I recently purchased the hawk high performance brake pads and powerslot rotors combo. After a certain break in period the brakes starting making an extremely loud squeaking noise. Now when I brake, there is a growling noise and it is not stopping properly. I went to two mechanics and they said everything looks fine and that it is probably just the pad material. But i'm not sure if this is known to happen with these pads. Any suggestions?

 

Did you do the installation yourself?

 

no the installation was done by a professional

 

Did you get HPS or HP+ pads?

A little more information than "not stopping properly" would be good. I had this combo so I might be able to help but your description is pretty vague.

Slotted rotors make a groaning noise, at least mine always did. HP+ pads are noisy pads until you get them hot, no way around it. Hopefully you are using HPS though as HP+ is not the best choice for road use.

 

i am using HPS. they actually get worse when they get hot. its hard to describe. it makes all diffferent pitches of noises when i press the brake hard. when i press it soft it just squeals. but the stopping power is not as good as it should be. it has the feeling of worn pads but the pads have been checked and they are fine

 

I too am dissapointed with the hawk pads. I got brembo drilled rotors and hawk HPS pads. After breaking them in properly I expected them to stop pretty good, but the stopping power is just not what I hoped it would be. I really have to stomp on the breaks to make the car stand up... and if my fat friends are in the car... well i just hope I don't have to stop on a dime...
In addition to that the breaks squeal durring normal breaking at certain speeds (30 to 40mph) and if i tap the breaks really light they groan for a second. I have completely rebuilt and cleaned my breaks and regreased them and bled the lines completely and still no improvement.
They stop decent once warmed up but not any better than stock pads.
anyway... Yeah.. I am debating between metal masters or EBC green stuff for my next pads (not that i will really need to replace these anytime soon...)

 

High performance pads work best at higher temperatures where they resist fade. Thats usually associated with very agressive driving, racing or auto-cross.

Stick to a street pad for better brakes for everyday driving when your braking system operates at lower temperatures. Selecting the correct pad for your type of driving is the most important part of upgrading your brakes. If you don't choose the correct pad, you may not be happy with the stopping power.

 

totally true.....if ur not an aggressive driver or dont use them at the track they will feel the same......

i used to have brembo drilled rotors with metal master pads from stillen....i felt a differnce on the street.....of ocurse i always drvie pretty hard.....

dont use ebc they suck.....my quality control friend at SSBC says they have switch to hawks for their kits from EBC cause of quality

 

watch your rotors because depending on what pads you purchased, you may see them scratching the surface of your rotors. i had the same setup but switched to oem pads and now the problem is fixed.

-myke

 

ya go with OEM or like i did a cremanic from autozone with 2 year warrentty. My aftermarket pads lasted 4 months at most.

 

If all the first-timers stuck to Brembo blanks and OEM pads, we'd have far less brake problems around here

There are only a handful of people around here who need high-performance brakes. Everyone around here think's that going fast on an on/off ramp means they need performance brakes...