Hawks HPS vs OEM ceramic brake pads

[05skyline]

After searching on this topic, I was wondering if anyone had any inputs on which brake pads F and R I should go with. I have a 05 g35 coupe with 50K and while the oem ceramic pads have lasted me this long, I was wondering if I should change to hawks HPS. I heard that Hawks HPS last just as long as oem and are good on rotors with little brake dust but with more stopping power. Has anyone had good outcomes with any other brand brake pads? Thanks for any inputs.


EDIT: looks like i will just go with oem brake pads. Comment below stated that F/R full set of oem pads for 05 coupes for ~70 at vendor marketplace section but I did not see anyone who was selling for that price. If anyone can point me to where I can get full set for that price I would appreciate it.

[Jeff92se]

If you have data that shows the hawk hps gives a shorter 60-0 time hot or cold, list it and I'll fully support your Hawk hps purchase. If not, go oem

[Q45tech]

It is extremely unlikely that any aftermarket pad can beat oem pads in single or multiple panic 60 mph or 100 mph distances, especially in damp or wet conditions.
Aftermarkets swing the see saw to the hot range and give up cold/warm stopping to achieve any improvement.
There is no free lunch and OEM has spent hundreds of thousands in comparing compounds.
Every company will sell their special compounds to oem for same price due to massive volumes.
After all the chemicals and metals used in a pad don't cost $2.00 per pad.

If you read this you will know more about brake pads than anyone at any dealer in US:
http://www.ae-plus.com/Journals/Mate... aterials.pdf
http://public.carnet.hr/metalurg/Met..._166_Demir.pdf
http://www.braungart.com/PDFs/Antimo..._pads_2005.pdf
http://scialert.net/pdfs/jas/2009/377-381.pdf
http://www.penerbit.utm.my/onlinejou.../JT46AJUN5.pdf

[Rostasteve]

I personally prefer the feel of HPS...they have a more initial bite than the stock pads, and once I got used to them I couldn't go back to oem. I doubt they actually do a better job of stopping the car on the street, but they feel better to me.

HPS are louder and much dustier than my oems were. I also heard that you can pick up a full set of oem pads for something in the $70 range, while HPS go for $110+. Checkout the vendors in the marketplace section.

I say stick with OEM unless you plan on trying the track or autocross.

[idrive_MD]

Originally Posted by Rostasteve

I personally prefer the feel of HPS...they have a more initial bite than the stock pads, and once I got used to them I couldn't go back to oem. I doubt they actually do a better job of stopping the car on the street, but they feel better to me.

HPS are louder and much dustier than my oems were. I also heard that you can pick up a full set of oem pads for something in the $70 range, while HPS go for $110+. Checkout the vendors in the marketplace section.

I say stick with OEM unless you plan on trying the track or autocross.

On the brembo coupe I would actually dissagree with you on that. It would seem I have had the opposite response from my HPS pads. I've noticed throughout numerous occassions that the Hawk HPS do not respond well to cold braking or even emergency braking compared to my OEM pads. They do however have significantly less brake dust so I just keep a safe distance fromt the cars in front of me and drive defensively. Im on OEM rotors too, so I hope by switching to a slotted surface I'll get back some of that initial bite I lost.

Sounds like a bad review...depends on what your are looking for, I wanted less dust and less noise, I got that. I also wanted improved higher temp braking performance and I noticed that difference as well when switched pads, just not great when cold or luke-warm.

[redlude97]

What everyone has to realize is that there were 3 different OEM brake setups for the G35 with very different OEM pad performance designs
If you have an 03-04 AT coupe, 03-04 RWD Sedan or 03-05 G35X, then you have the single piston setup all around with the smaller rotors. Infiniti used very aggressive high dust fast wearing pad design with soft rotors to achieve its class leading braking performance. When the OEM setup is changed out for the HPS or any other lower wearing low dust setup, then performance will drop off significantly.

The 03-04 Brembo pad design is similar to the nonbrembo single piston setup. Aggressive pads with high wear and dust combined for even better performance than the nonbrembo setup. Swapping out the HPS on this setup also yields a significant dropoff in performance.

In 05, due to the high number of customer complaints about the brakes, Infiniti switched up the brakes for a dual piston caliper setup in the front with upgraded larger rotors F/R combined with a less aggressive lower dusting pad. This resulted in similar levels of performance compared to the 03-04 nonbrembo setups without the higher dust and wear associated with them. Using the Hawks HPS pads on this setup *may* yield better feel than stock because of the much less aggressive OEM pads.

This is most likely the reason for the very different opinions across the board on these pads. You have to make sure when you are researching and reading reviews on brake pads that you are comparing results from brake setups matching your own, otherwise you will arrive at a incorrect conclusion

[ConradoR]

Damn this sucks, I changed my brembo OEMs for HPS's a week ago....

Havent used my car enough to notice a major difference, but by the look of this thread... I made a mistake

[DaveB]

Originally Posted by redlude97

What everyone has to realize is that there were 3 different OEM brake setups for the G35 with very different OEM pad performance designs
If you have an 03-04 AT coupe, 03-04 RWD Sedan or 03-05 G35X, then you have the single piston setup all around with the smaller rotors. Infiniti used very aggressive high dust fast wearing pad design with soft rotors to achieve its class leading braking performance. When the OEM setup is changed out for the HPS or any other lower wearing low dust setup, then performance will drop off significantly.

The 03-04 Brembo pad design is similar to the nonbrembo single piston setup. Aggressive pads with high wear and dust combined for even better performance than the nonbrembo setup. Swapping out the HPS on this setup also yields a significant dropoff in performance.

In 05, due to the high number of customer complaints about the brakes, Infiniti switched up the brakes for a dual piston caliper setup in the front with upgraded larger rotors F/R combined with a less aggressive lower dusting pad. This resulted in similar levels of performance compared to the 03-04 nonbrembo setups without the higher dust and wear associated with them. Using the Hawks HPS pads on this setup *may* yield better feel than stock because of the much less aggressive OEM pads.

This is most likely the reason for the very different opinions across the board on these pads. You have to make sure when you are researching and reading reviews on brake pads that you are comparing results from brake setups matching your own, otherwise you will arrive at a incorrect conclusion

Perfectly said.

[neal@tirerack]

I had HPS on my 6MT and liked them better than the oem. Dusted less, had better higher heat bite, and didn't make as much noise. I commuted and did some track time on them so I'm not a good gauge of pad life.

[06g35meister]

ive had both and id have to say the OEM bite harder intially but the HPS bite more linearly to a harder final stop. OEM bites hard initially then kinda dies.

I also have DBA rotors that i installed at the same time as the HPS pads so i cant really be a good reference for OEM rotors.

Also, the HPS dust about the same, maybe 15% more. If you wax your wheels, it will keep 90% of that dust at bay anyways.

best of luck!

[05skyline]

Thanks for the inputs...

[05skyline]

Originally Posted by Rostasteve

I personally prefer the feel of HPS...they have a more initial bite than the stock pads, and once I got used to them I couldn't go back to oem. I doubt they actually do a better job of stopping the car on the street, but they feel better to me.

HPS are louder and much dustier than my oems were. I also heard that you can pick up a full set of oem pads for something in the $70 range, while HPS go for $110+. Checkout the vendors in the marketplace section.

I say stick with OEM unless you plan on trying the track or autocross.

I checked the vendor marketplace section but did not see anyone who was selling F/R full set of oem pads for 05 coupes for ~70. If anyone can point me to who sells it, I would appreciate it.