soundmike

iTrader: (24)

After several near-fatal incidents with the Axxis pads i decided to swap out the front pads with some Hawk HPS based on general review of them.

Here's how these two stack-up against each other.

Axxis/PBR Metal Masters
Pros:

• Low dust and when it does it's easy to wipe off
• Relatively low price
• Not too noisy considering it's a high-perf pad

Cons:

• Initial bite is poor, when cold it's even worse - you have to learn to compensate for it (Though in certain cases you just can't).
• Constantly having to press hard on the pedal
• Not a good daily street pad especially if you do a lot of highway driving, it just takes too long to reach optimal temperature. (On most days you'll never even reach it).
• Brake feel is rather linear but does seem to fade after just a few high-speed stops
• When hitting it hard from high-speeds you can just hear the pads grind away the rotors (I have Powerslots). Sounds cool, but it gets old fast.
• Makes a rough "rust on metal" sound when creeping

Hawk HPS
Pros:

• Excellent overall braking characteristics
• Very little fade even after several high-speed stops
• It dusts just as much as the Axxis, haven't tried washing them off yet
• Initial bite is very good, i actually have to learn to brake just a little later now. No more fear of accidentally hitting pedestrians/animals/kids who jumps in front of you on those cold mornings.
• Street-friendly design, optimal temperature isn't as high as the Axxis (just based on feel, i have no data to back this up)
• Easy to moderate

Cons:

• I may have just glazed it, but it does squeal when applying medium pedal pressure.
• Not necessarily bad, with high-speed stops it feels as if the pads just aren't biting but interestingly enough you stop where you should with space left to spare. I could, however, have just gotten used to the audio feedback from the Axxis all this time. The Hawk's are pretty silent.
• A bit pricey

Overall, it's nice to switch to the Hawk's. I hope this comes in handy for those contemplating between these two.

Igor911

iTrader: (10)

Nice writeup.

AllGo

iTrader: (1)

I have to say my experiences with these 2 pads is almost completely opposite to this.
My Axxis metal master were always silent and bit very well when cold and had barely any noticable fade after multiple heavy stops. This was on my 98 I30t and I was using a 300zx rotor and caliper combo at the time. I later tried some aggressive HP plus pads but they were just too loud. I also used these metal masters with stock rotors/calipers and they were excellent.

Anyway on my 2002 I decided to try the HPS with stock rotors. They seemed to need more warm up then the Metal Masters had in the past and made a annoying groaning sound at every stop, especially when at neighborhoods speeds and stop and go etc.

Anyway I got my stock rotors deep cryo'd, got some goodridge lines and now using ebc greenstuff pads and braking is excellent but these things dust like no other. Funny because they advertise these to be "low dust"

Just my experience anyway.

Whitey-00MaxSE

How do folks compare the Axxis/PBR Ultimate with the Hawk HP+? From reading tons of postings, it seems to me that these two sets of pads are better than the ones discussed here, so why aren't folks discussing or recommending these?

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

more info on pads, i'm getting hawk pads with new rotors, new design. Will reveal to public soon, pics already