Track Brake Pads - G-LOC vs Hawk

[ScottyD_GT]

I am at the end of my Ferodo DS1.11 pads, and I'm deciding between G-LOC and Hawk for my '18 GT PP1. I'm leaning towards G-LOC R16 front and R10 rear, but it seems that Hawk pads are cheaper.

I know there are a lot of variants for both manufacturers, so it can be hard to compare apples to apples. I'd just like to hear which brand people prefer for track use. I plan on using the stock PP1 rotors for the rest of this season then upgrading next year FYI.

Which do you prefer? What experience do you have with one or both brands?

 

[2012Boss302]

While I have no experience with Hawk, I went from Pagid to G-Loc R12 (f)/R8 (r) on my Boss. Much better stopping power than the Pagid. HUGE amounts of dust though if that is an issue for you....

 

[Mad Hatter]

I liked the G loc 16/12 set up but they wore out in a fraction of the time of a set of Pagids... Found the Pagid RSL2 pads had a little more bite and since they lasted at least twice as long..... became quite the economical choice!!

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Would suggest the G-Loc 18/8 setup , or the Carbotech 24/10 setup , as not a fan of Hawk's at all . They eat up rotors and though the Carbotechs or G-Locs are dusty , love the progressive bite. I have had luck using much less aggressive pads in the rear.

Note; G-Loc and Carbotech are essentially the same pad, just done by different members of the same family.

 

[gtorpedo]

I am at the end of my Ferodo DS1.11 pads, and I'm deciding between G-LOC and Hawk for my '18 GT PP1. I'm leaning towards G-LOC R16 front and R10 rear, but it seems that Hawk pads are cheaper.

I know there are a lot of variants for both manufacturers, so it can be hard to compare apples to apples. I'd just like to hear which brand people prefer for track use. I plan on using the stock PP1 rotors for the rest of this season then upgrading next year FYI.

Which do you prefer? What experience do you have with one or both brands?

Were you not happy with the Ferodos? I've tried nearly every compound of GLOC (R10, R12 and R16) up front and found the Ferodo DS1.11 to wear ~2x longer than any of these combos with no sacrifice in bite and similar, if not better rotor wear. GLOC R18 would have probably been a better option for me but may be too aggressive with a street tire.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Ditto on not being a fan on the Hawks, dont seem to last long and the really do eat rotors. Have not tried them my self but my buddies have.

 

[Coz]

Another alternative
https://trackmustangsonline.com/threads/powerstop-track-day-pads.14075/

 

[ScottyD_GT]

Were you not happy with the Ferodos? I've tried nearly every compound of GLOC (R10, R12 and R16) up front and found the Ferodo DS1.11 to wear ~2x longer than any of these combos with no sacrifice in bite and similar, if not better rotor wear. GLOC R18 would have probably been a better option for me but may be too aggressive with a street tire.

I suppose the DS1.11 pads have lasted a long while, I got about 5 1/2 track days on them before they started to fade. The Ferodo's are about $200 more per front set than the G-LOC R16, so I was going to try them. But if they last half as long then that goes out the window...

Do you think the G-LOC will last a lot less than this?

 

[gtorpedo]

I got 3 days at VIR on GLOC R16’s and 4 days VIR + 2 days Summit Point in the DS1.11, so yes, in my experience about 2x better wear with the Ferodos. If you do decide to try the GLOCs let me know - i’ve got a couple sets of used pads in various compounds that may be of interest - happy to chat anytime.

 

[gtorpedo]

Also, the R16s are $325 shipped compared to the DS1.11 which can be sourced for $450 shipped. Given the wear rates I saw, i think the Ferodos still present a good value.

 

[Drlee50]

The r24s wear much longer than all the other carbotech pads. It's a 24 hour type of pad. I found them to be pretty gentle on the rotors as well. Excellent braking and they run pretty cool. I talked to carbotech directly and they told me the 16s are the softest material and shortest pad life of all their pad.

Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk

 

[SavetheManuals]

I ran GLoc R12 on the front without cooling ducts and they felt great initially (good modulation, not too much bite) but had crazy pad transfer and they were gone after 3 track days.
I have been running the Hawk DTC60 since then with cooling ducts and they have been unstoppable through 5 track days with tons of life left. Feels like there is less modulation available than with the R12s, but the stopping power is undeniable and the wear life is impossible to ignore. I heat cycle/heat check my rotors out of commission before they wear out so the rotor wear is not a factor for me.
Not apples to apples since the R12s did not have help from cooling ducts, and the higher compounds (other than R16) should be better, but I'm very happy with the performance of the DTC60s.

 

[ScottyD_GT]

I got 3 days at VIR on GLOC R16’s and 4 days VIR + 2 days Summit Point in the DS1.11, so yes, in my experience about 2x better wear with the Ferodos. If you do decide to try the GLOCs let me know - i’ve got a couple sets of used pads in various compounds that may be of interest - happy to chat anytime.

I have 3 track days left, I think I’ll try the GLOCs. I’ll PM you.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Would imagine you would have had issues with other pads without the brake ducts , also.Few folks realize how huge this seemingly small addition can be. Went from eating three sets of pads, many years ago ( Viper GTS ) at Mid Ohio , to making the entire weekend the following year once brake ducts were installed. In fact ran another two track days before the pads finally went.

Frankly I would have run an #18 , at least , with no ducts. As noted Carbotech and G-Loc are the virtually the same , but the numbers are not corresponding.

For instance an 18 on a G-Loc , corresponds to a 24 with Carbotech.

 

[ScottyD_GT]

Would imagine you would have had issues with other pads without the brake ducts , also. View folks realize how huge this seemingly small addition can be. Went from eating three sets of pads, many years ago ( Viper GTS ) at Mid Ohio , to making the entire weekend the following year once brake ducts were installed. In fact ran another two track days before the pads finally went.

Frankly I would have run an 18 , at least , with no ducts. As noted Carbotech and G-Loc are the virtually the same , but the numbers are not corresponding.

For instance an 18 on a G-Loc , corresponds to a 24 with Carbotech.

Brake ducts are on my short list too. Good point

 

[Tri-bar]

Another alternative
https://trackmustangsonline.com/threads/powerstop-track-day-pads.14075/

As good as the Track Day pads are for well, Track days, Not sure how they will hold up to full Racing. I'm going out this weekend back to Button Willow. With race tires. Will let ya know, as I will be pushing it harder.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Having lost my brakes a couple of times I pretty much found the stopping ability on a track is often indicative of the price paid. Get high quality pads, fluid , etc. and brake ducts are a low cost improvement to extend brake pad life.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

One of the things folks are not factoring in , or maybe not thinking about, is brake pad life is also very indicative of how fast you are going. Drivers often drive different tracks and just happen to run elsewhere on a different set of pads they may be trying. Issue , here, is that the tracks themselves can be indicative of pad life. Running a track like VIR ( with it's high speeds ) and then
going to a smaller track with less speed and easier braking, may give one a sense of less pad life. I often tell students that when stuff starts wearing out faster it does not necessarily mean the products are not that great , it is often a sign of greater speed and deeper braking techniques. Often the best thing for folks to do, if they like the way the car is performing, but they are going through consumables quicker, is to ask themselves if they are going much faster? Good friend of mine was really upset after I got him on a set of Carbotechs, as he was getting at least a weekend less life and my first question to him was , " Are you going faster? " He responded , " Heck , I am going a lot faster, Bill." Bingo, I told him , you now are experiencing the cost analysis of more speed , ha,ha!!

Also , we have a tendency to run ourselves in big circles to find a tiny drop in price for many items, but I would suggest many of you reach out to some of our vendors , since some even race Mustangs and likely have experience at many tracks? It seems many recommendations are based on just ordering through a website - with packaged products and we are not all the same in our endeveavors. I personally hate some of the packages, because they assume the same pads go front and back ( temp/grip wise ) , and that makes no sense to me. Optimum Performance, for example, races a Stang, and he would be able to recommend various pads , rotors , depending on what you want to do?

Me , I like Carbotech 24s or G-Loc 18s on front, but I am a very, very ,very aggressive braker, and I go with relatively lower temp pads in back, as we all know they won't get as hot and will operate better at a lower initial heat point for optimum bite. Keep in mind you will experiment a bit , depending on your braking style, and what works great for one may not always work for another? Ask drivers their track goals when trying to figure out your best setup, since a helpful comment from an enthusiast who prefers to just run in beginning HPDE groups ( nothing wrong with that at all ) , as socializing with other fun Gearheads fulfills his hobby, will be quite different than someone doing Time Trials or Racing at full tilt boogie. Neither driver is better than the other with their pursuits, but often asking someone who has a completely different mind set , does not meet the criteria you are looking for?

Well, as usual I am rambling in print about the way I talk, so better end this before I put some of you to sleep?!

 

[Eric62]

Agree with Bill, your choice of pads and compounds must match your style and choice of activity. A heavy braker at an HPDE may require a rather high temp race-pad rather than the "streetable track pad." A momentum driver running time trials may be happy with a lower temp pad.

Any pad you chose, though, has a binder that holds all the good friction stuff together and when that binder reaches its degradation temperature, the wear rate goes up exponentially. The same pad that works great for you at Road Atlanta may wear drastically worse at a track with short straights that don't cool the brakes well. The old, short Gingerman was always hard on brakes for me.

And fender to fender racing is always WAY harder on brakes than any time trial or HPDE. Racers just won't back off. The Red Mist lasts the entire race. They'll hammer until the brakes don't work anymore!

 

[Fair]

We did a lot of brake pad testing in our S197 Mustang over 5 seasons. We tried Hawk (HPS, HP+, and DTC copmpounds), Ferrodo, Porterfield, Carbotech and G-LOC.



Some of our earliest testing on our S197 was just autocrossing. At this 2011 ProSolo event we caught the Hawk HP+ pads on fire - well, at least they were throwing VERY bright sparks. Corner workers kept calling in that our car was on fire! This was IN A PARKING LOT.

So I would never recommend HPS/HP+ Hawks for track use, of course. We tried the HP+ on track with this car once, and some other cars numerous times, and it never worked well - if you can drive quickly. Slow people don't need to worry about their pads as much.



We went to the DTC track compounds and quickly realized those were not up to the capabilities of the Coyote powered Mustang at 3800 pounds with driver. We would see this "smearing" at high rotor temperatures, which some of the pads do when they get super hot. We also had multiple sets FALL APART at 1/2 pad depth, when changing between street and track pads. It sucks to see hundreds of dollars just fall on the floor...



We realized like many of you that brake cooling was helpful in extending pad life - and rotor life, hub life. This allowed us to push harder but we still went through a LOT of consumables on this car.



We were replacing pads after every 2 track events, and rotors didn't last much longer. Always seemed to be buying brake pads, rotors, and fluid. Sometimes I pushed the limits on pad life - this was getting out of hand.



We finally tested Carbotech pads, and had better results - they were lasting longer, and the car was getting faster. Started setting a lot of TT records soon after.



Stepping up to the larger GT500 rear brakes extended rear rotor life by 3 or 4 times. Pads were lasting 4+ weekends, double what the DTC Hawks would do. Sure, they cost a bit more, but the cost-per-lap was going down. Pagid and PFC lasted a hair longer, but they cost significantly more. We had found our best "bang per buck" pad in the Carbotech.



We had been using and even became a dealer for Carbotech for a number of years, but in February of 2016, Danny Puskar (shown above at PRI 2015) and his brother left that company - which were the only two folks at Carbotech we ever spoke to - and started G-LOC, down the road. We moved over to G-LOC and have seen even better quality and durability, with a slightly better price. This is the only pad I've run in the past 2 years (exception: Powerbrake BBKs), and our customers have also great success with G-LOC. G-LOC cleaned up at the SCCA and NASA Nationals - They seem to be on all of the podium cars and go deep into the field in most club level road racing.



For Mustang track folks we like to talk to them about their intended use, relative speed, tracks they see, and other mods on the car before recommending a pad compound package. We tend to stick with a few G-LOC compounds: track use is R12 front/R10 rear or R16 front/R12 Rear. Autocrossers are sent out with R6 for great cold bite, and very casual track day guys might get R8/R6. Street use is the GS-1. Endurance is the R14 (depending on weight of the car). The R18... its a compound we don't use much, and it isn't "in line" with the other compounds they make, but does have its uses.



So, in short: there are "cheaper" pads out there, and more expensive pads too. We've just found the best balance between price and lifespan - with 8 compounds to choose from - in G-LOC. And they don't seem to catch on fire. Talk to the dealer you trust the most, that might have relevant experience with your car and end use.

Cheers,