Hawk HPS vs Ceramic

[sbaxi]

I am new on this forum. I have a 2004 G35 Coupe 6MT, 42,000 miles. I'm looking to change my front brakes. I was told by Infiniti that when I change brakes on this car I have to change both the rotors and pads. Is this true? Also I'm considering the Hawk HPS vs. Ceramic. Any suggestions? I have been reading good and good and bad reviews of the HPS with the dust, squeeling, and stopping distance. Not much has been said about ceramic. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks, this forum rocks.

[soul_hfk]

welcome to NICO

i know some1 here can help

[sbaxi]

I have non-brembo brakes.

[zozoka1212]

Welcome to nico

You have to change the rotors if they are worn out otherwise I would refuse to change it. Maybe you have to resurface it on the lathe.

People here like Hawks, I had ceramic before. They worked awesome.

Wait a couple of days. More people will chime in with their opinions.

Zozoka
Modified by zozoka1212 at 11:21 AM 8/5/2007

[Beancooker]

I has Hawk HPS on my Maxima, and they worked awesome. No noise, great stopping power, and virtually NO dust.

[szh]

I am new on this forum.

Welcome to NICO!

I have a 2004 G35 Coupe 6MT, 42,000 miles. I'm looking to change my front brakes. I was told by Infiniti that when I change brakes on this car I have to change both the rotors and pads. Is this true?

Not unless the rotors are below the spec width!

Normally, you should be able to go through at least 2 or 3 sets of pads before the rotors need changing. On some early G35, the pads wore fairly quickly (that is normal ... what you get for good stopping), so the rotors should last for a number of pad changes.

Again, the correct thing is to measure the rotor width when you doing a pad replacement. If it is within spec, then it does not need to be changed. Of course, the rotor may need resurfacing. Once or twice is the likely maximum resurfacings you can do, since it then gets too thin after that.

Z

[sbaxi]

Thanks for the responses.

How about the pads? Hawk Ceramic vs HPS?

[szh]

How about the pads? Hawk Ceramic vs HPS?

I have not tried anything other than Nissan/Infiniti OEM pads, and like those a lot, so I cannot comment on the above question.

In terms of rotors, I tried cross-drilled and slotted Bradi rotors from irotors.com on my 1995 Q45. Bradi is a sister company to Brembo. Those rotors worked well, although I did not have the car for long with those rotors.

I believe that braking quality and lack of vibration depends a lot on the skills of the brake technician doing the work. This last time around, the tech at the Dealer did an outstanding job replacing pads on my M45. It has been many thousands of miles, and I am still vibration and noise and "warp" free. Every time something sounds or feels funny, I re-balance the tires (about 3k to 4k miles or so) and the "problem" goes away!

BTW, the slots create a different sound when braking ... not a bad sound, just different than stock rotors.

Z

[zozoka1212]

The hps was designed for sport cars to put more stopping power. The ceramic have a better heat transfer. I think it should last longer and no dust. I think no matter what you pick hps or ceramic you'll be happy. Both of them good products.

Zozoka

[Q45tech]

The Nissan Brake Assist is partially mechanical: Soft dusty rising friction rate pads with soft [cast iron grade] rotors.

Changing from oem pads upsets the friction ramp up doing away with the brake assist and increases panic single stop distances especially in cold areas.

Almost all pads have some ceramic content as opposed to full semi metallics and metallics............Ceramic is just a marketing term.

[zozoka1212]

I thought it is called ceramic because it contains more ceramic component than the hps. I could be wrong. You are absolutely right about other have ceramic also.

Zozoka

[Q45tech]

Ceramic per se is a high middle temperature friction component as opposed to metallic which work better the hotter the pads get.

Ceramics fall off the cliff frictionwise as the temps get above 500F.

Since a single panic stop from 60 mph on a 100F day only results in ~~250F pads and rotor temperatures, one must select the pad materail to match your desired temperature range.

Unfortunately pads are like a seesaw excellant in only one position on the temperature graph.

Also edge codes only give broad ranges as to how pads fuction frictionwise at 250F and 600F and allow up to 25% fade at 600F as a FF grade pass.

No US regulations on cold performance.

[zozoka1212]

The rotor emperature is different from the pad temperature. The temperature depends on the size of the car speed and outside temperature. Say the outside temperature is around 100 you bbrake from 60 with a 3500lb vehicle(just example) in 110 feet. They usually measure the brake force in hp. It can go up from 6-10 times more then the speed your on at the time you step on the brake. At 60 of the speed you can end up with 600hp brake force. Each hp calculated about 42. something BTU which go up to 25200 BTU at 600 brake hp. Which can boil couple of gallon water to 100 degrees. That temperature goes to the pads in seconds. As far as I know the pads are fading after when the rotor can't absorb any mory heat. That's why the drilled rotors performe better if you have the proper temperature and the proper pads. All brakes will fade beyond a certain temperature. Semi-metallic linings can usually take more heat than nonasbestos organic or low-met linings. Vented rotors can dissipate heat more rapidly than nonvented solid rotors. Thus, high performance cars and heavier vehicles often have vented rotors and semi-metallic front brake pads to handle high brake temperatures. But if the brakes get hot enough, even the best ones will fade.

To be honest couple of brakes after the other or mountain driving or just the driving style of mine in the city can bring up the temperature to 500-600.

zozoka

[ocho]

Thanks for the responses.

How about the pads? Hawk Ceramic vs HPS?

I changen the OEM rotors for sloted ones and had the same dilema. My findigs are that ceramic pads are tougher on rotors and these will last less than with the HPS from Hawk so these are the ones I got. I'm very satisfied w their performance and are a lot clenaner than OEM.

OCHO

[zozoka1212]

Yes you are right the ceramic kills the rotor faster.

zozoka

[Nadia]

I've heard the Hawks can be loud. Does anyone have an 03 or 04? Do they new OEM pads wear down the rotors like the originals..?

[Beancooker]

The Hawks thatI used were no louder than the OEM pads, just a lot less dusty. OEM pads do not wear down the rotors as fast as ceramic pads do, and Hawks wear the rotors about the same as OEM.

[Nadia]

The Hawks thatI used were no louder than the OEM pads, just a lot less dusty. OEM pads do not wear down the rotors as fast as ceramic pads do, and Hawks wear the rotors about the same as OEM.

Thanks. Do most of you change your own brakes?

[zozoka1212]

It is probably the rotor. The rotor with slots on it gives a little different noise. The drilled one is quiter than the slotted one. That's probably what you can hear. You can change your own brake pads, I know how to and used to do it but lately I am getting too slappy. I let the pro deal with it.

Zozoka