Hawk HPS Pads: Be Aware.

L

LIRob

Member
Since this is a potential safety issue I wanted everyone to be aware.

I've been running with my Hawk HPS for about a year and have about 5K miles on them. I'd seen posts before with people complaining about their stopping power when cold. I never understood these posts. Mine had been fine.

Yesterday morning I took my FX out. It had been sitting for over a week. It was about 80 degrees and there had been a light rain. My first stop sign was about 4 blocks away. I was distracted as I approached it and needed to brake very hard.

The brakes took an extremely long time to bite and the stopping power was highly diminished. Almost as bad as if I were stopping on ice. I nearly blew through the intersection.

After that at the next stop things were normal.


Don't get me wrong. I really like these pads. Low dust, no noise and excellent stopping after they've warmed up. Adequate stopping power when cold at normal braking strength.

However, be aware, if you're going to mash the pedal - hard brake - when they're completely cold give yourself some extra room. After they're warm there's no problem.
 
are those the ceramic ones? If so thank make sense.

Kinda reminds me of the brake feel when you just washed your car and the first time you use your brakes.:sad:
 
This isn't a Hawk HPS brake issue... my Akebono ceramics will do the same thing if I let it sit for that long, it's normal. You have to expect this after the rotors have glazed over in rust from a rain or two and sitting for a week.
 
themerchant said:
are those the ceramic ones? If so thank make sense.

Kinda reminds me of the brake feel when you just washed your car and the first time you use your brakes.:sad:
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No. These are not the ceramics. I've heard about that "just washed braking" but never actually experienced it.

Thinking this through the only other thing I can think of would be, since my FX sat for a full week, if it may have been caused by an oxide buildup on the rotors. Since I've driven it a bit this weekend I'm going to test it again tomorrow AM.


ON EDIT: My post crossed with Cube's above. We were thinking the same way. I'll check tomorrow AM and post up.
 
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yeah, I've had this happen to a car that sits, start it up, throw it in reverse & gun it, then almost hit the wall as the brakes feel like someone smeared Vaseline on my rotors:err:

brake checking is a good thing to get used to with a car that sits, I sometimes back out now with brakes partially applied & draging to clean them up a bit... also like to check the brakes whenever I go through really big puddles or such, don't even let go of the gas, just apply a bit of brakes to clean them... this is why you sometimes see "trucks check your brakes" signs in some places... if they traveled for 30 miles without tapping the brakes the first stop can be killer, especially on longer & stepper downhills, which is normally where you'll see these signs
 
turbocad6 said:
this is why you sometimes see "trucks check your brakes" signs in some places... if they traveled for 30 miles without tapping the brakes the first stop can be killer, especially on longer & stepper downhills, which is normally where you'll see these signs
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THANK YOU

I've always wondered what the hell those signs were for... usually when there's something like that... actually EVERY time there's something like that, it's for a reason. The reason usually is that somebody did just that before and in this case, came crashing through a toll booth because their brakes didn't work properly. It never made sense to me before this point though since I've never driven a semi on cross-country trips, and my gas tank or bladder doesn't usually take me more than 300-350 miles... but then again I have gone 300+ miles without touching the brakes once...
 
Tested it out today. Same route. Same speed. Different result. They bit immediately and stopped fine under hard braking.

It was not the Hawk pads. I conclude it must have been the oxidation on the rotors caused by disuse.
 
I just bought the exact same rear set-up as you. Any tips for installation? Anything tricky?
 
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