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Thread: Review: DBA Rotors with QFM HPX pads vs. Stock Rotors with Hawks HPS pads

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Question 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

    - 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
    - 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.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
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    S.E melbourne
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    I've got the hawk pads with dba discs and I think they are great! I had bendix pads fitted before and I will not go down that road again for the same ABS reason. I had no confidence in my car at all.

    I have pushed my hawk pads pretty hard and they work better than I thought, I really think you had a bad set.

  3. #3

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    I have hawk pads on stock rotors....changed them at 80K kms...

    Now have nearly 150K kms and no problems at all....the hawk pads stop me instantly and I have full confidence in them.

    Soon I will be changing rotors as they are due...and will probably go hawk pads again.

    Happy Motoring
    duglet

  4. #4
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    Sounds like I got a bad set.... Too bad.

    Have the QFM's on there now. Pretty stoked with there performance so far, they have a nice aggressive bite, especially when warmed up.

    I saved a couple of the Hawk's pads if anyone is keen to get a look at them. I bought em through mpsgarage maybe they'd be keen to have a look and see what went wrong? Not after my money back or anything like that, but nobody deserves to have brake performance as bad as what these were... and it's sounding fairly out of character!

  5. #5
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    Photos?

  6. #6
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    Yeah I'd follow it up because the pads have been really good for me and I'm pretty hard on brakes..

  7. #7

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    I had new DBA 4000 slotted fitted to the front with nearly new QFM pads around 1500kms ago. I'm really dissapointed with the pads. Not confident @ all, felt very spongy and soft.
    I have just purchased some Hawk Ceramic pads ( PC - Performance Ceramic) which will go in on my next service in around 300km. I purchased a full set for $330 delivered (not from MPS Gareage). I have been told that fitting new pads to slightly run in rotors gives an intially better result. I'll Let you know after install. One thing I did notice was the Hawk pads are much better quality all round. The steel insert at the back of the pad is solid not like the QFM, which are very flimsy & easily damaged. I broke one when installing it myself. Im no mechanic, however installing just the front brake pads is no great task if you have the correct tools. Just my 2cents worth.......

  8. Default

    What do you mean my nearly new pads? Soft and spongy is a fluid issue, pads don't get soft and spongy regardless of how hot they are.

  9. #9
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    I fitted 4000 series slotted rotors and A1RM pads to the front (the backs are still good even with 100 000ks on them) and they have been pretty good IMO, the only cons i have found are that no mater what I have done they squeal, no mater what temperature they are, and they are a little dustier than expected (better than OEM but). Other than that they go well. I have done probably 20000klms on them. Would probably buy them again.


  10. #10
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    Thanks for the review!

    My 2c. I have the A1RMs too and they do squeal but I think they are brilliant cold or hot. I will be definately using them again.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hama3 View Post
    I had new DBA 4000 slotted fitted to the front with nearly new QFM pads around 1500kms ago. I'm really dissapointed with the pads. Not confident @ all, felt very spongy and soft.
    I have just purchased some Hawk Ceramic pads ( PC - Performance Ceramic) which will go in on my next service in around 300km. I purchased a full set for $330 delivered (not from MPS Gareage). I have been told that fitting new pads to slightly run in rotors gives an intially better result. I'll Let you know after install. One thing I did notice was the Hawk pads are much better quality all round. The steel insert at the back of the pad is solid not like the QFM, which are very flimsy & easily damaged. I broke one when installing it myself. Im no mechanic, however installing just the front brake pads is no great task if you have the correct tools. Just my 2cents worth.......
    My hawks didn't feel spongy, a little softer maybe. Pedal feel was generally quite good, they just didn't actually.. you know stop the car!

    Noticing the HP-X are a a bit squeaky on the rears, hoping that gets better as they wear in. Need to get them all nice and hot now that they're bedded in.

  12. #12

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    Yeah my HP-X pads sqeal constantly,

    Ok, if spongy is fluid then it's not the correct discription as the brake fluid has been bled and replaced with new fluid. I'm just not happy at all with the pads just don't pull me up as quickly as I would like, but heay that's just me and I am really fussy bout my brakes, maybe my expectations are way too high I hope the brake package works well for you......

  13. Default

    I had the 4000's on my Gen1 with EBC Redstuff pads. Great braking performance, minimal dust and long life.

  14. #14
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    I have the A1RM in the fronts and the HPX in the rears on mine, with stock rotors, the car stops much better than with the factory pads, and can pull up like this again, and again, and again.
    These pads give a very different pedal feel, which may be what you are experiencing Hama3 , and initial cold bite isn't great, but once they have warmed up a bit they are bullet proof, I also get a bit of squeal with mine, but I believe there are some shims that can be fitted between the pad & caliper to prevent this, I'll give these a go when I change my rotors.

    Also I noticed in the OP there was a mention of the discs being within 1mm of min thickness, just so everyone is aware the rotors only have 2mm of wear tolerance in them before they must be discarded, the following measurements are from the Mazdaspeed service manual.
    New disc - 25mm
    Min thickness - 23mm
    Min machineable thickness - 23.8mm
    Nearly all men can stand adversity. But if you want to test a man's character - give him power.
    Abraham Lincoln

  15. Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Hama3 View Post
    Yeah my HP-X pads sqeal constantly,

    Ok, if spongy is fluid then it's not the correct discription as the brake fluid has been bled and replaced with new fluid. I'm just not happy at all with the pads just don't pull me up as quickly as I would like, but heay that's just me and I am really fussy bout my brakes, maybe my expectations are way too high I hope the brake package works well for you......
    If you promise to do a feedback report, I'll shout you a front and rear set of a European performance brand called Remsa. Good for 650 degrees (so in between HPX and A1RM in terms of performance), and is a completely different style of pad to the Australian made QFMs. PM me for details.

    As has been said, there are stick on shims kits available that you can use with the QFM's if noise is an issue. Keep in mind with the QFM's of the price difference between them and other equivalent brands. The HPX is equivalent to Bendix Ultimate/Ferodo DS2000/EBC Green, the A1RM equivalent to Bendix SRT/Ferodo DS2500/Project Mu HC+. The A1RM is half to a third teh cost of equivalent pads. And they're made in Australia, so just keep that in mind. That said if you don't track the car, they're massive overkill, so don't fall into the trap of running them just cause they're cheap for what they are. I've taken podiums outright in the QLD Rally Championship on the A1RM, so they're not short of performance, and for the dollars are hard to beat...

    But if noise is an issue, and you're not tracking the car, the Remsa (which is a subsidary of TRW, the world's largest aftermarket and OEM parts manufacturer) will provide an excellent alternative. If either of the QFM's feel dull it's probably because you're not working them hard enough.
    - GSL RallySport - Ph: 1300 884 836 -
    Sick of paying too much for high performance brake pads? Want high performance and cold bite with low rotor wear?
    - QFM Performance Brake Pads -
    Also specialising in
    - DMS High Performance Shock Absorbers - Monit Rally Computers -

  16. #16

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    Thanks for the offer,

    But already have a full set of PC hawks ready to go.........

    maybe someone else who's ready for pads might take you up on that great offer

    Thanks for the info, maybe I'm not giving them a hard enough time.......

    Cheers

  17. #17

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    I fitted 4000 series slotted rotors and A1RM pads to the front, on the track, they got no problem to handle the heat, but i found that on the street when its slow, you have to step abit dipper to get the brake working? and i put in new brake fluid when i change the pads & rotors. is it normal?

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