Review: DBA Rotors with QFM HPX pads vs. Stock Rotors with Hawks HPS pads
Parts:
- DBA42962SL (Front Left DBA 4000 Series Slotted Rotor)
- DBA42962SR Front Right DBA 4000 Series Slotted Rotor)
- DBA42957SL (Rear Left DBA 4000 Series Slotted Rotor)
- DBA42957SR (Rear Right DBA 4000 Series Slotted Rotor)
- DB1161HPX (QFM HPX front Pads)
- DB1763HPX (QFM HPX rear Pads)
Install:
With access to a workshop this was an easy job and took less than 1 hour. At home with everyday tools it would be much more difficult and time consuming.
Impressions:
- Drove the car off the hoist and had almost no breaks at all lol. This was expected as all rotors and pads were replaced at once. After a good bedding in, they are starting to feel much better. Still not 100% but getting there.
- The rotors look nice with matching front and rear slotted :2thumb:
- Price: Not the cheapest options around. The rear brakes did NOT need replacing at all. Judging by the wear on the rear pads and discs they would have gone another 100 000k's easy. Front pads were also not worn, but needed to be replaced IMO. Read below for that story.
Summary:
Pros:
- Car now stops like I expect it too. WIll only get better as the pads wear in.
- Look nicer :2thumb:
- Restored my confidence in the braking capability of this car!
Cons:
- Price
- Medium difficulty install if not done in a professional workshop with associated tools.
Now, here's the part where I bag out the previous brake pads a little bit. Before I start though, let m make one thing clear, the old front disks were in bad shape. They we're worn to within 1mm of their Minimum thinkness and were never machined when the previous pads were installed.
The old brakes:
- Stock disks, well worn
- Hawks HPS pads
A couple of observations:
- The Hawks pads ARE a bit strange. The pads themselves are massively tapered towards each end. To the point where the actual friction area is reduced by 20 - 30%. Combined with my not machining the disks, I think that this is the problem.
- To give you guys a reference point, on the stock pads / disks stomping on the breaks would ALWAYS result in ABS going off. Especially with worn tyres.
With the Hawks, on a wet road with work tyres I was unable to cause the wheels to lock up / ABS to be engaged. Something was very wrong.
With the new setup, I've already had 1 ABS event on dry roads with ~50% worn tyres.
Questions:
- Has anyone here used Hawks on their stock rotors? If so did you machine the rotors on install? how did they perform?
- Does anyone else remember their Hawks being tapered towards the sides resulting in a sizable decrease in surface area?
I'm open to the possibility that I got a dud set of Hawks. I've read plenty of comments mentioning that they perform as well if not better than stock pads which as you can see is FAR away from what I experienced.
