ELEVENS

I ran Hawk HPS on a Brembo 4-wheel BBK in a previous car (E39 M5) and they were very impressive performance-wise and low dusting as well. They were a tad noisy however and dustier than the dead-quiet, extremely low dusting Centrics I have on my RS4 and Q5.

BTW, a good source (Dave Zechenhausen) told me that one (both?) of the owner(s) of Centrics drives/drove a Centric Posi pad-equipped RS4.

HZ60

Good thinking! If the pistons aren't extended too far you don't need to push them back. Never thought about that. I've only got about 9k mi , about 4k on the highway and plenty of pad left. Hate to pay someone to do something I've been doing for years just because of a computer. Damn new cars!! (The HZ60 should actually be 61 now)
Thanks very much for the tip!

HaveBullDogWillTravel

remember it's very important to remove the OEM pad material from the rotors before installing a pad of a different compound

HZ60

Would you suggest using brake cleaner or some other solvent or mechanically abrading with a wire wheel or a fine sanding disk? Are there any special tools needed or just the standard metric wrenches, allens, torx etc? Thanks for the heads up on the rotors!

ELEVENS

Not to be cheated out of some good fun! A good bedding-in will take care of that...

http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm

HaveBullDogWillTravel

Not so! If he's installing Ceramic over OEM bedding will not remove the old compound...only race pads driven at leisure will cut off the the old pad material and leave nice shiny rotors. The link says nothing about new pads cutting off dis-similar pad material. This link shows what can happen when "stacking" pad material...I learned the hard way on an '04 330i.

http://www.essexparts.com/learning-c.../swapping_pads

HaveBullDogWillTravel

I use common sandpaper. 60 first then 100. Sand in a circular motion. Brakleen to spray away residue. The you're good to go. Make sure you have 18mm, IIRC.

HZ60

Thank you guys, great info.

tomashek

Hi all,
So swapping pads will help for brake dust, but will it eliminate freakish squeaking brake sound when car comes to complete stop? I tried bedding, but it helps for couple days only and squeaking noise comes back. When I gently release brake pedal when at stop – it starts rolling slowly and it makes this horrendous squeaking sound.
So, is it a brake pads problem? Will swapping those help?

m1964

I have used Akebono Euro ceramics on XC90 and redstaff EBC on LR2-I noted that either pad was "close" to OEM in the beginning (both times I used new rotors), but as I drove more, the braking became less effective-it required harder push on the brake pedal to stop, and the SUVs would not stop as "easy" as with the OEM pads. I also has used Hawks ceramics on XC90 w/ new Centric premium rotors, and had to remove the Hawks pads because they did not brake good at all-put OEM Volvo pads on same rotors-huge difference. I recently changed rear pads on my LR2 -had Redstaff EBC, now put Greenstaff EBC 6000 series-I feel noticable improvement in braking, even that every one says that rear brakes are not so important as the fronts. However there was NO dust at all from Redstaff, there is some dust from the Greenstaff 6000, but it seems like it does not get into the rims as much as OEM pads' dust.