I purchased Hawk HPS for 2003 G35c Brembo 6 speed from tire-rack for my first brake change in the fronts - 20k miles. I used the tire-rack to find a reputable shop that will install the brakes (House of Tires in Levittown for those in LI, NY.)

I was told by their service guy that the hawk pads won't fit into the brembo system, so they thought tire-rack sent me a wrong pad.. Strange.. I had no problem with tire-rack in the past.. but HoT said they got in touch w/ the local brembo dealer and was able to get what they thought was the proper hawk HPS brakes.. except it'll cost extra $20.. well.. i figure i'll just pay extra $20 now and just return these to tirerack and call it a day..
and when the NEW pads came from them, it STILL WON'T FIT!! I mean, I don't think these guys are total newbs (they were the only ones whom i called around that knew that g35 brembo rotors shouldn't be resurfaced more than once if ever..)

So anyone who've had/has Hawk HPS pads on their stock brembos had any issue of installation? I saw the DIY section and it totally seemed straightforward (I couldn't do it myself cuz i don't have the tools and space restraints..) Should I be looking for new place to install brakes?

Second, they put in Bendix brakes instead.. anyone heard of them? I had them put it in cuz my front pads were pretty much worn out and couldn't wait around another week or two for my schedule to clear up for brake change..

HELP!

 

the same thing happend to me with HP+ pads. I just had to grind down the sides a little bit, and they slipped on.

 

I personally did my entire set of pads back in august. I bought Hawk HPS pads off Ebay and they fit perfectly (with the help of a rubber mallet at times).


I suppose it is possible that Tirerack mislabeled their orders? How much did you pay for them? I paid $173 shipped for a full set of pads.


the install of them was very very simple and didnt take very long at all. the first one is tricky, but the rest are easy after you get the hang of the first one.

 

maybe they didn't want to 'knock' the HPS brakes in with the mallet?

I don't think tire-rack's at fault here.. I saw the pad that brembo distributor sent and it's the same model#. I guess I'll hold on to these until next time i need change and hopefully find a open space/tools to do the change myself..

 

im sure they have plenty of rubber mallets around their shop just for the occasion

i only used it because the coefficient of friction was large.. so between holding the pistons in and getting the pads into place before the pistons release back out again you need to be able to get them into place quickly

 

I just installed some Hawk HP+ pads on the fronts today, and yes indeed they didn't slide in quite as easily as the rears. A rubber mallet definitely comes in handy here. After breaking them in, they definitely bite a whole lot harder than the OEM brembo's when up to temps. Cold bite is fine, maybe a little lower than the OEM's but definitely not dangerously low.

Oh and the OEM pads that came off, looked really bad, the edges were cracking stuff. Definitely overheated these pads at VIR last weekend.