My friend installed my Hawk Blues brake pads yesterday evening as preparation for an upcoming lapping day this Saturday.

It was raining like cats and dogs in Toronto today. I had the day off and ran some errands around town.

As I approached my car in the parking lot, I notice my wheel lip were brownish (rust) color. I figure when I get back I'll clean the wheels off with a bucket of soap and water.

Boy was I wrong! The dirt and grime of the city streets plus my previous caked on layer of HP+ brake dust, plus my newly bedded in HP Blues and rotor shaving made this a very hard cleaning job. The brown crap on my wheels were hard as fossils!

I took out a scrubbing pad, soap and water, wheel brush, simple green degreaser to no avail. Nothing worked until I whipped out the 100% industrial grade steel wool. My fingers feel numb now.

My friend's advice was to put WD-40 on the wheels. So after I finish I sprayed a heathly dose of WD-40 to coat my wheels.

I hope the WD-40 will protect the wheels because it suck washing wheels for an hour.


[Modified by Edwin, 11:13 PM 6/14/2002]

 

I used to have a set of these pads On my 92 Golf GTI and let me tell yea there were times that these pad threw off sparks.. Great pad...just a tad much for the street though....but if your a Animal then you'll love them...Cleaning is a bitch though

 

Edwin,

Now you know what I was talking about...

Perhaps I'll wait until tomorrow to throw on my blues.

 

I fingers feel like they've been ordered to do 1000 push ups.

Kid you not these HP Blues are the one stop shop for stopping. I will not be looking at any other pads.

This pad will eat through 3 sets of rotors before replacement.

 

hey guys which lapping event are you guys going to??? shannonville? any more space available?

 

yup
my gunmetal slipstreams (track wheels) are all Hawk Blue dust color because of that. fortunately since they're my track wheels only it doesn't bother me. happy cleaning

 

Brake parts cleaner maybe?

 

hahahaha thats funny.

 

WD-40

 

These are RACE parts. Not steet parts. They will lathe your rotor into oblivion if they are not up to temperature. Once they are at temp, they are no worse to rotors than any other pads. I get about 2 sets of pads to one set of rotors.

These should only be used at the track. Don't even drive to the track on these.

Warren

 

Thanks for the heads up. I think I'm going to do the change over at the track. I drove to the track with them last time and spent the better part of the day cleaning everything afterwards

 

Yup, off the Shannonville tomorrow, yippy! I don't imagine there is any space available as things were filling up 3 weeks ago.

 

This event is surely booked. They were taking checks and holding them until they had the maximum amount of people. I believe 30.

 

it happened to me before too so no biggie
welcome to the power of stopping

 

Get the Castrol cleaner( purple spray bottle ) and it will clean your wheels. Then get wax and wax your wheels twice. Let it dry and wipe it off. Your brake dust wont stick to your wheels anymore

 

Blue's don't eat rotors that badly unless you're using them when they're cold. That's prolly the #1 reason to not use them on the street, followed by a close #2 cleaning the dust.



[Modified by SpiceyRice, 12:56 PM 6/15/2002]

 

I just got my Hawk HP Plus from tirerack yesterday, going to *attempt* install today. How are they in the department of dust and wear on stock rotors compared to the Blues?

 

I use Hawk HP Plus on the street. They dust more than OE brake pads, squeal a bit because of the higher iron content but are very good street / autocross / light circuit duty pads. I use regular car wash soap to clean my wheels with the Hawk HP Plus. I use HP Plus pads all year round.

Now for the Hawk Blues, well you can see for yourself in the picture below of my wheels after my rainy school / lapping day. Championship white goodness... NOT!

 

LOL!

Had fun even in the rain! Only wish my O2 sensor didn't let me down, it was a drag crawling under my car while being pissed on. But, she is all better now and things seem to be running fine.

Oh well, it was fun picking on the big boys while it lasted

Should be ready to remove those pads for you tomorrow evening. Drop me an Email with a number I can reach you at and I'll give you a ring. Probably around 5-6pm will do. If you don't know where you will be just give me a call and I'll let you know where I'm at!

Happy cleaning!

 

I have seen a lot of people with real bad stains on their rims from using some of the high performance brake pads from HAWK. I had a couple of friends that used them just for track events with their "track rims" because of this problem with black dust. Just my experience...But they do work!

 

Not just on the wheel, you should also look at your fenders and doors, my friend killed all 4 new sloted rotors with less than 3000k on the street only, those pads are crazy

 

"I get about 2 sets of pads to one set of rotors."

yup I'd have to say thats right...last year I wore out a set of blues before the rotors (all fabi track), you shouldn't be driving on the street with those pads ,go to the track and change them.

Also I couldn't bring myself to waste the kind of money(that blues are worth) on the 401.

I have seen HP+ put more grooves in rotors than properly used blues


[Modified by 89civicdx, 7:13 PM 6/15/2002]


[Modified by 89civicdx, 7:15 PM 6/15/2002]

 

I have found the saem problem with blues. I have had to wax the wheels before each event and then wash them immediately after I remove the pads after an event. The wax has reduced the problem but it is still there as the heat melts some of the wax off. At Canadian tire they have this wheel wash and wax combo I am thinking about trying to keep the wheels cleaner.

Has anyone used Ferrodo pads and do they have the same dusting problem???

 

All you need is WD-40 to prep the clean wheels.

To clean you'll need: steel wool, scotch brite dish pad, carwash soap and water.

Braking performance isn't an issue whit these pads. Cleaning is. My whole side and rear panels were covered in brake dust residue (rust orange color). The brake residue may have only been isolated to the wheels and a bit of the side panels however the conditions yesterday required driving through huge puddles of water which definately contributed distribution of unwanted material.