What' up guys? I'm hoping that someone might be able to give me some info on this issue before I spend an unearnerd fortune to fix it. I recently purchased the OC Autosports Cliffhanger rotors and HPS pads and had them installed at a shop that I know. The problem is that i've logged over 1k miles and if I have to brake hard the car does not stop when I brake but keeps moving forward &ABS does not engage either. Also when I eventually come to a stop it sounds as if the rotors were being gouged by something. I've read a lot of good reviews ont his forum about this set-up but for me they havent worked to well.

Also I noticed that the pedal feels somewhat soft, I had the shop bleed the brakes and there was no air found so I'm not sure what it could be.
It's really scary, especially the other day when the wife had to use the car and she told me she had the same issue.

Any ideas on what this could be will be greatly appreciated.

 

Do you have an 03-04 and were you using OEM pads/rotors before? The Hawk HPS are known for having significantly worse initial braking than the OEM pads, which is what you may be observing

 

This could be a reslut for poor quality materials... I'm not farmiliar with OC Autosports Cliffhanger rotors so i rreally couldnt tell you. HPS(if its Hawks?) is pretty good quality.

Did you break in your brakes when you had them installed... i forget what it is actually called though

 

1) HPS pads have poor initial (cold) bite - they are higher temp pads, meaning they resist fade from higher temperatures better, but it also means that they don't work as well until warmed up. Once warmed up, they should work fine, but beware driving in the rain and cold weather.

2) You need to bed new pads and rotors together. Go to the Hawk website and look up their bedding procedure. You need to make a series of stops from moderate speed to burnish the pads into the rotors and transfer some material. this will greatly improve pad efficiency.

3)As for the the "gouging," that sounds like either an installation problem (i.e. wrong size pad) or something got in between the pad and rotor. Can't diagnose that one via a forum.

 

HPS pads are pretty good pads but if you have an 03/04 the rotors are undersized which may lead to your fade issues. The oem pads were very aggressive (to make up for the small rotors) which lead to so many people wearing them out in 10-15k miles.

 

Thanks guys for the quick replies!
I have a few other questions:

redline - Yes, I was using OEM pads and rotors before which performed fine. While they have worst initial baking they should come to a stop when they are fully engaged. This car continues to "slide" even though the brakes are fully applied. any other ideas?

G35fromPA - From Hawks website they state that these pads have "High friction/torque hot or cold " so shouldn't they perform well in any type of weather condition?

 

I had Hawk HPS before and they do not perform well in the cold / rain, with noticibly longer braking distances.

 

That's what their marketing materials say, sure, but my experience with them (and that of many others) is that they don't stop well when cold. Attempting that first stop in the rain or cold weather can be downright scary. My guess is that the pads are causing your problem: they are too high temp for the application, and you haven't bedded them properly. Try bedding them in properly and see if that helps at all.