Reviews of Hawk Performance brake pads

Hawk HPS review: Very good stopping performance, very close to OEM pads. Maybe slightly less initial bite. Less noise than the OEM pad. Very quiet, really. These pads produce less dust than the OEM, probably half as much nasty dust. I can go days without having to clean the wheels now. I'm pretty sure they can handle more heat than the OEM pads as well.

Update: I changed out the rear pads without difficulty and the brake hardware looked normal. I replaced the worn pads with Hawk Ceramics (ECS Tuning), greased the calipers up and will hope for the best.

started w/ oem here, way overcooked them and then changed to hawk hps (no HP+ for the R which was what I liked). Used them last year and cooked the fronts good and used them up, not enough bite for me, but felt a bit better than oem.

I didnt like the HAWKS AT ALL.

I have a clunking noise coming from my front brakes, whenever i hit a bump. This has been ruled to be the outside pad moving around in the caliper. Pretty much everything else in the front suspension has been changed, so i'm pretty sure it is the pad. Mechanic had the car yesterday and said everything looks tight as well. The car stops fine, and there's plenty of pad wear left so i'm not going to switch out the pads or anything. I was hoping someone could chime in and let me know if there's something that can be done to get rid of the "clunk", or do i just live with it. Anyone else ever have this issue? FYI, It's a 2000 Golf with Hawk HPS pads.

I just put on Hawk HP pads today on drilled & slotted rotors, and did a proper bed-in procedure. When they're heated up, they do stop nicely - however, they do completely lack the initial bite of the OEM brakes

I decided to go with the Hawk Ceramic pads and I am now regretting it. The pads give off near 0 brake dust but that initial bite the OEM pads had is gone.

I spoke with someone at Hawk yesterday (not Mr. DeMarino). The rep told me that Hawk Ceramic are more linear than HPS but otherwise have similar friction.

The ideal setup for your Mk5 GTi is actually Hawk Performance DTC-30 up front and Hawk HPS or stock pads in the rear. You will get a very smooth engaging brake with excellent modulation out of the DTC-30 and your rear pads will "Go along for the ride".

I run HP+ now on the jetta and they scream when cold, I could care less, they stop really well when you need it.