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Hawk pads and some issues I had

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Brookeville
#1
UPDATE: Hawk notified me that they mistakenly sent out DTC-60s with two sets of outer pads instead of a set of outer and inner pads. They are working to remedy the situation ASAP and will be correcting the mistake. (YAY)

Hey everyone,

I just put some Hawk HP+ pads on the rear, some DTC-60 pads up front and StopTech Cryo slotted rotors all around. I'm headed to Summit Point this weekend for the Audi PCC HPDE Season Opener, so I wanted to get these on with a little time to get used to them. Will be flushing with Motul RBF600 fluid and running stock wheels/tires/suspension otherwise. Anyway, I wanted to let you all know about a few issues I had with installation of the Hawk pads.

I first contacted Hawk to see what they have available. Here's the reply I got:

I am glad to announce that our pads for your 2014 Fiesta ST are now available!

HB725B.650 / HPS 5.0 / Front Axle / Street Performance
HB725R.650 / High Performance Street/Race / Front Axle / Street Performance
HB725Z.650 / PC (Performance Ceramic) / Front Axle / Street Performance
HB725G.650 / DTC-60 / Front Axle / Motorsports Pads
HB725W.650 / DTC-30 / Front Axle / Motorsports Pads
HB430F.547 / HPS / Rear / Street Performance
HB430N.547 / HP Plus / Rear / Motorsports Pads
HB430S.547 / HT-10 / Rear / Motorsports Pads


I have previously used Hawk HPS and HP+ on my Audi B6 S4 Avant and had decent experience, although the fitment was never that great (the pads sort of swam in the caliper brackets and would *click* as they shifted back and forth). I liked the compound overall. I was very excited to see how the HP+ and the DTC-60s would do on my FiST.

First the rears - the HP+ appear to be the correct form factor. However, when placing the pads into the carrier, they simply do not fit. The metal below the wings was too wide. On one pad I had to file down about a good 1/16-3/32 to get it to fit into the carrier. Two of the others required a bit less filing and only one pad fit in with no modification. Here we are filing away on the offending Hawk pad, just below the carrier tab. I didn't have a grinder handy so it had to be done by hand and took about 15 min of careful filing and testing.



The fronts were frustrating for sheer oversight. The OEM Motorcraft front pads on the 2014 FiST are different between inner & outer. One pad has a flat surface that faces the caliper piston. The other has two small metal pins or nubs. The Hawk DTC-60 pads all have the two small pins. So, for the pad that is to face the piston, I had to grind the tab off so it would sit flush. Ugh. Here's a photo showing the two pads and where the pins are relative to the piston on the face of the Motorcraft pad. (not the purple brake grease spots I put on the pins of the Hawk pad and then touched to the Motorcraft pad)



Just a word of caution to anyone thinking about ordering up a set of these. You may have to break out the file/Dremel/grinder for a little modification. Anyone else have experience here? Would love to hear your stories.
 


stuntdoogie

2000 Post Club
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#2
Wow thanks for the heads up. Did you contact hawk about this? Get your money back and let them get back to the drawing board.
 


Chuckable

Active member
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#3
No stories here, but wanted to say thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts and pics. I've heard good things about Hawk pads (and am in the market for replacements myself), but this seems to show some basic oversight by Hawk for our cars.
 


OP
sluggyjunx
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Thread Starter #4
I sent them a message to let them know about the issues I had. I would be hopeful that they'd have worked out the issues at this point in their product cycle, but I guess not. What's obvious to me is that they didn't actually look at a set of OEM FoMoCo pads that go on the FiST to base their pads on b/c if they DID they would have seen the issues right off the bat. I didn't ask for money back, I really would just like them to get the pads to work properly so next time I can pick up a set and not have to do the modifications! They are some grippy pads! [ohcrap]

Wow thanks for the heads up. Did you contact hawk about this? Get your money back and let them get back to the drawing board.
 


Young L

Active member
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#5
what to know also. I was lookin to get the 5.0 for the front and Hawk Performance Ceramic for the rear. seem to be a good mix for daily/weekend track use. Not that any of those mentioned issues cant be easily overcome its always nice when things just drop in.
 


stuntdoogie

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#6
I desperately want new pads and rotors for daily that don't dust as much as the oem.
 


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Perth
#7
I put in a set of Hawk Performance HB430N.547 HP Plus Brake Pad on the rears last year and they fitted fine. Interesting that you had that fitment problem.

I take it the DTC-60 up front is purely a track pad?
I was considering DTC-30 for a streetable autocross pad.
 


Messages
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Location
riverbank
#8
I installed some HPS pads in the rear back in December and they fit fine. They even came with the tension springs just like the OEM pads. I don't know about the fronts. I ordered a set of DTC60 pads for the Wilwood calipers and they fit like a glove. They're awesome pads BTW.
 


OP
sluggyjunx
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Thread Starter #9
UPDATE - just to follow up on this. First up, I took the FiST to the track a couple weekends ago at the Audi Club NA PCC spring opener HPDE @ Summit Point and, wow, did these pads & rotors perform! I HIGHLY recommend this setup for the track. (not street) Here's one of my vids:

[video]https://youtu.be/WITvRR8e0z4[/video]

Second - Hawk emailed me back to let me know they mistakenly sent out the DTC-60 pads with two sets of outer instead of an outer & inner, by mistake. They are sending me a replacement once they are in stock and will be sending the correct stock from here on. How cool is that? So they are going to remedy the situation. This has me very pleased. I have been using Hawks for about 5 years now and been very happy with both my on road & few track experiences (and friends' as well).
 


OP
sluggyjunx
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Thread Starter #10
I desperately want new pads and rotors for daily that don't dust as much as the oem.
I can speak from experience, the Hawk HPS, HP+ and DTC-60s will all dust quite a lot. Maybe more than the OEM pads. (and it's a different compound, so the dust appears a bit less black and more rust colored) Maybe someone else can chime in on a good pad with less dust. Someone correct me, but the reason they dust is the compound is much more aggressive and wears faster. Pads that dust less will be a less aggressive compound and thus less performance. There's an inverse relationship here, I believe (dust vs grip). Again, someone with more experience can chime in. There has to be a good set out there.
 


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#11
Is there a reason you didn't run HP+ on the fronts? I ran them front and rear on my B5A4 and they were wonderful. I couldn't care less about them sounding like a train at low speeds, or all the brake dust. I would rather have amazing grip vs being clean.

Do you get less noise only having hp+ on the rear vs both? Is it common to run track pads on the rear and good street pad on the front?
 


OP
sluggyjunx
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Thread Starter #12
Is there a reason you didn't run HP+ on the fronts? I ran them front and rear on my B5A4 and they were wonderful. I couldn't care less about them sounding like a train at low speeds, or all the brake dust. I would rather have amazing grip vs being clean.

Do you get less noise only having hp+ on the rear vs both? Is it common to run track pads on the rear and good street pad on the front?
Hey Hwy9FiST,

I ran HP+ on my 2005 Audi S4 B6 hog at the track (with DBA 9000 slotted rotors) and found them to be adequate but not good in the long run. After several runs I experienced significant fade and wobble (rotors, I know). Quite terrifying in turn 5 @ Summit Point. As for the FiST and why I put DTC-60's on the front: they were available. Hawk replied to me with what pads were available (see my first post for the list) and since I couldn't match front-back exactly, I went for something a bit more aggressive up front. It is OK to mix & match front and back pad combos - you don't have to have the same all around.

As for my experience, the HP+ on my Audi made a TON of noise, most of the time. Like a stuck pig. With the DTC-60 and HP+ on my FiST, I have experienced almost no noise. It's interesting and I'm not sure why that is.

The DTC-60 is a more competitive, higher-end motorsports pad, where the HP+ is an entry-level "track" pad. As I posted earlier, this combo (along with the StopTech Cryo slotted rotors) worked tremendously well for me on the track - quite impressive. It would be more likely to run an aggressive pad up front and less aggressive pad in the rear, from what I understand.

Could care less about dust. [rockon]
 


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#13
Hey Hwy9FiST,

I ran HP+ on my 2005 Audi S4 B6 hog at the track (with DBA 9000 slotted rotors) and found them to be adequate but not good in the long run. After several runs I experienced significant fade and wobble (rotors, I know). Quite terrifying in turn 5 @ Summit Point. As for the FiST and why I put DTC-60's on the front: they were available. Hawk replied to me with what pads were available (see my first post for the list) and since I couldn't match front-back exactly, I went for something a bit more aggressive up front. It is OK to mix & match front and back pad combos - you don't have to have the same all around.

As for my experience, the HP+ on my Audi made a TON of noise, most of the time. Like a stuck pig. With the DTC-60 and HP+ on my FiST, I have experienced almost no noise. It's interesting and I'm not sure why that is.

The DTC-60 is a more competitive, higher-end motorsports pad, where the HP+ is an entry-level "track" pad. As I posted earlier, this combo (along with the StopTech Cryo slotted rotors) worked tremendously well for me on the track - quite impressive. It would be more likely to run an aggressive pad up front and less aggressive pad in the rear, from what I understand.

Could care less about dust. [rockon]
Great stuff man. I can't wait to wear out these stock pads!
 


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