I ordered Hawk HPS pads off of a site and they didn't have the front set so they "upgraded" the front set to Hawk PC (performance ceramic) pads. Would there be a significant downside to me putting the PCs up front and the HPSs in the back? Most of the posts here don't mention using different compounds concurrently. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

That is not good at all. Hawk should know better than to send you two different pads for the front and rear. That creates an imbalance. HPS supposedly has a higher braking performance than PC, so in other words, your rears are braking harder than your fronts.

I would contact them and have them chance the rears to PC or the fronts to HPS.

 

That's what I gathered, I didn't order directly from Hawk and saved almost $100, but now I gotta figure out a way to swap out the PCs for HPS. PCs cost more so I'll probably eBay those out.....or maybe Hawk customer service can help me out. Thanks for the advice, don't wanna be doing anything stupid.

 

I'd avoid running more aggressive pads in the rear unless you are specifically looking to induce oversteer as you enter a corner under braking.

 

Indeed.

Running more aggressive pads (to a point) in the front is fine.

For example lots of people run HP+ up front and HPS in the back.

Its just that hawks Ceramics are ****, they dont brake for crap. So you wouldnt want that in front for any reason and especially not with better breaking pads in the rear.

 

Why different brake pads? It's like...why different tire brands? It's not good mixing it up, and it's not performance wise to do it. Just my .02 cents.

 

First off, what kind of driving do you do? If you never see the track, the hawk ceramics IMHO work great. In fact I did my two track days on the Hawk PC and never had a problem. There are many people who like the hawk ceramics for street riving and light spirited driving. Tehy are quiet and low dust woth a wide heat range, all though not super high.

The HPS should have a higher friction level which would give you more rear brake. If you are on a stock suspension that could cause premature rear brake ABS activation. However if you have lowered the car and increased the spring rates, the rear tires will have more weight on them under heavy braking then with a stock suspension and therfore a higher torque rear pad compared to the front will improve overall stopping power.

Either way. They should not have changed the order without notifying you first. Here is a member selling a set of HPS pads for $120 front and rear. https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-parts-sale-wanted-44/numerous-parts-216834/

 

All around same compound is best.

However I tracked a car for 3 years running pretty intensively. Having a better up front compound is not a un unwise concept.

ALLOT more of the breaking power is coming from the front. And you should only be braking in a straight line anyways.

The rears with HPS or similar usually are enough unless your very experienced and running R compounds.

I and most people with even a little experience would toast a set of Hawk Ceramics in less than a day.