I just installed new Hawk HP+ brake pads about a week ago from stock pads to prepare for a HPDE. I noticed that on the rear rotors there is a discoloration on the outside or inside half of them. It's kind of a dark color ring around the rotor. On the rear passenger side the dark ring is on the inside of the rotor and on the rear driver side it is on the outside of the rotor. Did I mess up on the install or is this normal? Will the dark ring go away or will it eventually cover the whole rotor?

I like the new pads, they have a much better bite than the stock pads, but they squeak a lot. I know that is a trade off for better braking performance but is there anything I can do to reduced the squeaking. I already put some grease on the shims when I installed the brake pads.


Any help on any of this would be appreciated.

 

Freshly, well bedded rotors will have a dark, grey-blue color. Not sure why yours are uneven, but make sure that when you install rear pads that the "+" grooves in the piston are squared so the vertical groove the small studs on the inside pads sit in the vertical groove. Otherwise you can have uneven pressure on the pads.

 

The rear pads have an inside pad that is different than the ouside pad. If you mix it up the pads wont sit flush with the rotor and will wear and heat the rotor unevenly, possibly resulting in the wear you see on the rotor.

 

Squeaky brakes?

See sig...

 

Ok, I am going to try reinstalling the rear brakes. Should I expect the dark color to cover the whole rotor if I reinstall them correctly and will I need to do another bed in procedure?

 

Hopefully you haven't put too many miles on the improperly installed rear brakes. You'll just have to drive around for a while the the pads installed corretly for them to work.

About the HP+'s... damn. They work too well for street driving imo. I used them for about 3 weeks and while the jury is still out if they helped me auto-xing, they just made too much noise, dusted too badly, and were way too touchy for the street. It made street heel-toeing very difficult because of the touchiness. Sure, at max braking effort the brakes aren't as touchy so you can pull off smooth heel-toe but on mild (sensitive) braking, heel toe was about 5 times more difficult.

I took them off. I'm waiting for next auto-x season to determine if I need them or not.