akebono or hawk brake pads?

[dieselturbo]

97 4cyl camry.. everyday go to work car.. want it to stop well in crazy city driving, but no squeel.. which r better ? akebono ceramic,akebono proact ceramic or hawk hps.. thanks

[fenixus]

i love Hawk HPS (10k miles now), basically silent 99.9% of time - heard them maybe 5 times in heavy humid weather. very strong grip on rotors, especially after flushing and bleeding the brake fluid. they dust a little, but not more than popular Wagner ThermoQuiet pads (had them before, they sucked after 20k miles - squeeling and poor grip on rotor) or something, nothing a car wash every month can't fix.

though i never tried akebono so can't really compare to answer your question fully. hope it helps a bit

[peshwa]

I have used Bendix CT3 Ceramic pads since last 3K miles or so and they have been awesome. For a $40.00 pair of dust free pads they have pretty good stopping power. Certainly better than OE I would say but ask around.
FWIW the Duralast gold etc brake pads come with a lifetime warranty.LOL..when they start to wear out just walk into Autozone and get them replaced for FREE ..ha ha

[Tom 2000]

I used the Akebono ceramic pads on my Maxima and happy with the performance. Quiet and very light brake dust.

[a94autoCamry]

Originally Posted by fenixus

i love Hawk HPS, basically silent 99% of time. very strong grip on rotors, especially after flushing and bleeding the brake fluid. they dust a little

x2, hawk hps stop really well, even at the track.

but again you have to remember, tires play a role in terms of stopping power..

you can have the BKK for all you want, but with stock tires, it wont help it stop quickly.. (not that a BKK will clear 14-15 inch stock tires anyways)

[fenixus]

i'm running stock solara se alloy wheels with new Dunlop SP Sport Signature (94v) tires 205/65/R15. maybe not the best thing out there, but it works well.

[LynchburgCSI]

I had Hawk HPS pads... GREAT stopping power... I even used them for autocross. Loved them. But my tires sucked. Especially in water. Wet pavement, off ramp, and a guard rail... The lesson here... don't skip on tires, and do your research.

[fenixus]

Originally Posted by LynchburgCSI

I had Hawk HPS pads... GREAT stopping power... I even used them for autocross. Loved them. But my tires sucked. Especially in water. Wet pavement, off ramp, and a guard rail... The lesson here... don't skip on tires, and do your research.

oh yeah, in the end tires are the only thing between car and ground
i had some scary moments with Bridgestone Potenza G009 tires ... man those sucked big times on snow (rain was quite OK) ... had a front-end collision because of traction loss while moderately braking on snow, it cost me $1k to fix the car after that. hoping my new Dunlops serve better in snowy winters around here.

[JohnGD]

Akebonos are decent pads. They're not performance pads by any means, but work well in typical low speed driving. I'm not sure the Akebono Street Performance is worth the extra over ProAct. For the price of the Street Performance I'd just go with Hawk HPS or LTS carbon metallics. And if you need more confidence than the normal light-dusting Akebonos then go Hawk.

Get $60 Brembo blanks if you can; otherwise Raybestos service grade ~$17/each works too. That is if you need rotors.

Do you have rear drums? Brake shoes availability may be an issue. Hawk does have HPS and LTS in pads. I personally like matching sets front and rear.

Originally Posted by dieselturbo

97 4cyl camry.. everyday go to work car.. want it to stop well in crazy city driving, but no squeel.. which r better ? akebono ceramic,akebono proact ceramic or hawk hps.. thanks

[djb2]

I put one of the upgraded Autozone pad sets GF's Camry a few years ago. They had scary cold performance, especially the first stop in the morning (downhill, with the high idle still pushing the automatic transmission). The only good thing was that they wore out quickly enough to get a replacement set. It was immediately obviously that the new set was not the same compound. It has much better overall performance although it still produces the same heavy black dust.

The important detail is that with a house brand you might not be getting the same pad each time.

On my cars I have a few different pads that I swap in. My favorite is the EBC Green Stuff front with PBR/Axxis Deluxe Plus in the rear. I put on Hawk HP+ front and PBR/Axxis Metal Masters rear for HPDEs, but the MMs don't get worked enough in daily driving and soon pick up a very loud squeal with light braking.

[bigbird]

i like hawks pads myself.

[JohnGD]

That's right. Even over the Toyota counter you may get Akebono FF rated pads, GG rated pads, or those (IMO) junk NBK pads. Depending on who's the lowest bidder of the batch.

Originally Posted by djb2

I put one of the upgraded Autozone pad sets GF's Camry a few years ago. They had scary cold performance, especially the first stop in the morning (downhill, with the high idle still pushing the automatic transmission). The only good thing was that they wore out quickly enough to get a replacement set. It was immediately obviously that the new set was not the same compound. It has much better overall performance although it still produces the same heavy black dust.

The important detail is that with a house brand you might not be getting the same pad each time.

On my cars I have a few different pads that I swap in. My favorite is the EBC Green Stuff front with PBR/Axxis Deluxe Plus in the rear. I put on Hawk HP+ front and PBR/Axxis Metal Masters rear for HPDEs, but the MMs don't get worked enough in daily driving and soon pick up a very loud squeal with light braking.