I had been running with Hawk HPS pads for awhile.  At the end of their life, they’ve gone off in a seriously bad way.  Though they were never what I would call long on bite, on their deathbeds, their friction force was such that I could no longer lock my brakes in the dry in a straight line.  That is bad since that means there is extra braking power available from my tires that I’m not utilizing.  The pads were also fading to an alarming degree during performance driving* so it was definitely time for a change.

So in goes the Cobalt Friction GT-Sport pads, along with a few colorful words since my knuckles seem to have a magnetic attraction to cold, hard suspension arms.  The GT-Sports come with a reputation for good bite and good thermal characteristics, but also a reputation for dust and noise.

Well, after bedding in the pads (and redoing a bit of work, which I’ll recount later), I have to say that the pads are just as advertised.  Compared to the HPS, there is no comparison.  The amount of bite is through the roof and I can easily lock up my brakes now.  In fact, I’d say that people used to normal passenger car brakes would think these pads are grabbier than a third grader.  Initial bite is high and they hang on relentlessly even as you load them with enough heat to keep a small apartment warm in this unseasonably cold LA weather.  Modulation is a touch trickier as the brakes seem to start off at “lots of bite” and go to “even more bite” as you brake deeper.  It’s a tad difficult at first to feather the brakes for initial and mid-corner balance, but you get used to it as the day goes on.  As a performance pad, these things are great.

However, they also do dust and make noise.  In fact, they made so much noise that I installed a set of shims and some anti-rattle grease in an attempt to quiet them down.  Luckily that did the trick; I wouldn’t know what I’d do if it didn’t as though I love the braking power, I also hate my car sounding like a New York dumptruck everytime it comes to a stop.  I’m not sure having brake squeal precede your entrance to every place you go to is the grandest of entrances.  So two thumbs up for shims and anti-rattle grease as now the only sound I get is the occasional squeal from 5 mph down.  It’s not a bad squeal; it’s something I can live with.  Your mileage may vary.

The pads also produce an amount of dust that the Tasmanian Devil would be proud of.  The dust is a bit stickier than normal, so getting them off is a slight challenge.  However, if you have wheels with a glossy finish, waxing your wheels will help ensure that the dust remains easy to remove.

So the final verdict with these pads are that they are a good chance if you do a lot of performance driving.  Honestly, I feel they make better track pads than canyon pads as tracks tend to emphasize heavier braking while canyons have a lot of short quick stabs to balance the car.  However dust will be a problem: my front silver wheels (THE brightest silver wheels I’ve ever seen) turned almost to gunmetal after a bit more than a week of driving.  The noise can be mostly cured, so that’s not too bad.  In return, you get a pad with good bite and good thermal characteristics that are suitable up to the intermediate and possibly advance levels for HPDE trackdays as well as most canyon roads.

*Please note that pad fade is different from fluid fade in that when there is pad fade, the pedal is still hard, but the braking power goes off.