Time for some ceramic pad disclosure.

[Martin in Bellevue]

I installed Hawk ceramic street brakes pads last week on the 535. This is with the front 850 single piston calipers.
The pads are great on the street. Initial cold bite is very good & remains strong on the street. The hawk hps' they replaced, are prolly a better compromise on the track, but that is rare for my car. Other pads would be a better choice for the track anyway.

The Hawk ceramic pads seem to have a stronger bite than the AkeBono ceramic pads on the m3. They are also quite a bit cheaper $. Both ceramic pads are much friendlier to the wheels. They are also very quiet.

I recommend them for the street.

https://secure17.nexternal.com/bimmerworl/images/ceramic.jpg

As an aside, the 2 year old hawk hps pads still have about 60% pad material left after a couple years' use. The 13" 850i rotors are still in fine shape too. I'm tired of cleaning wheels every couple of days.

[Jay 535i]

Have you tried really heating them up?

I had some ceramic pads on my Celica for a while. I was relatively happy with them, until one day I was really hooning around and putting some heat into them. That's when they went from pretty good to stupendous. I've never felt brakes as good as those were when they were hot, and everything was stock save for the pads and rotors. Very impressive.

850 brakes sound impressive, too. Me wantie. :)

[Martin in Bellevue]

Have you tried really heating them up?

I had some ceramic pads on my Celica for a while. I was relatively happy with them, until one day I was really hooning around and putting some heat into them. That's when they went from pretty good to stupendous. I've never felt brakes as good as those were when they were hot, and everything was stock save for the pads and rotors. Very impressive.

850 brakes sound impressive, too. Me wantie. :)
I've gotten the m3 hot & the brakes seemed to hold up ok. The akebono pads could use more initial grip, for a supacharged m3, anyway. The 535 seems to brake stronger.

[Brandon J]

I installed Hawk ceramic street brakes pads last week on the 535. This is with the front 850 single piston calipers.
The pads are great on the street. Initial cold bite is very good & remains strong on the street. The hawk hps' they replaced, are prolly a better compromise on the track, but that is rare for my car. Other pads would be a better choice for the track anyway.

The Hawk ceramic pads seem to have a stronger bite than the AkeBono ceramic pads on the m3. They are also quite a bit cheaper $. Both ceramic pads are much friendlier to the wheels. They are also very quiet.

I recommend them for the street.

https://secure17.nexternal.com/bimmerworl/images/ceramic.jpg

As an aside, the 2 year old hawk hps pads still have about 60% pad material left after a couple years' use. The 13" 850i rotors are still in fine shape too. I'm tired of cleaning wheels every couple of days.

I like this post. It is objective and details your exact testing criteria. On top of that, you aren't trying to convince other people to buy something. It is great to get good feedback on products. I don't like it when people say, I never had a problem or I don't hear anything from other people or it's pretty good. That never describes thngs precisely, like what is good, what constitutes an actual problem. Thanks Martin.

[Bill R.]

anybodies cars, not including just bmw. But if you say that the hawk ceramic are even better then i'll have to try them. My only complaint about the akebono's were that they were quite a bit pricier than the raybestos QS ceramics. Hopefully the hawks are quite a bit cheaper? Edit, also where do you get them.. the few places i've looked online so far are quite a bit more than the akebono's?




I installed Hawk ceramic street brakes pads last week on the 535. This is with the front 850 single piston calipers.
The pads are great on the street. Initial cold bite is very good & remains strong on the street. The hawk hps' they replaced, are prolly a better compromise on the track, but that is rare for my car. Other pads would be a better choice for the track anyway.

The Hawk ceramic pads seem to have a stronger bite than the AkeBono ceramic pads on the m3. They are also quite a bit cheaper $. Both ceramic pads are much friendlier to the wheels. They are also very quiet.

I recommend them for the street.

https://secure17.nexternal.com/bimmerworl/images/ceramic.jpg

As an aside, the 2 year old hawk hps pads still have about 60% pad material left after a couple years' use. The 13" 850i rotors are still in fine shape too. I'm tired of cleaning wheels every couple of days.

[Martin in Bellevue]

anybodies cars, not including just bmw. But if you say that the hawk ceramic are even better then i'll have to try them. My only complaint about the akebono's were that they were quite a bit pricier than the raybestos QS ceramics. Hopefully the hawks are quite a bit cheaper? Edit, also where do you get them.. the few places i've looked online so far are quite a bit more than the akebono's?
Bimmerworld. com has Hawk pads.
E34 rear pads (227) are $64.
E34 front pads (135) are $78.
E31 front single piston caliper pads (325) are $92.

I paid a few hunski's for the akebono's on the m3. Hawk ceramic pads weren't available for the m3 last fall.
I'd give the raybestos QS ceramic pads a try, if they were available for the 850 front brakes.

[liquidtiger720]

When ordering on bimmerworld....doe sthe $64/$78 refer to pairs or each?

[632 Regal]

pairs as in front/rear set