Owner reviews for brake pads

Pagid Yellows (also branded as RS29) is what I have on my 987.2 track car. If you want a track only pad, I’ve had great experience with PFC08, but I’ve used that on my BMW128i track car, so take that into consideration. Both can be used to/from track driving too. Just be prepped for a lot of squeal. Both are dusty as they should so be aware of that as well.

Hawk makes the DTC series for the 718 base. Can't go wrong with the DTC-30 for a pad that you can drive back and forth to the track and will perform very well on track. The dust is nasty and corrosive though, so I'd recommend cleaning the wheels and changing the pads out for street duty.

I ended up going with the same Rotor & Pads as I recently upgraded to on my rear. I stuck with EBC Reds because I might only do some light track use. They have been great pads for me in the past lasting almost 10 years!

I had Hawk HP+. They were extremely noisy and dusty, very strong bite though. I now have the standard Hawk HP pads, no noise and far less dust. Not as much initial bite, but still really great performance. I wouldn’t swap back to the HP+ after having both.

I'm extremely impressed with their Sport pads, when compared to their closest Hawk competitor, HPS. I ran Hawks for quite a while and they were ridiculously loud. The Sports give me similar bite, maybe a tad more, but no squeal whatsoever. These were on a Focus RS that I used for DD/autocross.

The rear brake wear on the B9 SQ5 is a known thing. The programming for stability control is super aggressive on applying the rear brakes on turns to keep the rear of the car planted so the rear pads wear down fast if you are even just a moderately spirited driver. The rear pads on my SQ5 only lasted 17k before reaching 2mm

I've been happy with my EBC Red stuff pads. Stop great, are quiet and best of all cut my brake dust significantly.

I run Pagid yellows, and yeah, they love to squeal when they're cold. Cold, as in, like you said, not at track driving operating temperature. Occasional street driving is loud, but I don't concern myself with that.

Not only is the yellow pad performance better at the track, but they are Pagid's "endurance" pad, so, at least compared to stock, they last a good deal longer too. Performance and durability are easily worth a little noise to me.

I've done the swap on my Tiguan for the front. There is no performance benefit, they are identical brakes with the exception of the R emblem plate and the pads are dustier on the R (same size but different brand).

The brakes. Looks all OE. The dust is unbelievable awful.