FOUND: Genuine Dustless brake pads for the 996

After years of searching, I have finally found a quality street pad that is equal in stopping power, pedal feel, and noise to the stock 996 pad. Hawk HPS Ferro-Carbon pads They are not the cheapest pads, they cost about $170 for the fronts, but they are light years better than any other street pad that I have used on my 996. I have about 1K miles on these new pads, and there is almost no brake dust, and the dust that is there (which I think is more road dust than brake dust) is very light colored and comes right off with a wet rag. If OEM pad black brake dust drives you crazy, then this is the pad for you.

Thanks, but too late. Just ordered OEM pads for $139 or so. Next time...

+1 on the hawks,did front and rear about 2months ago been very happy with them. Especially since I put on intricate wheels that were a pita to clean

I wonder if they would work well on a Cayenne, That thing generates unreal amounts of brake dust! (I'm sure it's not related to my driving style )

Another one that I've seen work real well (but haven't tried them yet) are EBC Yellows. A guy with a Boxster S was next to me at a DE session and each time he came back I noticed how clean his wheels always were compared to mine that turn black after 5 minutes of driving.

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+1

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Yeah but EBC yellows are not a street pad. The EBC red, which is a street pad, were very low dust and worked great on my mazdaspeed6.

Thanks for the tip! I'll get the Hawk pads when I need brakes if they meet your rigid standards!!

Thanks, Orient! I'm due for a brake pad replacement soon and I'll be using these pads.

Hey OE, can you pass on the part numbers from Hawk that you got?

Gary, Thanks for the tip! My 997 brakes throw much more brake dust than my 996 ever did. The silver OEM wheels look like they are painted Gun metal wheels after a couple of days. While I don't need new pads, I may get some Hawks anyway.

Thanks Orient Express! The front pads in particular drive me crazy!

Possibly a stupid question -- but if the ad is correct and they actually have greater grip (friction) than the factory pads, would it be advisable to replace all 4 wheel sets at once to have more even friction front & rear? (I know the fronts do most of the stopping, but I would guess that the nanny electronics were set up assuming a balanced system.)

Gary, Any updates on the Hawk HPS brakes? .... stopping power?.....amount of brake dust?

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I'd like this info too. Are these correct from Summit Racing -- http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HWK-HB550F634/ -- according to -- http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HW...n/?prefilter=1 If there are a handful of us looking to buy, I'd be happy to call Summit to see if they'd give us a group buy.

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Hawk Performance HB550F.634 HPS Brake Pad

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After about 1500 miles, stopping power, pedal feel and noise are on par with Porsche OEM pads, but there is no dust to speak off. There is more road dust than brake pad dust that is for sure. I am a satisfied customer!

OE I wish you told me this about a week earlier I just had the front pads installed with new rotors and sensors OEM and I hate the brake dust its unreal! I was thinking about switching over to black wheels because of this.

Followup... just ordered fronts from -- https://www.autoanything.com -- $166.95 and free shipping. Thanks for the info Orient!

Here is an un-retouched photo of one of the front wheels that I put the Hawk pads on after 1500 miles and after bedding in. Now keep in mind that I have always kept the wheels clean on the 996, even after 72K+ miles and 9.5 years. When I installed these pads, I gave everything a better than norman cleaning, and coated everything with Rejex, but still, these pads are the best ones yet for a combination of stopping power, noise, feel, and dust. I have a feeling that I will be cleaning these wheels a lot less now!

Looks awesome! Rejex does help, but I'm definitely buying those Hawk pads when I need them!

BMW's(as with most Euro cars) are also known to exhibit quite a bit of dust. I've tried the Hawk HPS Ceramics and while certainly better than OEM's, I was still getting noticeable dust(every week vs. every couple days). It could be the countless stop and go traffic combined with spirited highway romps and braking in my case(along with the wheel design). Anyways in the BMW camp, a lot more people prefer the Akebono Euro Ceramic Pads and have shown it gives off even less dust than the HPS Ceramics. Akebono do not have the stopping power of the HPS but for street duty, this is very negligible. Where the HPS Ceramics are going to have the edge is the resistance to fade during repeated 60+ mph to zero stops, but once again, not the typical case for street cars. If no one has tried it yet, I plan to be the guinea pig for the Akebono's next spring.

OE, thanks for the tip. I replaced the OEM pads on my wife's E350 4Matic wagon as soon as we bought it because the brake dust was unbelievable. I got Porterfield street pads, which eliminate 90-05% of the dust. I'm very happy with these. I don't know if they're available for 911s, but that might be an option as well.

Wish they made Akebono Euro pads for the 911, they were the best pads I had on my BMW....good stopping power and almost zero dust. I do not really seem to have a brake dust problem on my Porsche though. The twist rims are also very easy to clean.

im using stoptech street/track pads,very little dust great performence.

Seems AutoAnything.com only show the rear pads but not the front pads for my 2000 C2, not sure why..... Guess I'll have to call them tomorrow.

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The Hawk Performance catalogue is at this URL http://www.hawkperformance.com/docs/catalog-current.pdf The 996 application is on page 104, the p/n are: Front - HB550F634 Rear - HB290F583 I'm going through a bit of headache right now since AutoAnything staff ordered me the wrong front numbers this morning for 2002 and up Carrerra 4 "Turbo Look", they are going to contact Hawk tomorrow to sort this out.......

Both Automotion and AutoPartsWarehouse carry the Hawk HPS pads for the 996, for both front and rear axle fitments. After factoring in shipping costs the price is essentially the same from both. My pads from AutoPartsWarehouse arrive on Monday. Based on my past experience with this vendor, I expect no problems with the order. OE...thanks for sharing your experience!

I finally got around to replacing the rear pads with the Hawk pads, and now I have a set of slightly used EBC Red Stuff Ceramic pads for sale. These are great pads, but don't have the level of dustlessness that the Hawk pads do. Their dust level is in between the stock OEM pads and the Hawk pads. If you need a set of good inexpensive track pads, or if you need some replacement rear pads, these could be for you. These pads fit the following cars REAR brakes: 1999 ~ 2004 2.5 & 2.7 Boxster 1999 ~ Current Boxster S 2006 ~ Current Cayman 2006 ~ 2007 Cayman S 1998 ~ 2005 996 Carrera 2, Carerra 4, 4S 2005 ~ Current 997 Carrera 2 These Red stuff pads are essentially new with less than .07mm of wear on them. I am asking $60 + $5 shipping anywhere in the US. If you are interested please PM me. Lastly, the new Hawk rear pads are absolutely dustless!

Will be picking the Hawk pads up tomorrow, but won't have the time to do the brakes and the car is going to storage this weekend, will install them over the winter I guess.....

One thing that I did notice on the rear Hawk pads that I installed yesterday is that they were not drilled to accept the wear sensors. That was no big deal, as they were easy to put the hole in for the sensor. The backing plate does have the correct notch to hold the sensor in place.

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So you're saying that you drilled holes for the sensors? Any special trick to this (i.e. do you need a drill press to get it exactly right?)

No, I just found a bit that fit the holes on the OEM pads, marked how deep the hole was. I stuck the pads in a vise to hold them steady. There is a little notch on the pad backing where the hole should be, so that helped guide the drill. I used the level on my drill to get it in straight, and just drilled slowly. It was actually very easy to do. I don't know if the set I got just did not have the holes drilled, or if they forgot to do it. I am going to drop Hawk a note and make them aware of the issue.

Please post pics of before and after of brake dusting, say after a weeks worth of driving and what kind of driving. I'm really interested to see how these Hawks work on the 996. I have the same pads on my wife's BMW and I was a bit dissappointed in their dust buildup. A decent improvement over OEM but not the best I've seen.

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Not to be flippant, but I guess the scroll down function is broken on your computer......

I just put the pads in about an hour ago... I can confirm on my set the holes were in both front and rear pads for the brake sensors. No drilling necessary. David

That's good to hear. My pads must have been made right at lunch or quitting time.

FYI: My rear EBC Red Stuff pads are still available. Offers accepted! For an extra $10 I will throw in a set up OEM(black dust) rear pads as well.

Yo OE, how are the Hawks now? Any news? i want to get some HPS but i have Read Performance compare to Factory pads is actully Less and Dusting is about the Same. Dust issue does not seem true in your case... but what about Stopping Power you Noticed? Same? More? Less?

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Wheel design will also determine the level of dust that sticks to the wheels. Ironically, the OP seems like he has the easiest wheel designs to clean hence the reason why I don't think his results will necessarily be the same for others. My wife's BMW with ZHP wheels dusted quite a bit less than OE pads but still wasn't dramatic. I would say the OE's would begin to show brake dust every couple days with stop and go city driving compared to the Hawk Ceramics at about a week before showing anything. When these pads wear out, I plan on going with the Akebono Euro Ceramics. As for performance on the wife's car, it was on par with the Mintex Red Box for most occasions. It had slightly better fade resistance at constant highway speed braking. They do get noisey after they start wearing so you'll probably need to reapply some ant-squeal compound later on.

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The pads are doing great. Excellent stopping power, no fade, and minimal dust. I did get a little bit of darker dust from a 145 to 40 fast stop, but nothing major. Here is the photo of the rims from that event. The other thing I like about them is that they make no noise at all when cold. All in all I am very satisfied with the Hawk pads.

I've got these sitting in the garage for a month now, won't likely get a chance to put them on until next spring at the earliest, but i am very much looking forward to that.

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Perhaps its too soon to judge, with just 200 miles on my pads, but so far I'd agree with what you read... the stopping power SUCKS, unless they're good and warm. I also put on new rotors, and followed the bed-in procedures as suggested by manufacturer. Around town, I'm putting way more pressure on the pedal to achieve the same stopping power. The pedal isn't spungy, like there's air in the line. I'm hoping with another 200 miles, it's better.

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Thanks for the Input OE Doug keep us updated. i think 200 miles is enough for the Surfaces both Pad and Rotor to be Ready for Max Braking.

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I've also noticed that initial cold bite isn't as good as OE or even the Mintex. However my experience has been consistent that sport pads will have this compromising characteristic to increase fade resistance, so I guess I expected it to some degree. Honestly, if you have a simple wheel design like the OP that really only takes a couple minutes to easily clean, I wouldn't bother with these pads. OTOH, if you have a complex spoke design like the BBS LMs, well then you're screwed either way.

I'm just about to do my own brakes, and am considering Porsche OEM (Textar), Hawk HPS or Hawk Ceramic. I use my car just as a DD, and (sadly) do not do track days or DEs - in fact, Calgary lost its track last year. What are the best pads for me?

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me too my Light is been on for 500kms now lols. I have read online and been advised by a indy porsche shop that the Hawks HPS is Inferrior to Porsche Genuine Brembo/Textar/Pagid Pads. Also have been told Textar Pads are bit more Squeeky but have the same Performance compare to Porsche Genuine Textar Pads. So im going to skip Hawk's and am going to get Textar (Non-Porsche) Pads and give them a Try

I would like to report that the Hawk HPS pads are superior in every way to the Porsche OEM pads. I have used the Hawk pads exclusively in all of my Porsches, and other german cars and can report that they have better feel, better stopping power, and NO DUST. Again, they are superior in every way. Don't be fooled by shops that are trying to peddle you high markup products.

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My experience with both Hawk HPS and Ceramics have been quite different on BMW's at least. The Hawks from my experience didn't have as great of a cold initial bite. Dust was considerably less than OEM but not too much less than other aftermarket pads like Mintex Red Box. I was actually a bit disappointed by the dusting characteristics of the Ceramics as I expected a more dramatic improvement. The Akebono Euro Ceramics seem to be better at controlling dust than the Hawk HPS Ceramics. I found the HPS pads to squeal after some wear during the cold. With that said, both Hawk HPS and Ceramics have very much improved fade resistance in high speed and/or repeated stopping over the factory pad and some other aftermarket brake pads. If dusting is your only and main concern, the Ceramics might not live up to your expectations(also dependent on wheel/spoke design). However, I feel the Hawk HPS Ceramics are still a great option if you are looking for a good blend between less dusting and high performance braking. Once again YMMV depending on wheel design, driving style and environment, what car you use it on.

has anybody tried the 550"Z" Hawk performance ceramic pad in the 996? Orient, does the "F" pad also work well in daily stop-n-go freeway 680/880 type traffic?

OP, how about a update including rotor wear ? are people posting about HPS Ceramics instead of HPS Carbon?

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My 328 coupe has terrible dusting on the front rims! I couldn't find a set of the Akebono Euro pads that would fit though!? Oops, never mind, found the right set!

Just changed to these pads a couple of days ago along with rotors, did a bit of bed-in and have put about 100 miles on them, while I wouldn't say these pads slowed or stopped my car like dropping anchors, they were certainly adequate in performance, note that I was begining to wonder if I was needing more effort even with the stock Texar pads that came off the car, so perhaps I need to bed in the pads and rotors more, and also may need to bleed the brakes in the near future as well. I am going to do a good wash of the car as well now for the Saturday morning area owner get together, and will monitor the dusting to see how it compares to the stock pads and the cermaic pads on my daily driver.

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I am using the Hawk HPS pads which are a Ferro-Carbon Brake Compound. East Bay is that what you mean by the "F" pad, and if so, yes they are great in the freeway driving we have in the SF bay area.

Hi Orient, you posted that you installed the "Hawk Performance HB550 F .634 HPS Brake Pad" Since I know nothing about hawk pads I went and RTFM on the Hawk website, here is the rundown: I'm wondering if any of the others are all talking about the " F " pads also. I could see confusion between the HPS and the HPPlus " N " pads The " Z " pads also look interesting to me for the DD 996 since I am looking for the best street bite for CA freeway driving. You know, repeated 80 to 0 stops for ladders, drivers, pedestrians, etc. in the road and all the other CA type surprises

I have had nothing but good results with the F compound pads. Very very low dust, great stopping power, no fade, no noise. These have been excellent pads for my use.

Anyone have any updates? I need to do my brakes soon. Looking at the Hawk webstie, it seems to me that the Performance Ceramic "Z" compound pads would be better suited to a DD than the HPS "F" pads. Has anyone tried the Akebono pads on a 996?

For daily driving, I still don't like the Hawks. Cold stopping is a joke. However, I was pleased with the way they performed during a 2-day driving event in Oct. 2012. After a 20 minute session, the best way to describe the resulting dust is -- graham cracker like. My instructor mentioned he likes Hawk pads, but not the ones I installed (same as Orient's). I cannot remember what compound he recommended. I'm going back to Textar (1/2 the price too) for daily driving, and may throw on the Hawks for 2013 DEs. Hope this helps.

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For the amount of dust that the Z compounds exhibit over the F, I'd rather stick to the stock Textars. If dusting is high importance to you and you have complex spoke pattern on your rims, stay away from the Z's. I've regretted it on the wife's ride but just letting it wear down some before I switch to something else. Fwiw, I tracked down some Mintex Red Box for the 996 and will be installing them this spring. We'll see how they compare...

I contacted Hawk and asked if they would recommend Performance Ceramic or HPS for my street only C4. Their suggestion was PC. Looking at prices, it seems the PC and HPS are basically the same. The Akebonos, however, are a fair bit cheaper. Since there does not seem to be a consensus about which pad is the best for a 996, I think I might try the Akebonos since they are the cheapest.

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I followed Orient's advice and can report a very positive experience. HPS pads are great, very low dust in DD stop n' go duty. I replaced all 4 rotors at the same time and they look to be wearing in well. Even got a friend to use the HPS pads on his Mercedes and he loves them too.

I have mintex F/R. Rear is fine but front brake dust is insane. Wheels get black in no less than 2 days. I was considering HPS but decided to go akebono ceram for half the price. So far, brake dust is less than half and brake feel is similar to the mintex.

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Installed Axxis blue pads for street use about 1 month ago. No dust, very quiet, about $160 shipped for all 4 corners. Brakedepot.com has them in stcok for the 996, helpful folks.