Does anyone have hands on experience with Hawks performance ceramics front and rear?
I drive slowly around town, looking for pads of minimal dust. Never track. They are a bit cheaper than the project mu ns400
Thanks for sharing !

 

I ordered front and back pads from Autoanything.

At the same time I replaced the front rotors, but did not replace rear rotors.
Fronts rotors were measured with a micrometer to be within a couple MM of minimum replacement thickness, while rears were barely less than stock thickness..

I've noticed the brake dust is very much reduced. Prior to switching pads, I used to have big piles of metallic dust on the fronts. With ceramic pads it is much less.

Some thoughts: With the old stock pads, I was getting serious squeaking coming from the back, which initially disappeared after replacement, but is back now, although reduced. It seems to go away after a couple of hard brakes. I greased everything up pretty well so I'm not sure why it continues. As I mentioned before, I did not replace the rear rotors, so it's possible it's the rotors or something else.

Also, when the pads are completely cold, it takes a *little bit* more pressure on the brake pedal to come to a complete stop. It seems they need to warm up first, but it typically is back to normal after 2 stop signs, so no biggie. Pretty much notice it only when coming out of my driveway in the morning.

I've uploaded two photos of brake dust using the ceramic pads. You can see there are no longer the big piles of dust accumulating at the corners. It's been about 5 weeks since I washed the car and cleaned out the rims, so at about 80 miles per week this accumulation represents around 400 miles.




front - more spread out, does not pile up.





back - very little at all. Only noticeable if you look for it.



Here's what my invoice looked like - note that I took advantage of a 20% off sale at the time, but autoanything does 15% quite often..


Hawk Performance Ceramic Brake Pads
Front Pads - Full Set
2008 Lexus IS F
(All IS F models)
Part #: HB616Z.607
$186.75

Hawk Performance Ceramic Brake Pads
Rear Pads - Full Set
2008 Lexus IS F
(All IS F models)
Part #: HB722Z.652
$80.44

Centric Premium High Carbon OE Design Cross Drilled Brake Rotors
Front Left Rotor
2008 Lexus IS F
(All IS F models)
Part #: 128.44164
$125.99

Centric Premium High Carbon OE Design Cross Drilled Brake Rotors
Front Right Rotor
2008 Lexus IS F
(All IS F models)
Part #: 128.44164
$125.99


Subtotal: $519.17
Shipping: $0.00
Savings: $103.83
Tax: $36.34
Total: $451.68

 

Perfect!!.. This is what I was also looking for. I always use Hawks HPS pads for all my cars. Best pads around for street driving, spirited canyon driving.

 

The Hawk ceramic pads get a huge thumbs up from me.

I was actually the person who contacted Hawk about producing rear pads in the ceramic material.

They only offered fronts when I replaced mine, so looking forward to swapping out my Porterfield rears for these soon.

Very good in terms of reduced brake dust, but not at the cost of efficiency.

Think you'll love them.

 

WOWWWW...thanks man!
Appreciate the long reply and quote...nice!!
Glad to have people back up this product. Thanks again

 

While the ceramic pads produce less dust, they also produce less bite.

I would go with Hawk HPS street pads. I am not a big of the Centric rotors, had them before on a different car.

High pressure washer, wheel cleaner and brushes and the wheels will look new again. Really all depends on how much work you want to put into it. With the drought going on in CA, I wouldn't blame anyone for not washing their car. (I used to live in CA until June 2015 and washed all my cars by hand)

 

Hey, you're welcome. I had a pretty good experience and wanted to share.
BTW I got quoted $500 for rear pad replacement by Magnussen Lexus, I was like, "whaaaa?"

I can do all four pads plus front rotors for less...so I hope this helps other people as well. Note that I am fairly well set up for DIY garage work, with the appropriate tools.
But I would guess that you could purchase the pads + rotors yourself, then take it to a local garage to do the install and just pay for labor.

 

Nice!
I was thinking about the Hawk Performance Ceramic pads next!
My HP Plus' squeak like nails across a chalkboard, but bite HARD.

 

Have these on the front of mine.

Really pleased with them. Good bite, very little dust, and seem to be wearing at a nice rate as well.

Now that Hawk are offering rears in the same material, I'll get a complete set next time for sure.

 

Hey man, we have Winmax W1 ceramics in stock from Japan... please PM me for price, we just got these so haven't added to website yet. We can do much better pricing than NS400s!!


Thanks,


Rafi

 

the question is how do the w2 compare to hawk ceramics and OEM?

 

Very interested in this as well.. And a comparison in the amount of dust between the 3 (yes I know oem will have the most but.. )

 

Well, OEM are not ceramic so they are more noisy and make more dust.


Winmax W1's have very similar characteristics to the Hawk Ceramics.


Rafi

 

How do the W2's compare?

 

They are similar in price, offer slightly higher friction levels and a wider operating temp range but at the cost of a little more dust and higher potential for noise. The W1 is the main competitor in this price range to the Hawk ceramics or Hawk HPS if low dust is a priority.

-Matt M.