# Hawk HP Plus pads - very noisy??



## phatvw (Aug 29, 2001)

I just installed Hawk HP Plus pads with my 12.3" TT brake upgrade. I noticed that under 30mph, I can hear the pads grinding away at the rotors. Is this normal for these pads? The rotors are ATE slotted & cadmium coated. At speeds higher than 30mph, the road noise overpowers the brake pad noise.
BTW the procedure I followed to bed-in the new pads was:
- 5 medium-hard stops from 35-5mph
- 1 hard stop from 60-5mph
- let brakes cool completely
I got caught in traffic while doing this so I had to use the brakes a little more than that during the bed-in. Hope that didn't ruin it.
Please advise.


_Modified by phatvw at 12:21 AM 12-19-2003_


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## dcomiskey (Mar 13, 2002)

*Re: Hawk HP Plus pads - very noisy?? (phatvw)*

Why would you put those pads on for normal street driving? They're really designed as a racing pad. They will be noisy and very dusty under normal conditions. They need to heat up. You should have gone with the HPS instead. They are a much more street-friendly pad that you can use at the track, too.


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## MikekiM (Aug 21, 2001)

Agree with dcomiskey.
HP+ is a track pad, not designed for regular street use.
Go to the Hawk HPS for that.


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## phatvw (Aug 29, 2001)

*Re: Hawk HP Plus pads - very noisy?? (dcomiskey)*


_Quote, originally posted by *dcomiskey* »_Why would you put those pads on for normal street driving? They're really designed as a racing pad. They will be noisy and very dusty under normal conditions. They need to heat up. You should have gone with the HPS instead. They are a much more street-friendly pad that you can use at the track, too. 

Yeah I was a afraid of that. They say street/track but they are definitely more on the track side of things. I think I should have gone with the HPS.
Do you think there would be any problems swaping to the HPS or Mintex and then popping the HP Plus pads in for track days? Is that going to hurt the rotor?


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## [email protected] (Oct 7, 1999)

Actually the +'s are a street pad and "occasional" track useage. They lean more to the track side of things like you said.
And yes they do squeal a lot and are quite dusty in my experience. Think one of the things you can do to get rid of the squeal for a bit is go out and hammer the brakes a bit and also clean the rims from time to time. Why the rims? Well I found when I sprayed water in there the dust was getting caked up causing more squealing.
I did a fair amount of experimentation w/these things when I had them on my Jetta.
This time around w/our Audi I'm running Porterfields R4S's. Great pad, same bite as the Hawk +'s, but way less dust.


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## M this 1! (May 17, 2000)

*Re: ([email protected])*

David has it right. when the dust accumulates, it actually does get the pad resonating more by slightly unseating it. this is squeel. the HP+ is way dustier than most so this builds up quicker and squeels more. it's a pretty damn grippy pad that requires very little heat to work.....good thing when used on the street. they usually squeel at slow speeds, especially after going hard on them. some of the noise, more of buzzing sound, is the edge of the pad going over the slots. i found the Ferodo 2500s to be EASILY as good on the track,if not better, than the HP+. they have normal dust levels, wear very, very well and are ALWAYS quiet (except for the slotted buzz). both the HPS and Mintex do very little when you want strong brakes.


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## phatvw (Aug 29, 2001)

*Re: (M this 1!)*


_Quote, originally posted by *M this 1!* »_David has it right. when the dust accumulates, it actually does get the pad resonating more by slightly unseating it. this is squeel. the HP+ is way dustier than most so this builds up quicker and squeels more. it's a pretty damn grippy pad that requires very little heat to work.....good thing when used on the street. they usually squeel at slow speeds, especially after going hard on them. some of the noise, more of buzzing sound, is the edge of the pad going over the slots. i found the Ferodo 2500s to be EASILY as good on the track,if not better, than the HP+. they have normal dust levels, wear very, very well and are ALWAYS quiet (except for the slotted buzz). both the HPS and Mintex do very little when you want strong brakes.

Thanks! Ok I'll try that and see if the noise is reduced at all. I just bought some Mintex redbox pads on sale at parts4vws.com for everyday use. I'll save the HP plus for track days.


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## dcomiskey (Mar 13, 2002)

*Re: (M this 1!)*


_Quote, originally posted by *M this 1!* »_ both the HPS and Mintex do very little when you want strong brakes.

Disagree. I swapped my stock out for the HPS (along with new fluid and SS lines) and notice quite a difference when I went back to the track. 
Mintex, however, are OEM grade pads. They'll cook at the track. *poof!*
You can also swap the pads out for track days as the original poster said. The one prob I see with that is the bedding of the pads. I recall someone saying to use matched rotors when swapping pads.


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