Brake pads OEM BMW or Hawk Performance
I haven't investigated ceramic pads for the Golf R but based on the Hawk Ceramic Compound Performance Pads I have on my A4, which has huge RS4 front calipers and B7 S4 rears, I'd try them as they are quiet, generate negligible dust and are easy on the rotors.
Hawk HPS brake pads
I like my Hawk HP Street 5.0 pads and both were purchased from TireRack and helped increase my stopping power.
I always bought BMW genuine brake pads and rotors, and never had an issue. They work great.
I am quite happy with Hawk HP+ on my NB.
Hawk DTC 50 or 60 on front, DTC 10 on rear. Squeals for sure! Works great with cheap stock rotors and toyo RA-1 or RR... Its my daily (300k km) and now backup track car when weather is iffy
I ran HP+ pads and nearly ruined some STI Rays wheels I ordered from Japan. The key to cleaning the dust off is using a cleaner that has an iron remover. Sonax makes a good one. Meguiar's all wheel cleaner also works OK. I had to treat each wheel about 5x with a soft bristle brush and still ended up using a blue Scotch Brite to get the hard deposits of dust. I ended up removing some paint in some indescreet locations. I was super bummed. I no longer run these pads and run ceramics for the street. I plan to run more aggressive pads when needed, but haven't picked anything yet. The HP+ are great. The modulation is amazing. The bite, even when cold, is awesome. But there's a major trade off.
My focus rs has been doing this. I’m on OEM rotors with hawk dtc 60 on front dtc30 on rear. It performs fine on the streets and around town. When I take it to the track it starts to judder, noticeable 5 mins in but at the end of 20 min session it gets a lot worse.
I ran Hawk DTC60's for one event. They dust like crazy which isn't the end of the world by itself, but if the dust touches any moisture at all (like the rainy track day) it mixes into what I can only describe as ferrous concrete. So not only is the dust-crete impossible to remove by any normal means, it then rusts like crazy, turning whatever wheels you have into a runny orange mess. I tried multiple different wheel cleaners, multiple brushes, soaking, anything and nothing could get it off. I had to use scotch brite and scuff the hell out of the wheels to get it off. Fortunately I run cheap TRM wheels and it's a track-only car otherwise I would have been livid.
Garbage pads. They're like a damn on/off switch and they chew through rotors.
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