I have decided to keep my Fikse wheels in spite of the cleaning nightmares I have been having. (Car stored, not driven with new wheels yet). To lessen the dust factor I have purchased Hawk ceramic pads. What are the pros and cons others have experienced with ceramic pads...pedal feel, effectiveness, vs. dust and cleaning wheels?

Hi, I have the Hawk Sport Street pads on my Cayenne and will put them on the Cayman , when current ones wear out.

There is more stopping power on the Cayenne, about 20 feet shorter at 0-60. they respond quit well, but only after my down hill aggressive stop on the exit from my house, ( to put a little heat in them )


The GREAT thing about them is there is no metal in them , so the pinkish color dusk ( which is hard to see on silver wheels ) wipes off of with any towel, no pressure needed!

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Add Electricity and I Drive at night!

I assume full ABS all the way, and 20 feet shorter??? That is unbeliveable.

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Tomasz

Apologies for spelling mistakes, most of them are keyboarding errors. To enjoy this forum I run out of time to proof read.

my garage: 2000 Audi S4 (not stock) | 2007 Porsche Cayman S (almost stock) | 2007 VW Passat 4Motion Wagon (still stock)

The Hawk HPS pads have been the worst mod. I have done to any car Ive owned. I know some people on here like them just fine, but on the track they have been a nightmare. They are considerably worse then my OEM pads as far as breaking and make a ton of noise around town. Some people are going to disagree with me but that just shows how inconsistent they are. I am moving to pagids. I have yet to find somone who doesnt like them and will let you know in about a week. If you want a better pad then OEM for just street look at pagid sport line. Check out Rennstore, even if he doesnt sell you a pad he is very knowledgable and can answer your question better then most.

Whenever you are dealing with ceramics, you have to heat them up before they're at high efficiency for stopping. Really thats the biggest problem with them for daily driving.

I've used Hawk ceramics on a few different cars, and to me they have less initial "bite" than the stock pads, but some people actually like a more progressive brake feel - I don't. Ceramic pads are okay for mild street use, but if you are a heavy brake user or track your car ceramics are *not* for you. When ceramics get very hot they fade. I'm a believer in dedicated track pads on most cars, so the street-only aspect of ceramics has never bothered me.

The Hawks reduce brake dust, but don't eliminate it by any means. I would estimate the the reduction at 50-75%... it was ~75% on our '03 Z06 and about the same on our BMWs, but on friend's 997 I put them on it was more like 50%. On my wife's X3 they look to be about 25% worn after 30,000 miles.

Because the Hawks don't contain graphite their dust is far less obnoxious than most standard German pads. You can't exactly rinse it off with just water, but you won't have to scrub like you do with graphite dust.

You need to heat up ceramics? Not that I've ever noticed. In fact, the opposite is true, they fade when they get hot, and they are not suitable for track or towing use.

Are you talking about the ceramics? I am willing to try out the pads with some fading because i have dedicated track pads. since the FIKSE wheels have 1065 nooks and crannies, less dust has become very important on a daily driver basis. the fade? ill have to judge for myself.

Yes, I was talking about the ceramics. And I started using them when I started buying Fikse wheels.

BINGO...thread mission accomplished! Thanks alot