Hawk Brake Pads

Hawk's full compound ladder — street HPS through HP Plus to the DTC race compounds, each on its own page. Plus how to decode a Hawk part number.

You will also need

start at HP Plus for a first track day, not at DTC-70

About Hawk Brake Pads

Hawk is the broadest pad ladder we carry, and the reason it suits most people is that one brand covers a street car, a track car and everything between — so you can move up the range without relearning how a pad behaves.

Street

  • HPS — the aftermarket street standard. Hawk put it at 20–40% more stopping power than stock, gentle on rotors, low dust and quiet.
  • HPS 5.0 — more power and fade resistance than HPS, even less dust, and no compromise to ABS.
  • Performance Ceramic — the quiet one. Ultra low dust, built around premium alloy wheels.
  • LTS — light trucks, SUVs and vans that get genuinely hot.

Street and track

  • HP Plus — the autocross and first-track-day pad, still usable on the road.
  • HT-10 — streetable but serious. Very smooth initial bite and a consistent pedal over a wide temperature range.

Race

  • Blue — multi-purpose, medium to high temperature and torque control. A club-racing favourite, especially on lighter cars.
  • DTC-30 — built for open wheel and dirt circle track.
  • DTC-60 — the club racer's DTC. Less bite than DTC-70, better pad wear.
  • DTC-70 — the top of the range. High bite and torque, and it needs heat to work.

Also stocked in smaller numbers: Black, HT-14, Superduty, ER-1 and DTC-80.

Reading a Hawk part number

Every Hawk pad is listed by a part number like HB456Y.705, and it decodes cleanly:

  • HB456 is the pad shape — not the car. One shape covers every vehicle running that caliper.
  • Y is the compound: F = HPS, B = HPS 5.0, Z = Performance Ceramic, Y = LTS, N = HP Plus, S = HT-10, V = HT-14, E = Blue, W = DTC-30, G = DTC-60, U = DTC-70, M = Black, P = Superduty.
  • .705 is the thickness. A few shapes are offered in more than one.

So HB456Y.705 and HB456G.705 are the same pad shape in two different compounds. If you already know your shape, searching that number is far faster than searching your car.

One thing to get right

The mistake worth avoiding is jumping straight to a DTC-70 for a first track day. It needs heat you will not make, and on the road it will be noisy, dusty and vague. HP Plus is where most people should start.