I am looking to upggrade my break pads because of brake dust! I have a grand touring with brembos. I am looking to upgrade to either Nismo's or Hawk HPS. Has anyone installed Nismo's or Hawks HPS's on thier car? Please let me know how the dusting with each pad? Thanks, Robert

 

I've had both pads, but with the non-brembo's, so my review might not be as useful for you.

But as far as dust is concerned, either choice (in non-brembo application) would be a lot better than stock. Performance/price is a whole other story.

 

i had the hawks before. I would never buy them again. I heard the nismo are good though.

 

What didnt you like about the hawks?

 

Very bad initial bite. When you press on the brakes, it doesn't brake right away ..well not as well as stock or other pads i've tried. Made my driving a bit more dangerous for some reason. It's hard to explain. I actually took them off with less than 4k miles and threw them in the trash. Wasn't even worth selling to another person IMO.

 

better stopping power = more dust and faster wear - it's inevitable.
if you want less dust, go with a ceramic pad.

 

Are ceramics harder on the rotors? I just want less dusting? I never race the car but do get on it from time to time. So I dont want any less stopping power. Thanks, Robert

 

The nismos have very little dust output, literally night and day over the stock pads. I'm using them right now, you wont be disappointed.

 

The Hawk pads produce MORE dust, have LESS initial bite, and activate ABS way early. I hate them.

I'll never buy anything that says Nismo on it either, but if all you are concerned with is dust, get them.

OEM pads FTW

 

You could go with a set of our Girodisc Magic Pads. Semi Metallic so they have great initial bite. However they produce almost no dust and come pre-installed with our anti-noise shims so they don't squeak ether. They are also comparable to hawk in price for 150 shipped for a car set. We have many rave review from out EVO customers and we have a couple test subjects with them on their Z to post reviews very soon.

Johann @ Girodisc

 

I have hawk hps pads..I have yet to have any problem with them. Barely produce any dust. As for the braking, its true they dont have a ton of catch in the beginning of your braking but you adjust and over miles they begin to work really well. The first 1,500 miles I had to brake a little earlier do to the pads being made from a harder material. Break them in a little and they are good.

my 2 cents

 

I finally went with Hawk all the way around and I have the experience as everyone else...I bled the brakes pretty wel, but it just feels like I need to keep bleeding them to take up that lack of bite. You press down on the pedal and don't get much...they need heat to start working...OEMs stopped hard even with no heat. The OEMs stopped much better but dusted the rims badly. I won't go with Hawk again.

 

Recently replaced the fronts with Hawk HPS [non-brembo], there is definitely less initial bite but I don't consider this a bad thing. WAY less dust, barely any at all between washings.

 

just installed the hawks. i agree with most people less initial bite, but honestly that is not the worst thing. the brakes still brake hard you just have to move your foot a whole half inch more than stock to get the same bite. i don't understand why people use this excuse to make them bad brakes! they produce no dust. Those of you who are getting dust probably did not bed your pads right after install, its a common problem amongst people who don't know how to change pads. If they squeek, apply some brake grease to the brake components. Mine work great so far, and NO DUST, and i can still brake hard. If your looking for a street pad, and want your rims looking good, than go with the Hawk ones, its worth the half inch of foot movement you have to make to get the initial bite out of em. If your tracking, thats a different story. but overall i'm happy. my stock non-brembos would make my front rims black within the day without hard braking. in my hawks i brake so hard to the point where ABS almost came on, and i did it from 65mph to 20mph over 5 times in 5 minutes. the brakes were smoking when i was done, but not a bit of dust was on my wheels. i'm happy.

 

just remember that alot of a pads intial bit is down to how the pads are broken in to begin with (goes for any pad)

 

not sure why everyone complains about hawks being bad on initial bite. my HPS stop 10 times better than the stock ones ever did. even being low and needing changed i took them to ZdayZ and these still grab hard on initial stops and performed very well.

 

10x?

 

was just an expression, would be the same as saying they are like night and day comapred to using OEM pads.

 

exactly. if you had a shop install your pads, than i would still bed them myself. if you installed them yourself and did not bed them, than your pads are a waste of money because they will not work like they are supposed to. Anyone complaining that hawks produce a lot of dust, did not bed there brakes right. because they produce damn near none! After you start your car do a couple light brakes from 45, than do two very hard brakes from 60-10mph, and than go out and see how the Hawks perform. They need to get warmed up a bit because they are ceramic.

 

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