4 years ago I had my daughter, before taking my 2008 Mazda 6 back to college with her, install new Brembo "OE"/standard type pad sets front and rear and new Brembo rotors in the front. The front pads and rotors were so thick that the caliper piston cups had to be ENTIRELY retracted into the pistons to fit over them. After completion of the job and the performance of the pad/rotor break-in procedure, the already capable car was turned into a braking performance monster. It was like if you depressed the brake pedal a millimeter the car would start to decelerate markedly! And rapid stops were unbelievable quick and drama free. So I absolutely recommend Brembo products (have installed Brembo pads on 2 SUVs as well) and have always been impressed with the results!!
I use Hawk HPS 5.0 pads. Definitely an improvement over stock and I haven’t had any issues with dust.
Depending on the track the factory pads may be adequate for your first day, but a more aggressive and higher temp pad would be my recommendation because nothing will up the "pucker factor" like your brake pedal going to the floor. A pad like the Hawk HPS 5.0 is what I'd consider to be minimally acceptable for street tires on an average track. I'm a big fan of GLOC pads and I can confirm their R8 compound on all 4 corners works great on the GTI/R/A3/S3 for street tires.
The fronts are basic Brembo, so as long as the mech. is competent that shouldn’t be an issue.
Hawk makes the DTC series for the 718 base. Can't go wrong with the DTC-30 for a pad that you can drive back and forth to the track and will perform very well on track. The dust is nasty and corrosive though, so I'd recommend cleaning the wheels and changing the pads out for street duty.
I had Hawk HP+. They were extremely noisy and dusty, very strong bite though. I now have the standard Hawk HP pads, no noise and far less dust. Not as much initial bite, but still really great performance. I wouldn’t swap back to the HP+ after having both.
I put in cheap ceramic genuine Brembo pads in my Kia, stops on a dime.
Have used these for a while now and will be getting them again to pair up with some DBA t3 rotors
I only daily as well but I did a slight upgrade due to some spirited runs each year. I did Hawk ceramics and DBA T2 rotors. Theyre enjoyably different but likely overkill.
I have Hawk HPS 5.0 street pads on mine, and hate them. They're ass until you get some heat in them.
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