Brake pads EBC or Hawk Performance

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.

I have had EBC brakes for two years now with zero problems other than the ticking sound from the air hitting the dimples.

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 currently have EBC Yellowstuff in the front and EBC Redstuff in the rear, so I should have a little more front bias.

About a year ago I replaced my stock (inexpensive) rotors and pads with ATE rotors and EBC greenstuff pads. They seemed like a great combo, they reduced my stopping distance by quite a bit.

New brake pads and rotors (EBC Greenstuff + DBA drilled/slotted rotors) All suspension components in good shape

EBC Green Stuff pads.

If you are doin competition, yeah, EBC pads and slotted / drilled are worthwhile, but for mere performance road use, there's no point (except for looks). The rotors wear faster, create more dust, and the pads, whilst they may not create as much dust, will squeal.

fast road pads like EBC Greens are actually slower to operate from cold. So much so that I nearly failed to stop for a pedestrian crossing one cold morning soon after start up. I simply wasn't expecting my pads to be so bad first thing. With the soft stock pads you get an intial bite that you don't get with fast road pads. This is a world away from the EBC Greens on 280mm brakes that used to get totally chewed up in one day at Sandown. Or the EBC Reds that disintegrated entirely.