What are the best pads?
Hawk hp plus?

 

i've used hawk HP plus on street and track, great pad. The one negative is it'll make your white wheels black in no time and they can be a tad noisy. Hawk HP Street won't be good enough for track usage.

 

thanks
hp plus it is

UNless there is a better street/track pad

 

For track hp+'s are a good beginner pad. But if you an to track regularly you will need a more aggressive pad. And basically every aggressive/track pad will have lots of break dust. Axxis ultimates are a great street/track pad as well.

 

Best is a relative term. The application will dictate what is "best" in this case. For a streetable track pad, your experience level is a key factor. Some start out on Hawk HPS for dual duty street/autox/track. Others will use Hawk HP+ for street/track. Our cars are light so they serve as a good entry level pad. Also noted above are Axxis Ultimates which I agree are a solid entry level pad.

It's worth noting that the "best" track pad won't fair well on the street. The cold operating temps will be outside of the operating temps for most track pads. Also noted above, all aggressive pads will dust. A key item to pay attention to are the properties of the dust. Hawk Blues or most Cobalt Friction pad dust will ruin wheels or paint. Most Carbotech and Hawk pad dust easily washes off. Choose wisely.

 

https://honda-tech.com/forums/acura-...tions-3034582/
https://honda-tech.com/forums/acura-...otors-1155563/
https://honda-tech.com/forums/acura-...-pads-2404888/

I've been reading through a couple of threads (above) but haven't come to a good conclusion so I decided to bring this back since the thread title reflects what I need. I've managed to narrow down to these brake pads in order of preference:

Axxis Ultimates
HP+
OEM
HPS

Based on the R community's experience, which pads are best for my particular needs? Mainly for street, minimal track and the occasional canyon carving on weekends. I am NOT concerned about dust unless they are corrosive to paint or noise but I am concerned about rotor life since I've read that HP+/Axxis Ultimates seems to eat rotors quick?

 

hp+ in the front hps in the rear

 

any issues with corrosive dust or rotors getting eat up?

 

I researched for a long while for a nice track/street pad setup. I finally decided on ferodo ds2500 in the front and I think I found the perfect pad. At the track I've never had any issues with fade, excellent bite and pedal feel. on the street the initial bite is great and don't need heat to work properly. Also pad wear has been very minimal after two years of limited driving about 7000kms and a couple track days. Two areas of compromise though is brake dust and very very mild squealing from time to time. goes away after they heat up a bit. Seriously consider this pad. In the rear I have the basic hawk hps pads. Great balance with this setup. you will not be disappointed.

 

OEM pads are fine for the use you describe and hold well on the track as long as you don't have crazy mods and use proper braking technique. I'd say rotor wear is on the low side but they're just a bit abrasive. They do dust a bit and the dust sticks to the paint finish like most oem pads.

As far as(mainly)track goes, hp+ tend to dust alot but rotor wear is negligeable in my experience(even after 3 sets of pads on the same discs) which is a plus to me as I prefer to clean up dust than replacing rotors every time my pads are due. The brake dust easily goes away with the pressure washer and doesn't seem to stick or contaminate side panels like some others do and seems to be non-corosive so far.

The brake dust seems to stick a little more on oem white wheels because the sides of the spokes are somewhat poreous so a little more care is needed, but nothing crazy. If you use aftermarket wheels or gun metal, it's a non-issue IMO.

As for people saying that HP+ do eat rotors, I've had a somewhat different experience so I don't really understand why...
I do service my brakes about every 3 months tops and make sure everything is healthy and the discs surface is always flawless unless I run pads that don't have enough material left at the start of the day or session.

The only times I've seen or experienced rotors that were eaten by HP+ is when you're tracking a car hard with ''not enough'' pads material left to start with for the kind of use you do(which is not advised anyways) so I'd stay more on the cautious side and wouldn't use HP+ pads under 30-40% left, below that they sometimes tend to chunk and pulverise which starts to eat up the rotors badly and you will have to have them resurfaced or worse replaced.

One thing I don't like about HP+ is that the black paint on the edges and on the backplate is poor quality and doesn't stick past 2-3 track sessions and then starts to flake badly, which creates debris that can slip between the pad and the disc, causing some vibrations or making your brake light come on and that's very annoying to me because I always have to unmount the wheels and pads, clean the pads with a grinder to take off the remainder of the paint before I'm good to go again. Besides that it is a great pad!

 

Might go OEM for now and get HP+ for fronts and HPS for rear, depending on experiences at the canyons. All feedback has definitely helped me out thanks guys!

 

Is your "track" a road course or drag strip?

You dont need upgraded brakes at all at a drag strip. So assuming you mean road course, Hawk HP+ will overheat and fade on the track.

There really is no such thing as a street/track pad.

It takes 10 minutes to pull the front wheels and swap in some pads when you arrive at the track. I suggest doing that with some DTC-60's.

 

Stop tech Street. No other street pad I've found can handle 1200-1300 degrees.

 

what rotors are you running?

 

Centric slotted due to the rain we see in Florida. Used to run Centric/Stoptech blanks which stopped better in the dry but felt greasy on the initial braking in the wet. Could be placebo too because we are talking feel instead of hard evidence but the blanks are now my spare set. I'm sad Stoptech doesn't make a 7416 profile pad for my new Wilwoods because I'd choose it again for a double duty pad.