I bought these brakes because my stock brakes had 19k on them and were "beginning" to squeal.
I purchased Hawk HPS based on many recommendations and accolades and had my dealership install them while gettting my Oil Change Service etc.
Guess what?
They squeal!
What gives?
The box even says quiet.
They are not....
I was told this is due to the fact my dealership didnt turn the rotors.
First time ever I havent had rotors turned too...usually a dealership insists on turning them.
Now what? The Nissan dealership says they arent covered under warranty because I supplied them.
A local Z shop told me 2 new pairs, have them reinstalled on turned rotors, and "embedded".
I dont feel like spending all that money over again...guess I will just live with the noise.

 

VinUnleaded.....
I think what your Z shop was referring to was the process of "bedding" your brakes.....check out the following link...if you have not purchased a new set of brakes...follow these steps....then see if the noise/performance changes.

http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm

 

Thanks for the info...
BTW, you have the same color Z as I do.

 

I had Hawk HPS's and I bedded them in, guess what, They squeaked. It was down right embarrasing when coming to a stop.

I would rather have the dust then squeaking anyday.

 

Try bedding them and see if the squeaking goes away. I have the Hawk HPS and I haven't had any squeaking issues with proper bedding done from the beginning. The brake dusk is less than the stock rears with the Hawks and they are the best upgrade I have made so far. I hated having to clean my wheels every other day. With the Hawks I can go a week without having to wipe my wheel lips!

 

These were bedded properly by a pro. But the squeaking has become persistent now. I've had them more than half a year now (I don remember when I got them... but it's been a while). I need to do something about these pads...

 

I bedded my in as well according to instructions found here and on the box. And boy, the squealing on these pads are so embrassing. Squeals like this shouldn't come out of cars such as the G35 or 350z..

 

And I am about to order them... eek. Well, I've seen posts by people who say no squeal, and other threads like this. But I also haven't figured out exactly what would be better.

 

Try putting some disk brake quiet on the pads; shims will also help.
Alot of people don't turn their rotors; I'd highly recommend that you do. It is about 6-8 bucks each at your local parts store. Turning the rotors should not contribute to noise, just smoothness. Depending on how uneven the rotors are when they are turned; you can salvage your pads as long as you don't have a bunch of miles on them. Good luck

 

I have a track model and installed the Hawk HPS pads on the Brembo system. When doing so, I removed the shims from the back of the original Brembo pads and attacthed them to the back of the Hawk HPS pads with some tacky brake lube from Advanced Auto. Doing this is what I believe helped prevent any noise in my case.

The one thing I didn't like was the fact that in order to get the Hawk HPS pads designed for the Brembos in, you have to hammer or shave the front pads a bit. Now this was no big deal for me because I have a grinding wheel, but this has been a big issues for other customers who don't like the thought of having to hammer their pads into place.

 

i followed all the instructions for bedding the brake pads and they still squeak, what exactly is "turning the rotors"?

 

Well no matter what pad you go with it will squeal, just an inherant thing to deal with on the Zs. But the Hawk pads squeal less than other "high performance" pads.
high performance pads always make some sort of noise...

 

HAHHAHA... my hawk pads squeel SOOOO BADLY. WAY MORE than stock pads. It is downright humiliating. I have to swap these out. Started squeeling at about 600 miles after installation. HORRIBLE. And yes. These were bed properly.

 

I installed the "Stage II kit" that included slotted rotors and the HPS pads.
Cleaned the calipers a LOT (especially the areas where the pads touch the calipers), used Disk Brake Quiet (I have it in spray cans, but can be gotten in little tubes from the auto parts store) between the pads and calipers, and bedded them in to the tune of getting smoke coming out of the wheelwells and blueing the areas of the rotors that are not touched by the pads.
I had a light squeal after about 100 miles that went away after a good pressure washer spray to the wheels.
Now, if it starts to squeal, I just spray the rotors and calipers out with Brake Parts Cleaner and it does fine for a month or two. Then a light squeal returns until I re-clean everything.
Squeal in good pads is normally caused by vibration of the pad in the caliper and is produced like a cricket's chirp... the backing plate of the pad rubbing against the caliper makes the annoying sound.
Proper cleaning and installation minimizes the risk, and can completely eliminate squeal... but it will come back in the Z for some reason. I would assume it is due to a manufacturing issue with the caliper mount or runout in the mating surfaces for the pads inside the calipers.

Anyway, someone asked what is "turning (or machining) the rotors"...
This is process where the rotors are spun on a lathe or machine designed to do them on the vehicle and a cutting bit is used against them to true the rotor as it turns. This cuts away the glazed surface of the rotor and makes for a new surface to which the pads match themselves as they wear in. Think of this as turning a piece of wood down to make a spindle for a table leg... you want a straight and lump-free dowel of wood to start with before carving in any designs.
Once the cutting bit is used, and the rotor trued, it is normal to run a spining polishing disc against the rotors in the same fashion as the cutting bit, to give a cross-hatch pattern to the machined surface and help to eliminate any still uneven surfaces with the wider sanding pad. Think of this part as you would sanding a piece of wood to rid any bumps and splinter issues.
The whole process is done to insure that your new brakes will last as long as they're supposed to, and gain you the maximum efficiency through their lifecycle. Brake pads and rotors wear themselves into a matched set, which begins with the bedding in process, and, through this, makes them more effective and better wearing over time.

Lecture over... read over chapter 9 in your texts and be prepared for a test next week.

 

Mine squeal like a pig as well. I was told you can chamfer the edges and the squeal will go away. I've been too lazy to try it, but when I get the time I will.

 

i had this problem a couple months ago with my rear brembo pads, after trying a TON of things including disc brake quiet, i figured out that the rotors needed to be turned, so nissan did this for me and now its as quiet as hell...

 

lol so pretty loud huh?

on subject, i've been meaing to get the hawkpads just b/c of the brake dust issue. but this thread makes me nervous...

 

I have not heard about the hawk pads being very loud, actually those are the pads i'm looking to get for my BBK

 

my HPS pads don't make a bit of noise. i used the stock shims and some disc brake quiet behind them (very important to make sure they don't squeal IMHO). i did have to grind the edges a little to get them in (like done12many2 said), but have had no other problems with them. no noise. less dust. great stopping power.

now...i also have HP+ pads that I use for the street. these squeal like a stuck pig until very hot (like during track use). make sure you didn't mistakenly end up with some of these instead of the HPS's.

sean

 

I just had the Stoptech Stage !! installed w/ Hawk pads. I was driving it for a while normally, then later in the day I got on it hard and came up to a light where I was stopped and all I saw was smoke coming out of the front wheel wells on both sides. Is this normal? What the Fu*k!!! I mean quite a bit of smoke! They are brand new, got them early today. They were professionally installed at performance nissan.