Hawk Brake Pads for Track Cars: Which Compound Owners Run, Car by Car
Walk through any HPDE paddock on the East Coast and you will find Hawk pads on a good share of the cars. They are not always the best pad on a given car, and owners argue about that constantly, but they are everywhere because the range covers every step from a first track day to a club race, and the compound letters are the same on a Miata as on a Corvette.
This guide is for track cars only. It is built around what owners actually run, read from the forums where they argue about it — miataturbo, mazdaracers, ft86club, s2ki, m3post and the bimmerpost family, Rennlist, my350z and the370z, CorvetteForum, s197forum, mustang6g and Grassroots Motorsports — checked against Hawk's own numbers. Each compound has its own deeper article. If you just need to read the number on a box, start with Hawk part numbers decoded.
Quick picks
- First track days in a light car (Miata, FR-S/BRZ, S2000) — HP Plus works, and many owners keep it at the rear even after they upgrade the front.
- First track days in a heavy or powerful car (M3, Corvette, Mustang, WRX, 370Z) — skip HP Plus. It fades within a session or two at that weight. Most owners go to DTC-60; a gentler step on the S197 Mustang has been HT-10 front with HP Plus rear.
- Intermediate, 200-treadwear tires — DTC-60, front or both ends. This is the default on almost every platform below.
- Advanced, R-compounds or slicks — DTC-70 front with DTC-60 rear, which is Hawk's own split.
- Rear axle of a light rear-drive car — something milder than the front: DTC-30, HP Plus, Blue or HT-10 behind a DTC-60.
- Spec Miata and budget club racing — DTC-60 front with DTC-30 or Blue rear.
The compounds side by side
Temperatures are Hawk's published operating and optimal ranges. The optimal range is the number that matters: a pad below it has less bite and wears faster, and a pad above it fades.
| Compound | Letter | Operating | Optimal | What owners use it for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP Plus | N | 100–800°F | 300–600°F | Autocross, first track days in light cars, rear pad |
| HT-10 | S | 300–1300°F | 500–1100°F | Step between HP Plus and DTC-60; now mostly a rear pad |
| Blue 9012 | E | 250–1000°F | 350–800°F | Old-school club pad; now often a rear pad behind DTC-60 |
| DTC-30 | W | 100–1200°F | 100–800°F | Rear pad behind DTC-60 on light cars; works cold |
| DTC-60 | G | 400–1600°F | 700–1100°F | The default track pad, front or both ends |
| DTC-70 | U | 400–1600°F | 800–1200°F | Front pad on fast or heavy cars on sticky tires |
Look at where the optimal ranges start. HP Plus is happiest below 600°F; DTC-60 does not really wake up until about 700°F. That gap is the whole story of Hawk's range: the further right a pad sits, the more heat your car and your driving have to put into it before it works properly.
The ladder, in one paragraph each
HP Plus
Hawk's own page calls HP Plus "ideal for autocross" and does not pitch it as a track pad. Owners agree. On a light car with a gentle driver it survives HPDE; on anything heavier it fades. A 370Z owner got about four 20-minute sessions out of a set, F8x M3 and M4 owners report fade after three or four hard laps, and a GT3 owner said it "melts under real track use". Where it shines is the rear axle of a light car behind a stronger front pad. Go deeper on HP Plus →
HT-10
Owners place HT-10 between DTC-30 and DTC-60: more bite at low temperature than the DTC pads, less heat tolerance than DTC-60. It was a common front pad a decade ago — S197 Mustang drivers ran HT-10 front with HP Plus rear as their first real track setup — and today it mostly shows up as a rear pad behind DTC-60 on S2000s and Mustangs. Go deeper on HT-10 →
Blue 9012
Hawk calls Blue an entry-level endurance compound. A Spec Miata racer on mazdaracers says he won three ARRCs on Blues, and you will still hear it called "old technology" that is hard on rotors. Its modern job is the rear axle: Spec Miata and S2000 drivers run DTC-60 front with Blue rear. Go deeper on Blue →
DTC-30
Hawk lists DTC-30 for dirt, circle track and drag racing, and never mentions road courses. Road-course drivers use it anyway — almost always at the rear, behind DTC-60. "60/30" is the classic Spec Miata combination, and FR-S, Type R and Mustang drivers run it too. Its strength is that it works cold. Go deeper on DTC-30 →
DTC-60
The pad most people mean when they say "Hawks". Hawk describes it as a popular choice for lightweight front axles, but owners run it on everything from a Miata to a 3,500 lb M3 and a GT3. An E9x M3 regular on m3post put it simply: the friction is flat "at almost all temps versus a 70 that needs you to maintain a certain amount of heat". Go deeper on DTC-60 →
DTC-70
Extremely high torque and aggressive initial bite, by Hawk's own description. It is a front pad for fast cars on sticky tires. On street-type tires it overpowers the grip and keeps the ABS busy; an F80 owner put it bluntly: on 300-treadwear tires "DTC70 will definitely over power the tires". Hawk pairs it with DTC-60 at the rear. Go deeper on DTC-70 →
What people run, car by car
This is the community picture, not Hawk's. Where owners disagree, we say so. The last column links the pad shapes we list for that car — each link goes to a track compound we list in that shape, and the compound articles cover the rest.
| Car | Getting started | Intermediate | Advanced / race | Our pads |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miata NA / NB | HP Plus, often rear only | DTC-60 front, DTC-30 / HP Plus / Blue rear | 60/30 or 60/Blue (Spec Miata) | Front HB149 · Rear HB159 |
| Miata NC / ND | HP Plus | DTC-60 front, DTC-30 rear | 60/30 | Front HB522 · Rear HB523 |
| FR-S / BRZ (2013+) and GR86 | DTC-60 front, HP Plus rear on street tires | DTC-60 both ends, or 60/30 | Some instructors find DTC-60 not enough; DTC-70 front | Front HB711 · Rear HB671 |
| S2000 | HP Plus both ends — fades as it wears | DTC-60 front, Blue or HT-10 rear | DTC-60 rear on winged cars | Front HB361 · Rear HB145 |
| Civic Type R FK8 | — | DTC-60 front; DTC-30 or HPS 5.0 rear (Hawk makes no DTC-60 rear for it) | — | Front HB453 (shared with the STI and Mustang Brembo) |
| BMW E36 / E46 M3 | — | DTC-60 | DTC-70 front, DTC-60 rear (owners warn 70/70 can unsettle the rear) | E46: Front HB464 · Rear HB518 E36: Front HB135 · Rear HB227 |
| BMW E9x M3 | DTC-60 | DTC-60 | DTC-70 on slicks | Front HB551 · Rear HB630 |
| Porsche 986 / 987 Boxster & Cayman | — | DTC-60 front (some keep OEM rear) or both ends | DTC-70 | Base: Front HB289 · Rear HB290 S: Front HB291 |
| Porsche 996 / 997 GT3 | HP Plus melts — skip it | DTC-60, about 10–12 days per set reported | DTC-70 | 997: Front HB483 · Rear HB651 |
| Nissan 350Z Brembo / 370Z Sport | HP Plus OK on a 350Z, too little on a 370Z | DTC-60 front, stock rear | DTC-70 front, DTC-60 rear | 370Z: Front HB601 · Rear HB602 350Z rear HB180 |
| Corvette C5 / C6 | HP Plus | DTC-60 | DTC-70 front, DTC-60 rear | Base/Z51: Front HB247 · Rear HB248 Z06/GS: Front HB531 · Rear HB532 |
| Mustang S197 | HT-10 front, HP Plus rear | DTC-60 front, HT-10 rear | DTC-70 front, DTC-60 rear | GT: Front HB484 · Rear HB485 Brembo/Boss/GT500 front HB453 |
| Mustang S550 PP | Stock PP pads | DTC-60 front, HP Plus rear | DTC-70 front, DTC-30 or DTC-60 rear | PP front HB805 |
| WRX STI / Evo VIII–IX | — | DTC-60 (little data) | — | Front HB453 · Rear HB180 |
| WRX 2022+ / WRX TR / STI 2018–21 | HP Plus called undersized on the heavier WRX | DTC-60 (little data) | — | TR / STI 18–21 front HB616 · WRX 2022+ rear HB671 |
| MINI Cooper S R56 | HP Plus | Blue or Black (older reports) | — | Front HB560 · Rear HB574 |
Tyres decide more than weight does
Nobody publishes a weight or horsepower cutoff — not Hawk and not the forums. What owners do agree on is that the tire sets the ceiling. On 300-treadwear street tires, DTC-60 is plenty and DTC-70 overpowers the grip. On 200-treadwear tires or R-compounds, DTC-60 all round or DTC-70 front with DTC-60 rear. On slicks, DTC-70 front. A pad with more bite than the tire can use does not stop you shorter — it just hands the job to the ABS.
Split friction: the hotter pad goes at the front
Hawk names one front/rear pairing: DTC-70 with DTC-60, with the DTC-60 on the axle where you want less torque — the rear. On light rear-drive cars owners take the same idea one step down: DTC-60 at the front, and DTC-30, HP Plus, Blue or HT-10 at the rear.
The rule underneath is simple: never put the more aggressive pad at the back. Vorshlag documented what happens on their C5 Corvette with HP Plus fronts and a racier DTC rear — the bias shifted so far rearward that "not even the C5's ABS could keep up". Miata owners report that the factory bias valve is already at the limit with DTC-60 rears, and a BRZ owner with a PFC front and DTC-60 rear called the car "squirrely" under threshold braking. If you are new, run the same compound front and rear until you know why you want to change it.
What they cost you besides money
The DTC pads are track pads, and they behave like it. Owners on every platform report the same things: dust that turns corrosive when it gets wet and will stain wheels in a weekend, rotor wear that is higher than with some competitors, squeal on the street, and poor bite when cold. Hawk's own blog says an aggressive pad running below its operating temperature "acts more like sand paper on rotors". Swap to a street pad for the drive home if the car is driven on the road, and budget rotors along with pads.
Bedding and switching compounds
Hawk's procedure for race compounds is a set of progressively harder stops that slow the car without stopping it: four or five from medium speed, five or six from higher speed, then three from near race speed. Never drag or hold the brakes, and let the rotors cool completely before you park. Pads brought up to heat too fast can glaze.
When you change compound on the same rotors, the old pad's transfer layer gets in the way. Hawk's advice for used rotors is to resurface them, or sand them with 130-grit paper and wash them with soap and water. Owner experience is mixed — some swap between DTC-60 and HP Plus on a Miata with no issues, others keep a dedicated set of track rotors — but a Viper owner whose DTC-70s refused to bed on used rotors fixed it only with a resurface. Fresh fluid matters as much as pads: see why we change brake fluid after every track day.
Two things Hawk will not do
Carbon-ceramic rotors. Every Hawk compound page says the same thing: not compatible with carbon-ceramic rotors. That rules out PCCB Porsches, carbon-ceramic Corvettes such as the C7 Z06 and Grand Sport with the J57/Z07 package, and carbon-ceramic BMW M cars, unless they have been converted to iron.
Street pads on track. HPS, HPS 5.0 and Performance Ceramic are street pads. An E9x M3 owner reported HPS 5.0 braking falling away after a lap or two; an S197 regular called HPS "WAY too light-duty for the track except at pure novice level". If the car is driven to the track, use a street pad on the road and swap at the paddock.
The rest of the range
- ER-1 — Hawk's newest compound, launched in 2021 for endurance racing, HPDE and time trial on light-to-medium cars. Friction above 0.45 and an optimal range of 700–1100°F by Hawk's numbers. There are still very few owner reports.
- HT-14 — a high-torque compound for cars with very high deceleration and downforce. It no longer appears on Hawk's motorsport compound list and stock is thin.
- Black — a low-cost all-purpose race pad with good cold bite. Owners on Grassroots Motorsports say it fades on a track that is hard on brakes.
- DTC-80 — for the hardest-braking circuits, with an optimal range up to 1500°F. Hawk itself says a Miata will likely never get one into its working range.
Pads we have ready to ship
Stock on Hawk race pads moves quickly. These were in stock when we wrote this and fit cars from the table above.
 DTC-60 Front — Boxster / Cayman (HB289G.610) $298.79 Shop on Enzuca → |
 DTC-60 Front — Miata NA / NB (HB149G.505) $182.69 Shop on Enzuca → |
 DTC-30 Rear — Miata NA / NB (HB159W.492) $160.19 Shop on Enzuca → |
 DTC-70 Front — Mustang S197 GT (HB484U.670) $323.99 Shop on Enzuca → |
 DTC-70 Rear — Corvette C6 Z06 / GS (HB532U.570) $366.29 Shop on Enzuca → |
 DTC-60 Front — 370Z Sport Brakes (HB601G.626) $277.19 Shop on Enzuca → |
Or browse by compound: HP Plus, HT-10, Blue, DTC-30, DTC-60, DTC-70, or the full Hawk range.
The Bottom Line
For most track cars the answer is DTC-60 — at the front, and often at both ends. Go milder at the rear on a light rear-drive car, step up to DTC-70 at the front only when you are on sticky tires and the 60s are fading, and keep HP Plus for autocross, first days in a light car, or the rear axle. Above all, never run the more aggressive pad at the back.
If you are not sure which shape your car takes, read the number off your old pads or the box, or tell us the car, the caliper and what you do with it, and we will confirm before you order.