Installed hawk pads.

[elwesso]

You guys are gonna love this!!!!!

Bought my hawk pads from joe about 2 months ago... Wanted to get them broken in prior to my racing next weekend... Joe also beat SPL's price for the set of all 4 corners by about $20 shipped!!!

Install was a breeze and I even did it the hard way (taking the calipers off) so i could give the rotors some love... Probably invested 2-3 hours, didnt relaly keep track (started at about 5, worked until dinner which is usually around 8). Z32 calipers have ot be the easiest brakes to work on. It said on the box to sand the rotors down with 130 grit sand paper... My fronts were scored from the cheap front pads so i thought to myself... why not use the dremel..? I didnt have the loot at the time to have the rotors turned so i figured i cant possibly make it worse than it is (my rotors felt fairly warped)

So i got out one of my mild sanding wheels (not the grinding wheels, the sanding wheels) and started to go to town on the rotors.. used about 1 wheel per rotor... and I only did the fronts (the rears were still smooth). And I gotta say, while it sounds pretty cheap and ghetto, it actually worked decent... Theres still some vibrations (what can I say,ive had the rotors on here for over a year with my braking style) but it removed a lot of vibrations as well.. IT seems as if a lot of the vibrations while I was stopping was due material left on the rotors' surface. maybe im making it up, maybe im not but the fact is my 20 minute ghetto job on the rotors worked great.

AS far as the pads go, initially ive been kinda disappointed on their bite from 80-0 but they definitely have more initial bite... IN my experience it takes a little bit for brake pads to start feeling right, even after you bed them in properly (which i obviously did)...

Since I bedded the pads ive probably only done 2 panic stops so i cant have a full review yet. But so far they seem pretty good

[redmanfx]

At first I didn't like my Hawk pads. They felt sluggish to me and not like what I had just taken off, but after I "broke" them in I've been happy. It seemed to take a while though.

[HG50]

hey what pads have you gone with before?

for me ive gone with the axxis ultimate and stuck with those since. have porterfields on my g35.

just curious

[elwesso]

I had an unknown pad in the front, OEM in the rear... They were the pads that came with the calipers when I bought them..... I dont think they were OEM because OEM pads have NISSAN or SUMITOMO stamped on the back.

[66mgb]

I just purchased a set of EBC "Green stuff" pads. All the BMW guys I know swear by them.

I plan on installing them this weekend.

[elwesso]

I think i know someone who used the greestuff pads and they were kinda noisy...

Darren, could you send me an email.....

[maxnix]

But rotors only cost $10 - $20 each to be turned.

How much did the four Dremel pads cost (maybe not you, but somebody)?

[elwesso]

My local shop was gonna charge about $90 for all 4.... I think it was 88 for all 4 plus tax.. The pads couldnt wait, but the rotors can! Plus i wanted to wait and have them turned after my racing event since they will take a beating then...

The dremel sanding wheels I had came with the dremel, ive used more cutoff wheels than that. Still, it would have cost about $5 for the dremel sanding wheels (which come in packs of 10 if memory serves)

[maxnix]

Road race? Good luck. Hope you are running against comparable LS4xx, MB S5xx, BMW 7xx, Ausi A8, etc.
Modified by maxnix at 9:38 AM 5/26/2006

[elwesso]

Negative.. Check out http://www.wingedwarrior.net

[mcrews]

hey wes,is it just me or is the picture of your car the most subtle one in the group?????everyone else is nose diving for cones.......

yours is just sitting quitely in the drive way........

nice

mark

[elwesso]

... which is ironic because my car doesnt look very good cosmetically. Looks mint at speeds but once you get close you find a myriad of various, as i call them, battle scars...

[metzgerq45]

Wes, saw a segement on SpeedVision the other night were a brake "expert" claimed that rotors seldom actually warp....instead, he said that the get "thicker and thinner" from pad material building-up on them (in certain places). It would be interesting to mic. a "warped" rotor to see if he is correct. In fact, I plan to do this when my new front rotors arrive!

[maxnix]

Wes, saw a segement on SpeedVision the other night were a brake "expert" claimed that rotors seldom actually warp....instead, he said that the get "thicker and thinner" from pad material building-up on them (in certain places).

Discussed many times here (or at least in Infiniti General) before.

Here's an interesting article:

http://www.stoptech.com/tech_i...shtml

Beyond correct materials and installation of equipment to specification, proper initial bedding is very important.