Alright so I installed my hawk HPS pads and brembo rotors a little while ago. They were fine at first.. stopping power was great... they would only sqeak some of the time... but now after a coupoe weeks, once the pads get warm they sqeak ALL the time, and it pisses me off.. also, i hear a grinding noise when i'm coming to a complete stop once they have been used for a while... the sqeaking and the grinding al come in after about a half hour of driving.. i bed them in according to the directions on the box, and i don't know what the h*ll to do next...

 

Ive read those hawk hps pads, although having good initial bite and stopping power, can be loud ALL of the time, especially w/ drilled or slotted rotors. It couldnt hurt to try some caliper grease. It could be ur wheel bearings. Some people have said that grinding noise is normal until they are fully broken in. Read up on it a lil, theres a lot of people that have talked about grinding noises so ur not alone in this one.

 

Looks like you're running Brembo blanks which is good. I just installed the same setup on my front and everything seems to be fine. I get a little bit of squeaking when the brakes are cold, but after that, they're completely quiet. I would suggest putting some extra break squeal stuff between the shims and the pads.

 

hawk HPS pads... so far, i've had some mixed experience with them. on one car they are really good, just dust a lot, on the other - exactly the same simptoms you have... Inconsistent quality?

 

is there a better setup for about the same price range? the only reason i ask is because i was going to do the same setup but i hear a lot of negative things about Hawk pads and Brembo rotor combo. I dont want sloted or drilled or anything of that nature but something better than OEM.

 

i did my breaks in May of 2006.. Still running GREAT... I got brembo drilled and slotted, all 4 w/ Bosch pads in front and Nissan OEM in the back. The best set up I EVER had. Bosch lifetime warranty, and nissan was a bit pricey, but how often will you change the back anyway?? i love my set up. all together, cost me:

Brembo rotors $205 shipped (all 4)
Bosch front pads (lifetime warranty) $50
Rear Nissan OEM $60 shipped (if i remember correctly)
--------------
TOTAL $315

 

has anybody used that brake squeal stuff between the shims and the pads and had it correct the squeaking with hawk pads? see the thing is, im kinda hesitant to do that because the pads didn't fit very snugly into the space where they were supposed to in the first place.. and with grease it might be worse.. i mean they went in, but they didn't fit quite as tightly as the oem pads... normal?

 

The last time I did my brakes I used the OEM pads and Brembo rotors. Although they are expensive you can't go wrong with dealer pads. They are a perfect fit and no noise too. I have not had any problems in the last 10,000 plus miles since I did them.

 

I would make sure that you have all of the proper hardware. there are little clips that attach to the caliper bracket where your pads sit, if one of those is bent or missing you can get noise and some vibration. as for the grinding check your wheel bearings. an easy way to do that is lift up the front end and grab and squeeze the first few coils on your spring and spin your tire, if you feel a decent amount of vibration in the spring there is a good chance you have a bead bearing. Also, do the normal shaking up and down of the tire to see if there is any radial movement

 

I used Disc Brake Quite, the clear tube of orange stuff from Advance Auto Parts. Seems to work damn well on my rears, they only squeaked a few times since I've put that on a few weeks ago. It's a fairly thin paste that you spear over the outermost surface of the pad (and on the shims if you have them). It dries to a "tacky" state within 10-15 min, then you reassemble them. Looks like orange-red goop on my brakes through the rims, but function > form for me.

 

I used Akebono ceramic pads w/ Brembo blanks.... No noise and very little brake dust!!!

 

Anti squeel spray on the back of the pads is a must. You shouldn't have any noise after that is applied.

 

anti-squeal spray? i never heard of that before.. i can get it at any auto parts store right? and for all the guys who put on hawk pads.. how did they fit? did they fit perfectly like OEM, or did they fit a little looser? because mine definitely arent as snug as the stock pads were in the caliper braket

i re-bed them tonight doing about 8 hard stops from 60mph, because that was the point where i felt them start to fade.. and now they squeak at a different point.. before they squeaked the entire time from when i pressed the pedal until the car stopped... and now they squeak only when i apply light/moderate pressure on the pedal.. and when i press harder, they get quiet.. this is strange.. lol.. i'm gonna see how they sound tomorrow, and possibly try to bed them doing a few stops with moderate pressure from a lower speed and see if that gets me anywhere...

 

I got this stuff at a auto parts store. $5 maybe? It acts like spray paint but it's thick and gooey and hardens slightly after a few minutes. I sprayed it on the back of the pad where I thought the caliper pressed against the pad. Make sure you don't let this stuff run onto the pad matirial, I held the pad with a paper towel surrounding the edges of the pad. Spray on 2 good layers and let dry about 10 minutes then install. The idea behind this is to kill vibrations by adding a layer of softness between the mating surfaces.

Your pads not being as snug shouldn't be a bad thing, they might slide easier and resist to hanging up as they age with all the goo that can build up on brakes over time.

 

Seems like the org site owners are high on the Hawk Pads, but in my experience, I wouldn't use the semi-metallic pads on my max. I have done three sets of brakes between my 2000 and 2003 Maximas and have always used the ceramic pads. They work great, dust much less and generally don't squeek...ever!

I had brake squeek start about a month ago on my original OEM pads, due to wear, so I just picked up a pair of pads at the local Autozone, Duralast Gold which is a ceramic pad, like OEM. Threw them on in about 45 minutes and didn't touch the rotors, since I plan on replacing all four rotors when the back pads wear out. It's a cheap fix for the short term, but I am pretty impressed with Duralast Ceramics. No squeeking, light dust, and firm stopping power with almost no fade. I expect they will trash the rotors at some point with brake pad transfer, but if not, I would probably use them again at $35 for the front set.

I hope your brakes stop squeeking, but I wouldn't count on it. Seems silly to me to have to buy another product from Autozone to stop the brake noise after you put on new pads and rotors. I would just get a pair of ceramic pads and start enjoying smooth quiet braking!

 

see the thing is... i don't want to go back to OEM because the stopping power is so much better with the hawks... i've gotten used to the power, and the brakes would feel weak if i were to switch back and i would have to get used to lesser braking power

 

u mean u sprayed it where the piston presses against the pad? or on the back of the opposite pad on the other side of the braket that you can see through the wheels...

should i put some crap between the metal retaining clips and the pad edges too?

 

I put it on the back of each pad. One side has brake matirial and one side has metal. I sprayed it on the metal.

Like this but I sprayed it on thicker

 

cool.. i'll try that out.. thanx man.. whats the stuff called?

 

The stuff I have is in a red spray can that says in big letters Brake Anti-Squeal or something like that. Spray can is the way to go. If you get some on the pad itself or your hands, brake cleaner spray will remove it.

 

I have HPS on Brembo blanks for a year now, with anti-squeel applied upon install, and PROPER bed-in as instructed, I've never had noise, or excessive dusting. Did all of you guys bed-in btw?

 

i did.. i follwed the bed in instructions on the box that the pads came in.. are those the proper ones that you speak of?

 

Those instructions would work...at the minimum, the rest of us follows this:

http://zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm

 

I used Brembo blanks and HPS pads. Rotors warped twice with those pads. I am not driving crazy. I turned them once, and after few month, steering wheel shaking again. Now I cut once of them cause schmucks at Pepboys wouldn't cut the other one. This will get me through a week, till i decide on next setup. I am thinking Akebomo ceramic and maybe Power slot rotors. Or go back with Brembo blanks.

 

Can nayone suggest where I can buy Brembo drilled rotors?

Regards, Michael

 

i had the same problem and i bought anti squeak and had no problem since

 

bet... anti squeak crap it is... thanx guys... any thoughts about that loud grinding noise i hear and feel just before i come to a complete stop?

 

nobody's ever experienced a weird grinding noise with hawk pads?

 

Only the first time I hit the brakes after being parked for a long time, especially when its wet out.

 

yeah it happens to me all the time once they warm up... i'll pull the wheels off, clean the pads and rotors, use that anti-squeak stuff and if it still happens, im just switching back to regular pads... the stopping power is great, but that noise is annoying as hell.. not to mention embarasing, and i dont even think the brakes have the same bite when they start grinding

 

Maybe the wrong rotors were in the box? See how everything is wearing. I can't believe the pads would be that loud.

 

yeah man... its pretty bad.. they're quiet when they're cold, and for about the first 20 minutes they're fabulous.. but give it about a half hour of driving and the sqeaking and grinding will start.. i notice on the right back wheel theres a little groove that has been cut into the rotor in a perfect circle.. i can feel it with my fingernail, and its almost as if there was something on the pad that cut into it while i was stopping.. i had the same thing on one of my front wheels about a week after i put the pads on, but that's gone away since.. they're the right rotors though.. they have "brembo" imprinted on the top of them.. i looked for that to make sure i wasnt getting ripped off.. NOBODY else has had this issue? that's so weird... of course it would only be me.. lol

 

I've got the same problem with my HPS and Brembos. The grinding occurs at very low speeds once the brakes are warmed up. The noise I'm hearing only comes from the front right. I've had my mechanic take a look at it a few times already and they are stumped and say that everything looks ok. I'm hoping the sound goes away once they are worn in some more.