Just Installed HPS 5.0 - Impressions

[lsxjunkie]

So I did pads and rotors at all 4 corners on my 2014 Track Pack.

Pads - HPS 5.0
Rotors - Centric 120 Cryo Treated Front, low mileage take-off rears.

My car has 56k miles now. Up until now, I've had factory Brembo pads. I've been very happy with the braking, didn't mind the dust, but unhappy with the pedal firmness and the cost. I've had HPS pads in the past and didn't love them but didn't hate them. They were alright, but I always missed the initial bite, even though they were more linear deeper in the pedal.

So, how do the HPS 5.0s stack up? I did the install yesterday, but didn't get a chance to bed them per Hawk's instructions until this afternoon. Before bedding them, I couldn't even get the ABS to activate, which is pretty scary considering I'm on Blizzak LM60s right now. Hawk's bedding procedure is 6-10 moderate stops from 35 and 2-3 hard stops from 45. I had to go find an empty office park to do that without causing an accident or a scene. Now that I've bedded them, the braking performance has mostly come back. Mostly.

Brembo Mustangs have never had the pedal feel of other Brembo cars I've owned or driven. The first third of the pedal has always been soft, but the rest will pull your eyeballs out. The pedal firmness hasn't changed, but the initial bite is a little bit less aggressive than OEM. The ABS will activate when I go deep into the pedal, but there is a strange dead spot after the initial bite where I give it more pedal, feel it get firmer, but I don't feel like I'm getting all that much more braking. I'm not sure how these are going to perform when I get BFG Sport Comp 2s installed.

All in all, I'm not thrilled. My opinion may change after a week of driving, as more material may transfer to the rotors, but as of right now, I don't think I would purchase again.

Update: I've been driving around on them for 3 days now and they've improved markedly. The pedal HAS firmed up some, they bite higher, the initial bite is less aggressive than stock but not obnoxiously so the way the old HPS pads were, but the pads do want heat before you'll get them to be real aggressive.

I think I'm going to change my initial review. Would do again.

 

[jp1seattle]

Dang I just picked up a set of these off the for sale forum. I'd read all good reviews. Hopefully they get better.

Sub'd for updates!

 

[noldevin]

Thanks for the review. If you're after pedal feel the pads won't change very much. I'd suggest swapping in braided stainless brake lines and flush out your stock fluid for DOT4. My pedal is super firm after doing that. It definitely sounds like you have bad fluid, maybe some air in the line, and a possibly a little bit of line flex.
You might as well do a braided clutch line while you're at it.

 

[lsxjunkie]

Dang I just picked up a set of these off the for sale forum. I'd read all good reviews. Hopefully they get better.

Sub'd for updates!

I wonder, perhaps, if Hawk's bedding process is insufficient. The pads were smoking when I was done, but the machining marks on the rotors were still clearly present. Stoptech's bedding process calls for braking from 60-10mph repeated 10 times at hard, but not lockup braking.

Thanks for the review. If you're after pedal feel the pads won't change very much. I'd suggest swapping in braided stainless brake lines and flush out your stock fluid for DOT4. My pedal is super firm after doing that. It definitely sounds like you have bad fluid, maybe some air in the line, and a possibly a little bit of line flex.
You might as well do a braided clutch line while you're at it.

My pedal has felt like this since day one. I have most of a case of high temp DOT 4 brake fluid in the garage that I might use for a gravity bleed, but with maybe 6 hours per month to wrench on my car, I certainly do not have the time to stainless lines and a bleed all at once.

 

[JDos1]

I doubt it's insufficient, I installed new rotors/pads when I did a Brembo swap on my 11 near Christmas....the machining marks took a couple weeks to finally disappear. I drive mine 160 miles round trip/day but 140 miles of it is highway, no stops.

 

[noldevin]

Rotors typically have their own bedding process and it's usually somewhat different from the pads, especially if they're made by different manufacturers.
The stainless lines only add a little bit of time to the fluid swap, most of the time is spent on bleeding anyway.

 

[Zandura99]

Did you do a good soap and water cleaning of the rotor or at least scrubbed them in the shop with brake cleaner? The Centric rotors come with a rust inhibitor that seriously effects brake performance if not cleaned off. I don't mean to offend if you did this, its just a step I had forgotten on a brake install not that long ago...

I have these pads on my non-track pack, and while it didn't fix the clamshell pedal feel... it fixed the stopping issue. I was only able to pull .9 on the tellametrics with the track app with the stock pads, and all the way up to 1.2G once I updated the pads. Just barely into abs with my summer tires, but really a huge improvement. Now that's not apples to apples, I am a non track pack car (for another 2 months before I mount the stoptech BBK) but I purchased these pads again because I liked them so much for street use on my new setup.

 

[lsxjunkie]

I did not clean off the rotors. Took them out of the box and put them right on the car. Hopefully the pads will eat/sweep off that coating with some more miles, because I don't have the time to take the car apart again.

In other news, it seems like part of the problem is that these pads don't like to be cold. It's been ambient 40s-50s here and my commute is slow city or cruising on the highway. I don't really ever get much heat into them. About halfway home this evening I found a place to stand on the brakes from 80mph. The brakes were strong...enough. The ABS only kicked on for the last 20 feet it seemed like, and that's with snow tires that are not exactly high grip. With the stock pads and rotors, I feel like the tires would have been groaning and the ABS pulsing for the entire braking event. But after that, they got nice and grabby and actually felt really nice for the rest of the drive.

Maybe by the end of the week, these will be up to where the OE pads were.

 

[slick3]

I did not clean off the rotors. Took them out of the box and put them right on the car. Hopefully the pads will eat/sweep off that coating with some more miles, because I don't have the time to take the car apart again.

In other news, it seems like part of the problem is that these pads don't like to be cold. It's been ambient 40s-50s here and my commute is slow city or cruising on the highway. I don't really ever get much heat into them. About halfway home this evening I found a place to stand on the brakes from 80mph. The brakes were strong...enough. The ABS only kicked on for the last 20 feet it seemed like, and that's with snow tires that are not exactly high grip. With the stock pads and rotors, I feel like the tires would have been groaning and the ABS pulsing for the entire braking event. But after that, they got nice and grabby and actually felt really nice for the rest of the drive.

Maybe by the end of the week, these will be up to where the OE pads were.

Im running 265 MPSS tires in the front with factory Brembo's in the front. Stoptech slotted rotors F/R (GT500 upgraded rotors in the rear), Stoptech stainless lines F/R, HPS 5.0 pads F/R.(Stock fluid till the Motul goes in before summer) I am pulling consistent 1.2 G braking. I have the same initial pedal feel (soft) and the same feeling when cold. The pads frankly don't stop that well for the first 15 minutes of street driving. However, once I have gotten some heat in them, they bite real hard. I can definitely get ABS to engage but not easily as I thought I would. When I say they stop hard I mean they will REALLY STOP HARD. I am disappointing in the lines as I hate the soft initial pedal feel and figured that was going to be a key fix. Didn't do shit as far as I can tell.

The lack of dust is AWESOME though..

 

[jun]

These HPS 5.0 pads are in my shortlist this year.

I also installed stainless steel brake lines in my BMW 540 about two months ago and didn't notice anything as far as pedal feel.

 

[lsxjunkie]

Im running 265 MPSS tires in the front with factory Brembo's in the front. Stoptech slotted rotors F/R (GT500 upgraded rotors in the rear), Stoptech stainless lines F/R, HPS 5.0 pads F/R.(Stock fluid till the Motul goes in before summer) I am pulling consistent 1.2 G braking. I have the same initial pedal feel (soft) and the same feeling when cold. The pads frankly don't stop that well for the first 15 minutes of street driving. However, once I have gotten some heat in them, they bite real hard. I can definitely get ABS to engage but not easily as I thought I would. When I say they stop hard I mean they will REALLY STOP HARD. I am disappointing in the lines as I hate the soft initial pedal feel and figured that was going to be a key fix. Didn't do shit as far as I can tell.

The lack of dust is AWESOME though..

These HPS 5.0 pads are in my shortlist this year.

I also installed stainless steel brake lines in my BMW 540 about two months ago and didn't notice anything as far as pedal feel.

I had heard this about the braided lines. On other cars, I've seen an improvement, but I think the Track Pack cars already have Boss 302 low expansion lines anyways.

In any event, the pedal seems to have firmed up some as I've driven on them more.