Hawk Blue 9012 on Track: Which Cars Still Run It, and Why at the Rear
Hawk Blue 9012 is an old-school club-racing pad. Before the DTC series took over, Blues were a common Spec Miata pad, and one BMW parts retailer still describes Blue as the "#1 Selling brake pad material for SCCA". Owners today are less kind. You will hear Blue called "old technology", and you will hear that it is hard on rotors.
On a modern track car its job has mostly shrunk to one axle: the rear, behind a DTC-60 front, on light cars where a DTC-60 rear would push the brake bias too far back. This article is part of our guide to Hawk pads for track cars. Here we go deeper on Blue: what Hawk claims, what owners actually report, which cars still run it, and which Hawk Blue pads we list for them.
What Hawk says
| Hawk Blue 9012 | |
|---|---|
| Compound letter | E (for example HB159E.492) |
| Operating range | 250–1000°F |
| Optimal range | 350–800°F |
| Character | Entry-level endurance compound, medium torque, intermediate initial bite |
| Bedding | Easier to bed than the DTC pads ("simpler to break in") |
| Listed uses | Road racing, rally, circle track |
| Wear claim | Excellent pad and rotor life |
| Rotors | Iron only; not compatible with carbon-ceramic |
The numbers explain where Blue sits. Its optimal range starts above HP Plus (300–600°F) and ends at 800°F, which is about where DTC-60 (700–1100°F) is just getting comfortable. HT-10 (500–1100°F) works hotter than Blue, and DTC-30 (100–800°F) shares Blue's ceiling but works from cold. So Blue wakes up faster than a DTC-60, which suits a light car that cannot heat a DTC-60, and it runs out of range sooner on a car that can. If you are reading a box rather than a website, the letter E after the shape number is Blue; our Hawk part number decoder covers the rest of the code.
What owners actually use it for
Hawk sells Blue as an endurance pad for both axles. The owner reports tell a narrower story, and it changes over time.
It was the Spec Miata pad. A Spec Miata racer on mazdaracers says he won three ARRCs on Blues. In the same 2011 thread, another driver called them too "analog" and preferred DTC-60. Both views are still around.
Now it is mostly a rear pad. By 2014 the mazdaracers discussion had moved on to "DTC-60 fronts with Blue rears". One racer said the Blue rear grabs "a tad more"; a second was "very pleased" with the setup. A third racer summed up the Spec Miata pad debate: 60/30, 60/Blue or Blue/Blue, and "any of the combos will work, it is 100% your preference".
An S2000 owner on s2ki made the same move from the other direction. He started on Blues at both ends, found the Blues "faded later in the day", and switched to DTC-60 front with Blue rear; the 60s "stay strong the whole day". A race shop posting in the same thread recommends DTC-60 front with Blue or HT-10 at the rear on the S2000.
As a full set, it suits only light, slow-ish cars. On Grassroots Motorsports one poster put it this way: "unless you are in a very light car on street tires the blues are… from a bygone era". A turbo Miata owner on miataturbo, at about 2,500 lb and 250 whp, was running Blues front and rear and was told to go to DTC-60.
A few scattered fans on other cars. A my350z pad database rates Blue on base (non-Brembo) 350Z brakes as "track-only" with "Excellent modulation and strong bite". On the370z, one regular argued against splitting compounds at all and named "either XP8 or Hawk Blue" for track days on street tires. MINI owners on North American Motoring listed "Hawk Blues/Blacks or Performance Friction" as the track choices for an R56 in 2013, and one m3post poster suggested Blue for an intermediate E9x M3 driver. These are single comments, not patterns.
What is missing is telling: nobody in our research runs Blue at the front of a fast car on sticky tires.
Which cars run it
Only cars where we found owner reports. "Little data" means one or two posts.
| Car | How it's run | Our pads |
|---|---|---|
| Miata NA / NB (Spec Miata) | Rear pad behind DTC-60 (60/Blue); older cars and some racers run Blue at both ends | Rear Blue HB159E (1.8) · HB157E (1.6) Front DTC-60 HB149G |
| Miata NB Sport Suspension 2001–05 | Same logic. Hawk makes no DTC-60 for the NB sport rear caliper, so a milder rear is the default | Rear Blue HB442E · Front Blue HB431E |
| Miata NC / ND | Little data. Owners mostly report 60/30; 60/Blue follows the same idea | Rear Blue HB523E · Front Blue HB522E Front DTC-60 HB522G |
| Honda S2000 | DTC-60 front, Blue rear (moved from Blue at both ends because of fade) | Rear Blue HB145E · Front Blue HB361E Front DTC-60 HB361G |
| Nissan 350Z (base brakes) | Blue as the track pad; strong bite, hard on rotors. Little data | Rear Blue HB370E |
| Nissan 370Z (Sport brakes) | One owner names Blue for street-tire track days. Little data | Front DTC-60 HB601G · Rear DTC-30 HB602W |
| MINI Cooper S R56 | Blue named as a track pad in older (2013) reports. Little data | Front DTC-60 HB560G · Rear DTC-60 HB574G |
The E36 M3 has Blue in both shapes we list — front HB135E and rear HB227E — but the only Blue endorsement we found for that car is retailer copy, not an owner report, so we leave it out of the table.
Pairings
The rule from our hub applies here too: never put the more aggressive pad at the rear.
- DTC-60 front, Blue rear. The main modern use, on Spec Miatas and S2000s. The DTC-60 does the heavy work and holds up for the whole day; the Blue rear adds braking without pulling the bias rearward the way a DTC-60 rear can.
- Blue rear or DTC-30 rear? Spec Miata racers describe 60/30 as having "a little less initial bite but better release for trailbraking" than Blues. If the rear feels nervous when you trail-brake, DTC-30 is the gentler choice; if you want the rear to contribute a little more, Blue. On the NB sport rear we list both: Blue HB442E and DTC-30 HB442W.
- Blue at both ends. Still workable on a very light car on street tires, which is where the Spec Miata wins came from. On anything heavier or faster, expect it to fade late in the day, as the S2000 owner found.
- What not to do. Blue front with a DTC-60 rear puts the more aggressive pad at the back. And if your front pad is HP Plus, keep the rear at HP Plus; Blue is the rear partner for a DTC-60 front, not for a milder one.
Where it falls short
Rotor wear. This is where Hawk and owners disagree most. Hawk claims excellent rotor life. Owners call Blue "old technology" that is abrasive on rotors when overheated (s2ki), say Blues "destroy rotors" (civicx), and one poster in a Grassroots Motorsports thread on heavy cars called Blues the harshest on rotors. The 350Z database entry that praised the bite also reported "spider web cracking, and heavy grooving". Our reading, and it is an inference: the complaints come from cars that push Blue past its 800°F ceiling. Budget rotors if you run Blues hard, and inspect them often.
Fade on heavier or faster cars. The S2000 owner's Blues "faded later in the day"; the 250 whp Miata owner was told he had outgrown them. Once a car can heat a DTC-60, Blue at the front is the wrong pad.
Rear lockup is still possible. Blue is a mild pad by DTC standards, but one Spec Miata driver on mazdaracers reported locking the rears with Blues. Miata owners also say the factory bias valve is already near its limit with DTC-60 rears. If the rear locks first, go milder at the back, not stronger at the front.
Feel. Some drivers like Blue's bite; others find it "analog" next to DTC-60. That is a preference, but it is worth knowing before you buy a set for the front.
Switching compounds. Moving from Blue to DTC-60 on the same rotors means a different transfer layer. Hawk's advice for used rotors is to resurface them or sand them with 130-grit paper; our hub guide covers bedding. And like every Hawk compound, Blue is for iron rotors only, not carbon-ceramic.
Stock. Stock on Blue moves quickly; the cards below were in stock when we wrote this.
Blue pads we have ready to ship
These were in stock when we wrote this and fit cars named above. Most are rear pads, which is how owners use Blue today.
 Blue Rear — Miata NC / ND (HB523E.539) $160.19 Shop on Enzuca → |
 Blue Rear — Miata NB Sport (HB442E.496) $170.99 Shop on Enzuca → |
 Blue Rear — 350Z base brakes (HB370E.559) $143.09 Shop on Enzuca → |
 Blue Front — S2000 (HB361E.622) $202.49 Shop on Enzuca → |
 Blue Front — Miata NC / ND (HB522E.565) $188.99 Shop on Enzuca → |
 Blue Rear — BMW E36 M3 (HB227E.630) $206.99 Shop on Enzuca → |
Or browse the full Hawk Blue collection, or step up to DTC-60 for the front.
The Bottom Line
Hawk Blue 9012 is no longer a front pad for most track cars. On a Spec Miata, an S2000 or another light rear-drive car, it earns its place at the rear behind a DTC-60 front, where it adds a little more rear bite than DTC-30 with less lockup risk than a DTC-60 rear. As a full set it still works on a very light car on street tires, and that is about where its range ends.
Go in with open eyes on rotors: Hawk says the wear is excellent, owners say otherwise, and the owners are the ones replacing rotors. If you are not sure whether Blue or DTC-30 suits your rear axle, tell us the car, the front pad and the tires, and we will help you choose.