Oh I know, I just didn’t expect this much dust out of them even at break in. I mean it was a lot and I was like WTF. I’ll be patient but the first 90 miles so far have freaked me out when others like Crestima above have said they experienced zero noise from the start.This was all noted and discussed, they dust a lot for the first few hundred miles and make noise, it all goes away once they are fully bedded in, be patient grasshooper
Hawk Pads are Best Upgrade Ever
- Thread starter boisecrawfords
- Start date
Mine have never squeezed and the dust level is about 20% of OEM
Mine sucked the first 100, too. The slightest squeal remained till, like, maybe 300ish. The dusting should start to drop after 100-300. That is just my experience!
Here's what the wheels and the rotors looked like after a 75 mile drive. It was spirited at times, but not any really hard braking, but didn't expect this much dust an squeal. Mind you, I shined up the wheel barrels when I swapped the pads so they were clean before this drive...I'm hoping all that dust is that pink coating on the reds burnishing off. Even the rotors have some interesting colors.
Mine looked worse than yours. The dust will continue to minimize, but will never fully go away; the noise will go away.
Do these rotors looked glazed to the experts on here? I just want to omit any other issues that could be happening as the red stuff bed in, and maybe thats why mine squeal and others haven't...I might just be overthink it though guys.
I'd wanted the Hawk pads, but went with EBC yellowstuff's as I didn't want to wait for the Hawks to be in stock. This seems to be the most active brake pad thread, so here are my initial impressions after bedding them in and just over 300 miles.
For the first 200 miles, brake dust was similar to that of the OEM pads, with consistent but minor squeaking. At 300 miles, the squeaking is gone, and brake dust is well under half of the OEM pads. Imo, initial bite is easier to modulate. Stopping power is linear and strong with aggressive backroad driving. So far, I'm happy with the change, and I'm interested to see how they perform on long, twisty downhill canyon runs when I get back to Colorado this fall.
For the first 200 miles, brake dust was similar to that of the OEM pads, with consistent but minor squeaking. At 300 miles, the squeaking is gone, and brake dust is well under half of the OEM pads. Imo, initial bite is easier to modulate. Stopping power is linear and strong with aggressive backroad driving. So far, I'm happy with the change, and I'm interested to see how they perform on long, twisty downhill canyon runs when I get back to Colorado this fall.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
So I have an update too. I also want to thank Kitkat, Tracked Emira and Greg at GRP for talking me through my rotor situation. When I sent them pics, they all said rotors looked fine and normal. So Yukoncole is right in that I should just be patient and they will bed in and squealing should go away. My biggest worry however was if my rotors were glazed...problem solved.
- @Yukoncole kept saying I need more miles and things would be fine. Fair.
- @kitkat mentioned that if I continue to have issues to swap back to OEM pads and with some normal use (not even bedding in) it would even the rotors out over a couple hundred miles to clear off any pad transfer. Again, rotors looked fine. So I was going to heed these instructions if squealing didn't go away.
- @Tracked Emira mentioned that I may need more miles for bedding but if problem didn't go away to upgrade up one next level in pads from Ferodo, but they would slightly squeak and dust a little more because you have a more aggressive pad. Again, rotors looked fine.
- @GRP said that he always beds them regardless, even though EBC says you don't need to. I had done a few 50-20 stops but clearly the squealing was there. He said it wouldn't hurt to try bedding them in even harder again. He gave me clear instructions to bed them while removing any pad transfer from the Red stuff.
- So he told me to do 3x 50-5mph hard stops
- Then 2-3x 80-5 hard stops -- like really hard, like ABS engaged hard, mashing on the pedal. Then drive for about 5-10 minutes and let them cool --with as few or no stops as possible.
Well, what Greg told me to do worked perfectly...I mean I mashed the crap out of them and then drove around town for like 20 mins to cool them down and there was no squealing. Went to lunch so car was parked for about 20-25 mins...got back in and no more squeals all the way home. So it seems as of right now, that worked and they are bedded in. Time will tell. I will try to get out today and drive around and see if the squealing returns. If it does, I plan on doing what Yukoncole originally said and that is to keep driving and eventually all will be well.
I'm just sharing my experience and the help I received from others on here in hopes of helping others make their decisions and bed them per the instructions above. I'll keep y'all posted. If Hawks come back in stock, maybe I swap to those per Kitkat's recco, but my biggest concern was whether my rotors were screwed...
I've learned so much about this car from the members on here, so THANK YOU to all for that.
Thanks dude. I'll also keep my eye out for the lip the EBCs create per your experience. Cheers!
Happy you accelerated that outcome so you can rest easier now
Cheers and Happy 4th of July!
Happy you accelerated that outcome so you can rest easier now
Cheers and Happy 4th of July!
Yes, can finally get a good night's sleep. LOL
Cheers, brother! Happy 4th!
Not been all through this but softer pads mean more dust but less disc wear. If you're fitting pads with little dust you're just moving the wear to your discs.
I finally got around to doing the switch to Hawks last week, and have been able to drive the car a bit in anger after doing the bed-in.
Did appreciate the convenience of back load calipers. As many have mentioned the rears were really tight. I was able to just barely install them with the shims still attached.
The results though were a bit disappointing. My main motivation for the switch was the possible reduction of low speed grabbiness. Any change in this has been minimal at best or no change at all. (I was skeptical that a pad change alone would help with this. Fwiw, I still think the root cause is just a flaw in the brake boost curve)
No comment yet on dust, it wasn't a motivating factor for me in making the switch anyway.
Anyway, another data point for the thread...
Did appreciate the convenience of back load calipers. As many have mentioned the rears were really tight. I was able to just barely install them with the shims still attached.
The results though were a bit disappointing. My main motivation for the switch was the possible reduction of low speed grabbiness. Any change in this has been minimal at best or no change at all. (I was skeptical that a pad change alone would help with this. Fwiw, I still think the root cause is just a flaw in the brake boost curve)
No comment yet on dust, it wasn't a motivating factor for me in making the switch anyway.
Anyway, another data point for the thread...
In case this is helpful to someone, I took pictures of the spider graphs of pad performance for the EBC lineup two weeks ago at Goodwood. Maybe this is common knowledge, but I do not recall having seen the spider graphs before.
After a long weekend of driving, including some sporty sections that had the dashcam g-meter regularly chiming in, I can say they these pads definitely throw less dust than the stockers without giving up too much feel or performance.
Brakes still have too much initial bite, but likely no fault of the pads…it’s a booster/system issue imho.
I know previously you mentioned disappointment in the minimal to no change/improvement in low speed grabbiness just after install and now after your bed-in and angry drive "still have too much initial bite". Just wondering if the too-much initial bite is improving with some time and wear, and if you think the change would be worth it for improving initial bite alone.
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