I bought the Mazda a while ago and hated it. I improved my skills and bought it again last night. It was a fucking blast. Have to be careful with the brakes and backend sliding but it is a straights rocket and has decent cornering without any assists.
Hawk HPS 5.0 pads, Raybestos AT. I'm on my 4th? set of front pads+rotors after 125k miles. Rears are still the stock.
Blank rotors and Hawk HPS 5.0 pads. I’ve been running them for almost a decade, and I’m always surprised at how long they last and how little dust they make for how aggressive as they are.
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.
Hawk HPS 5.0 front and rear.
They dust the same as what came on my car from the factory, the first 1k miles they felt like they needed some extra heat in them to get a "normal" feel but by the time I left my neighborhood it was fine. Either I'm used to it now or it went away.
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.
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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