel, lower initial bite, and ensuing panics :lol:

So I was wondering if something was wrong and started doing some research, and came across this thread. I haven't performed Hawk's recommended break-in procedure yet, as there's nowhere for me to do it unless I head out to the highway at 3am, so I'm taking it easy for now until I do.

I know new pads coupled with freshly resurfaced rotors will give me very limited braking performance, so I am taking it very easy. Most of my driving during the week is stop-and-go rush hour traffic anyway, so I have no choice but to. I'm just hoping it gets better with time like most have said in this thread.

My question is this:- is the stop-and-go usage of my brakes now from my daily office commute detrimental to my newly installed brakes? Also would such usage reduce my chances of breaking them in properly once I get a chance to do Hawk's recommended procedure?
 
Holy bump Batman :arrow:

Just thought I'd contribute to this thread, as I installed new Hawk HPS pads yesterday and got quite a few scares on my way home.

After a couple excellent years from my OEM pads, I was expecting at least as good or better from the Hawks. But after a few minutes, as quite a few others have mentioned here, I experienced the "softer" pedal feel, lower initial bite, and ensuing panics :lol:

So I was wondering if something was wrong and started doing some research, and came across this thread. I haven't performed Hawk's recommended break-in procedure yet, as there's nowhere for me to do it unless I head out to the highway at 3am, so I'm taking it easy for now until I do.

I know new pads coupled with freshly resurfaced rotors will give me very limited braking performance, so I am taking it very easy. Most of my driving during the week is stop-and-go rush hour traffic anyway, so I have no choice but to. I'm just hoping it gets better with time like most have said in this thread.

My question is this:- is the stop-and-go usage of my brakes now from my daily office commute detrimental to my newly installed brakes? Also would such usage reduce my chances of breaking them in properly once I get a chance to do Hawk's recommended procedure?
I'm not an 'expert' but I would imagine you'll be fine, just take it relatively easy in the meantime. The point of the break in is to thoroughly match the pads surface to the disk surface so you get the maximum surface contact for maximum braking.
 
Yea when u went with hawk the best I could describe the experience as slippery .. Which was scary but after a little while I got used to it and they broke in ... Now I got to admit I prefer the low initial bite ( u brake the amount u push ) and when I drive the wife's car I get a bit disconcerted by the oem bite ..


Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App
 
Well I did the bedding in procedure last night best I could - there were still cars on the highway at that ridiculous hour so the stopping cycles didn't go as smoothly as I'd like :(

What I noticed on the second cycle of stopping, with hard stops from the higher speed, is that the pedal went way, way, way down. ABS didn't kick in, but I did feel a point in about the last 1/4 of its travel where the pedal sank easier than the first 3/4 (almost to the floor but not touching), just as the car came to a crawl.

Now the brakes held and slowed the car, but the pedal feel and travel was somewhat disconcerting to say the least.

It feels OK now in normal use, but I'm wondering if such pedal feel is normal in hard stopping. Anyone else got that when they did the procedure?
 
Well I did the bedding in procedure last night best I could - there were still cars on the highway at that ridiculous hour so the stopping cycles didn't go as smoothly as I'd like :(

What I noticed on the second cycle of stopping, with hard stops from the higher speed, is that the pedal went way, way, way down. ABS didn't kick in, but I did feel a point in about the last 1/4 of its travel where the pedal sank easier than the first 3/4 (almost to the floor but not touching), just as the car came to a crawl.

Now the brakes held and slowed the car, but the pedal feel and travel was somewhat disconcerting to say the least.

It feels OK now in normal use, but I'm wondering if such pedal feel is normal in hard stopping. Anyone else got that when they did the procedure?
U may need to check ur.bake fluid level
 
Well it didn't go all the way to the floor - it just went a lot further down with less resistance than I expected.
The fluid level is good in the MC reservoir, and the brakes were re-bled after my initial post about the soft pedal, and the mechanic said everything looked fine with the hydraulic system. The brake fluid was flushed, refilled and bled with new fluid when I installed the new pads and re-surfaced rotors.
The pedal feels OK now in normal use (just that I have to push more to get more initial stopping power because of the lower initial bite), but I haven't tried a panic stop yet to see if it drops down almost to the floor again for fear of ruining the new pads - still taking it easy for another 500 or so miles before I start to push them. Unless I can do that now that I've done the bedding in process ???
 
Well I did the bedding in procedure last night best I could - there were still cars on the highway at that ridiculous hour so the stopping cycles didn't go as smoothly as I'd like :(

What I noticed on the second cycle of stopping, with hard stops from the higher speed, is that the pedal went way, way, way down. ABS didn't kick in, but I did feel a point in about the last 1/4 of its travel where the pedal sank easier than the first 3/4 (almost to the floor but not touching), just as the car came to a crawl.

Now the brakes held and slowed the car, but the pedal feel and travel was somewhat disconcerting to say the least.

It feels OK now in normal use, but I'm wondering if such pedal feel is normal in hard stopping. Anyone else got that when they did the procedure?
Sounds like the HPS pads have not been bedded in yet. Also did you replace front only and how our the rear pads?

HPS have require a little more initial bite, but once bedded in, they work great

Also the other pad we use is the ceramic compound.

always try to keep the compounds front to rear the same if you have ABS, these should keep the ABS happy.

Hope this helps,

Ali
 
The brakes (both pedal feel and stopping ability) feel fine now - either they've bedded in properly or I just got accustomed to it, or both.

But yes the HPS pads do require a bit more pedal pressure to get initial bite, especially when cold, but once they've warmed up and I get into hard braking they've held impressively thus far.

I still haven't done anything to really test them like a track day or repeated emergency stops, but the feel from a couple hard/sudden stops from spirited street driving have me confident they'll hold at least as well as the OEMs.

I swapped out all 4 corners at the same time BTW.
 
I just had the Hawk HPS pads installed front and back. I expected them to have a little break in time while bedding them, but I noticed something a little strange. The fronts don't seem to be making contact at all on portions of the rotors. Is this normal until they're bedded in?





 
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