When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I use Akebono's on all 4 of my Audi's. Yes, on a very cold day you want to apply the brakes a bit early on the first stop of the trip. After that; no issues. Actually, no issues at all under normal use. The only time i had an issue was with an emergency stop which was the first stop of the day on a cold day. Almost hit the idiot who pulled out in front of my speeding allroad without so much as a glance in my direction.
In all respects they work just the same as the old MetalMaster's that I used years ago. Great brakes with no dust.
Like I said, if you're ok with no-stopping power in emergency situations then get akebonos or any other ceramics.
It just sounds like you want to keep you cake and eat it at the same time . There is no magic pad out there, either no-fade super grab when hot (but simply not grabbing at all in cold - track pad), med-fade when medium hot with reasonable grab and no dust (but still no cold grab) or prone to fade good cold grip and probably a bit dusty non-ceramic pad.
It sounds to me like you would be best off with some traditional formulation with kevlar in it... like 99% of folks out there...
Get non-ceramic pad. Tons to choose from. A little research online with "friction coefficient brake pad" and couple of hours of reading should give you an idea what you might want.
A simple chart I found online when I switched to "images" after running the search above:
And another one which is a telling thing about what HAWK themselves say about their pads when rotors are below 100F, which is where road car is at before it brakes for first time or while on highway, can you say MAJOR problems when you have to emergency brake?
Pay attention to OEM line which is flat starting from the very left of chart while 3/4 of HAWK compounds have ZERO friction below 50F, which is still pretty warm for most of US. Imagine driving some of these compounds when it is 10-20F outside (ouch!!!!)
The only pad formulation from HAWK line you should drive on street is HP+ if you don't want to smack into something due to no braking power on cold rotor stop.
Oh, and one more note. If you install larger calipers/rotors the cold performance problem gets magnified since now the rotors are even bigger heat sinks so take longer to heat up.
My poor akebono performance was with 321mm HP2 calipers. Now I have 350mm brembos and I dread how would akebono behave on these.... luckily Akebono doesn't even make pads for this caliper (Q7/Touareg Z17 or Z18) so it is not even possible to make such bad choice anyway
Oh, and don't get Hawk PC (Performance ceramics), while they are a bit better than Akebono, they still lack in cold bite and definitely dust a lot too.
Oh, and one more note. If you install larger calipers/rotors the cold performance problem gets magnified since now the rotors are even bigger heat sinks so take longer to heat up.
That sir, Is an excellent point.
Apparently my experience has been somewhat different than yours. With the exception of that one incident, these have given excellent performance. However, I will definitely consider other options when it comes time to change pads as we do have a substantial amount of cold weather here and as you pointed out these pads give somewhat less than stellar performance when cold.
Thanks for the charts; very interesting info.
On the AR I was running Hawk HP + with the original stock calipers and rotors and the car would barely lock up the brakes. My wife had to do a panic stop because some jerk off ran a stop sign and the AR stopped just in time to fracture its nose in to the other car.
Then I decided to go to the HP2 system in front with the EBC Red Stuff and EBC USR slotted rotors. Stop Tech slotted and Hawk HP + rear.
Stopping was better, but not great and I have had a lot of issues with the Red Stuff as well. Like it’s still hard to get the brakes to lock up and I noticed that coming down the mountain here Vegas I was getting fade. Not good!
So again, with the success that I have been having on ’08 A6 with the same rotors as on my AR, using Hawk HP + , I starting asking what would be a good pad for the AR, and would it be better with the bigger Porsche caliper system?
As I said, I ordered the Akebono’s for the front and rear as per what I read on the forums here… Also I purchased ECS Tuning stainless steel brake lines, front and rear...
"Porsche caliper system" - akebono doesn't make pad for these calipers.
If you want stopping power in DD condition... stock pads. If you don't want stopping power for DD but performance, go with some ceramic pads.
And first and above all, properly bleed your brake system including ESP pump. ESP pump likes to trap air in the system and makes the system feel like sponge with difficulty in locking brakes. No pad, once warmed up, should have any issues locking up wheels.
I just wanted to report on my new set up I've been driving on for last three weeks... Love it.
I went with original mercedes OEM rotors (no slots or holes) and PBR / Axxis Deluxe Advanced pads. So far the braking is exceptional smooth, fairly grabby and most of all, practically dust free too. It is like a silver bullet of brake pads.
08-22-2014, 05:51 AM
. There is no magic pad out there, either no-fade super grab when hot (but simply not grabbing at all in cold - track pad), med-fade when medium hot with reasonable grab and no dust (but still no cold grab) or prone to fade good cold grip and probably a bit dusty non-ceramic pad.
