Reviews of Hawk Performance brake pads

Running Hawk DTC 30s on a Mustang (3800 lbs with me) both front and rear. I brake hard and the car is heavy. The pads don't glaze nor fade. Wear is OK.

I daily DTC-60s and they're surprisingly not that noisy.

I am stock turbo FBO (engine wise) FiST, switched from Powerstop Trac Day Spec to Hawk DTC-60 with good results.

I did two track days on these new hawk hp+ brake pads and Zimmerman rotors. After the first track day, something weird started happening: I started hearing the squealing that I hear while breaking even when I’m not breaking. It’s not constant, but it’s coming from all four wheels and is mostly heard at low speeds, especially after starting to drive after coming to a complete stop. These are two track days in. Should I be worried?

Not only do they do that, they're a terrible autocross pad. Dust is something that happens with pads that stop there are very few that stop and don't make dust. However there are different types of dust, stuff that sticks to everything and stuff that wipes off easily. But the problem with those pads in general isn't even the dust it's there very on off switch nature. They're very powerful and they're very grabby and they do not release well either which makes abs fight a lot more to do its job.

I ran Hawk DTC60's for one event. They dust like crazy which isn't the end of the world by itself, but if the dust touches any moisture at all (like the rainy track day) it mixes into what I can only describe as ferrous concrete. So not only is the dust-crete impossible to remove by any normal means, it then rusts like crazy, turning whatever wheels you have into a runny orange mess. I tried multiple different wheel cleaners, multiple brushes, soaking, anything and nothing could get it off. I had to use scotch brite and scuff the hell out of the wheels to get it off. Fortunately I run cheap TRM wheels and it's a track-only car otherwise I would have been livid.

Garbage pads. They're like a damn on/off switch and they chew through rotors.

I’m a big fan of how my brakes feel after upgrading to the Hawk HPS 5.0 pads, Bosch solid rotors (drilled/slotted do more harm than good), and some Goodrich Stainless Braided Brake lines.

I ran HP+ pads and nearly ruined some STI Rays wheels I ordered from Japan. The key to cleaning the dust off is using a cleaner that has an iron remover. Sonax makes a good one. Meguiar's all wheel cleaner also works OK. I had to treat each wheel about 5x with a soft bristle brush and still ended up using a blue Scotch Brite to get the hard deposits of dust. I ended up removing some paint in some indescreet locations. I was super bummed. I no longer run these pads and run ceramics for the street. I plan to run more aggressive pads when needed, but haven't picked anything yet. The HP+ are great. The modulation is amazing. The bite, even when cold, is awesome. But there's a major trade off.

That's normal for those. I have been through 3 or 4 sets now and to be honest, I think I'm done. After COVID they just seem to be very unpredictable. I've my last set did some weird stuff sometimes and my current set feels like it needs way more temp then it should. When I did a track day and put dtc60s on it, they gripped immediately on a cold stop where the HP+ felt like it needed some use. None of the other pairs have felt that way. The noise is also totally random now, the first couple sets would be loud unless they had heat, but the new ones are a lot quieter and sometimes loud.