My Focus RS is almost due for brakes. I've got Hawk Ceramic pads and Centric rotors in my Tire Rack shopping cart, and I was waiting for confirmation from the hive mind before I pull the trigger:
As most of you know, my RS gets daily driver use with autocrossing on the side. What do you think of the Hawk pads?
I don't have any Hawk Ceramic experience. In general, ceramic pads have less initial bite than other NAO (non-asbestos organic). Also, in general, ceramic pads don't deposit as much dust on the wheels.
I just put Centric 120 rotors and Hawk HP Street 5.0 pads on my Fiesta ST. They have more initial bite than the ceramic pads I've used (Akebono), terrific modulation, and don't appear to be dusty. Probably not what you'd want for the track, but they may be up to autocross. I bought them primarily for street use.
I tried the Hawk HPS on my civic. They are a good street pad, did not like them for autocross. I found that they were too quick to go into antilocks. I pulled the fuse when I had it at the Challenge to see if it was better. I autocross a miata so I'm used to threshold braking, but I was still having trouble.
I asked David Marcus to drive it (multi time national champion), he said it was locking up the brakes more than anything else he drove that day. When I told him what pads I had, he said that he hates Hawks, "because they're too grabby."
Interestingly, I did run them at the track day at the firm, and although that track is pretty hard on brakes they worked well there and did not overheat. Nonetheless, they obviously are not a track pad and this isn't a recommendation to use them for that.
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:I tried the Hawk HPS on my civic. They are a good street pad, did not like them for autocross. I found that they were too quick to go into antilocks. I pulled the fuse when I had it at the Challenge to see if it was better. I autocross a miata so I'm used to threshold braking, but I was still having trouble.
I asked David Marcus to drive it (multi time national champion), he said it was locking up the brakes more than anything else he drove that day. When I told him what pads I had, he said that he hates Hawks, "because they're too grabby."
Interestingly, I did run them at the track day at the firm, and although that track is pretty hard on brakes they worked well there and did not overheat. Nonetheless, they obviously are not a track pad and this isn't a recommendation to use them for that.
Just a little note here. The hps are not the ceramic pads discussed.
Hps are great pads in a very narrow set of circumstances. I would never run them on a street car due to the downsides.
I ran the hawk ceramics on my 201t silverado. Changed them out for stock ac Delco pads when they were half worn.
I didn't like how they felt.
P.s. I run hawk pads on my racecar. Blue fronts and hps rear. I like hawk pads. I did NOT like those.
I have the Hawk ceramics on my 2010 Cayman S that I autocross. I've switched them back and forth with the stock Textar pads to compare them, and there is very little difference in initial bite that I can tell. Really, the only difference that is noticeable is that the ceramics dust way less than the stock Textars (which produce what looks like a thick coal dust).
I wouldn't run them on the track, just like everyone else has said.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:I don't have any Hawk Ceramic experience. In general, ceramic pads have less initial bite than other NAO (non-asbestos organic). Also, in general, ceramic pads don't deposit as much dust on the wheels.
My experience with ceramic pads is that they don't work at all when they are cold. Like, drive for a while when it is 40F and raining, the brakes do nothing even with two feet on the brake pedal.
The ceramic pads I had on my Nissan did this. The pads that came with my Volvo did this. The replacement pads (two different sets) are better but still pretty scary.
The Volvo uses the same brake pads as your Focus in the front. I was speaking with an RS owner a couple weeks ago and he said that on his car, yeah you had to drag the brakes for a while every few miles to keep them from icing over or whatever is happening. I was going to ask what your findings were in this regard with the Hawk pads until I saw where you lived. Rainy weather just above freezing is probably not something you regularly deal with 
I tried various Hawk street pads and never liked them. Have not tried the 5.0 though. I started using the Akebono pads from tirerack on the DD. I am impressed. They feel really good. Ymmv
I prefer the EBC Redstuff ceramics for the street/ I usually use conventional pads on the track) favourite is Porterfield R4 after I ran out of Ferodo DS-11s.
amg_rx7 (Forum Supporter) said:I tried various Hawk street pads and never liked them. Have not tried the 5.0 though. I started using the Akebono pads from tirerack on the DD. I am impressed. They feel really good. Ymmv
I had Akebono ceramics on my Sentra, and they were great. Not sure they're available for the RS, though.
Thanks for the feedback, everyone!
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