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.
I’m a big fan of Centric rotors and pads. To me they’re in the category of OEM+ and they’re still affordable.
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.
Have used these for a while now and will be getting them again to pair up with some DBA t3 rotors
I buy a lot of denso parts, gates or continental generally for belts and such. Centric for brakes.
IMO do not put anything OEM on the car as a replacement. Find something with a better pad/rotor combo that doesn't leave deposits Ilike Centric stuff a lot with the Ceramic pads. Good combo
I have just put posi-quiets on my PP GTI and I'm experiencing vibration while driving at highway speed (68-80 mph, worst at 75ish). Re-checked torques and the faces of hubs/wheels were clean. Will go in for a balance but is it possible I got a **** rotor or something? Possible I have a bent hub and didn't realize it until the rotors were swapped?
Complete ripoff. Subaru tried that years ago on my STI, I bought Hawk track pads and did it myself (as I would have done anyway). The dealer tried the ol' "These are high end calipers and the pads are much more difficult to change". I just said "Please stop lying to me, you're eroding trust between us" and left. Easiest brakes ever.
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