FAQ: Brake Rotors and Pads

I think the HPS should be fine for rear duty. As long as you have the EBC blue up front, you're going to stop pretty well. I also like the idea for EBC yellow or blue for rear. I might take that route in the future.

If Hawk considers HP+ to be a track pad, I think they're stretching things. Maybe for a Lotus Elise or FIAT 500, but for a heavy car like Riviera, HP+ is really more of a performance street pad. You can't road track a Riv with HP+ up front, that much I know for sure. For rear duty, they're more than adequate.

agreed. I wish there was an EBC Blue that fit the rear but so far i have not found it.
I have heard the yellow is the next closest thing to the HP+ in terms of friction level cold.
I wasnt happy with the HPS when i had them up from (well i was happy at the time, but after trying other options i dont think i can go back).

BTW i did link this thread to my email i sent to hawk.

Well my rear rotors and pads are finally done. Finally? yea finally after only 6,700 street miles.
The pads are down to the metal back plate and the rotors have a groove deep as a trench. (think two quarters stacked) Ill know when i pull them off but i am fairly confident they will be even and true across the board. Also no vibration from the rears even as thin as they now are.
I ordered some EBC Yellow Stuff pads and powerstop rotors. Will be installing them over the holiday week.

Update: rear pads installed about 1 year ago are now about done. Long story short, my HP+ rear pads were wearing thin after a long life, so I ordered a new set, but received the wrong set in the mail. In desperation I ran to AZone and picked up a set of Duralast. They actually worked pretty well for awhile. It's only rears; they don't really do that much. However, in the last 4-6 weeks I've been feeling a faint shudder, not through the wheel, but from the rear. It's getting louder. I'm going to experiment and order a proper set of HP+ rears and see if things smooth out.

Hey guys, I am looking for something that will break to oem standards and will hopefully not warp. What do you guys think of these?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FRONT-REAR-KIT-Black-Hart-DRILLED-SLOTTED-Brake-Rotors-Ceramic-Pads-C1300/121044652361?rt=nc

I am not currently interested in doing the F-body brake mod. I just want something that will stop the car and not warp, as I am getting sick of rotors warping on this car!

They're cheap and the black will wear off. I would get a set of Hawk HPS pads front and rear with some namebrand rotors. If they were drilled and slotted AFTER the rotors were cast they have a higher chance of cracking. If the slots and holes are cast with the rotor they will be less likely to crack. Most of the off-brand stuff does it the first way, and some of the name brand stuff does it the right way. Honestly, if you're not having warping issues and you're not beating on it you don't need drilled and slotted rotors

I've tried LOTS of rotor/pad combos (probably 10 at least). The best way to keep the car stopping strong without warping rotors is to spend your money on good pads, and really the only way to do that is to swap on F-Body calipers. That's the whole reason for the F-Body mod, really: so you can access the better pads.

But if you stay with OEM Riviera Calipers, about the best pad you can get are Hawk HP+. They are noisy, and make a tiny bit of dust, but your rotors will stay straight and clean. In fact, you will wear through a pair of rotors before you use up the pads - but they will not warp! Anything less, you just can't go braking the car as hard from higher speeds. So the options are: replace rotors every ~10k miles, buy HP+ pads and put up with the noise & rotor wear, swap to F-Body calipers, or don't brake so hard with this car.

I cant wait for some Fbody calipers and access to the pads!


SO EXCITING   

RidzRiv wrote:

Hey guys, I am looking for something that will break to oem standards and will hopefully not warp. What do you guys think of these?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FRONT-REAR-KIT-Black-Hart-DRILLED-SLOTTED-Brake-Rotors-Ceramic-Pads-C1300/121044652361?rt=nc

I am not currently interested in doing the F-body brake mod. I just want something that will stop the car and not warp, as I am getting sick of rotors warping on this car!

I've always been very pleased with Raybestos "Professional grade" pads and rotors. I found them on RockAuto for the '95 towards the bottom of the "daily driver" list under pads:
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=298609&cc=1022016

and their front rotors here:
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=299855&cc=1022016

I'm not a fan of drilled and/or slotted rotors, or cheap rotors. I've used these on my '98 Riv and it stops very hard, over and over, and lasts long. Used the same brand/model on many other cars as well and always been pleased.

FWIW I'm running Raybestos pads until I can get my F-bodys on and they feel kind of mushy. I don't really like the way they behave at low speeds either. You have to give it a decent bit of pedal to stop. Yes, my brakes are bled correctly.

I've been soaking my axle in PB every day now in hopes that when I get home tonight it will separate from the hub. Last time I tried they were rusted together. 95's and 96's require a knuckle/hub swap from the 97+ style for the F-body brakes.

matt270avian wrote:

FWIW I'm running Raybestos pads until I can get my F-bodys on and they feel kind of mushy. I don't really like the way they behave at low speeds either. You have to give it a decent bit of pedal to stop.

Which ones? Raybestos has several varieties. My car with the above mentioned pads and rotors could toss everything in the car into the windshield on a tiny moments notice.

Also, later Rivs had bigger rotors, earlier had smaller rotors. Grand Prixs had the same complaints on the earlier years with the smaller rotors.

Service grade. One of the pads I pulled off today fell apart. Not good.

Thanks for the info guys. I'll let you now what i get when I get around to it.

AA wrote:

I've tried LOTS of rotor/pad combos (probably 10 at least). The best way to keep the car stopping strong without warping rotors is to spend your money on good pads, and really the only way to do that is to swap on F-Body calipers. That's the whole reason for the F-Body mod, really: so you can access the better pads.

But if you stay with OEM Riviera Calipers, about the best pad you can get are Hawk HP+. They are noisy, and make a tiny bit of dust, but your rotors will stay straight and clean. In fact, you will wear through a pair of rotors before you use up the pads - but they will not warp! Anything less, you just can't go braking the car as hard from higher speeds. So the options are: replace rotors every ~10k miles, buy HP+ pads and put up with the noise & rotor wear, swap to F-Body calipers, or don't brake so hard with this car.

What's worked for me are Raybestos ceramic pads (they are an OE for ACDelco) and ATE rotors with the grooved face.

Got these lil guys today. Anyone ever use em before? Based on the price, they better be awesome.

Raybestos advanced technology (whatever that means) ceramic pads

http://www.raybestosbrakes.com/magnoliaPublic/home/products/brake-pads/advanced-technology-disc-brake-pads.html



These should hold me over until i get some Fbods ready to swap in.

I usually use Raybestos, but I've never used slotted pads before.

Hey all... new to Buicks but not to vehicles. I bought a 98 Riv a couple of weeks ago. She's pretty mintish gold on tan. Anyhoo i noticed that there seems to be some hard spots on my rotors due to the way she's stopping...definitely not warpage. i thought id take a look yesterday....bam. To my surprise all four of my rotors are slotted and drilled!!

Whoops...so what i meant to ask was, is that stock? Or an option at least?

Not stock OR an option. Somebody installed those....

Just out of curiosity, you can "feel" hard spots how

As a slight intermittent grind or halt while braking lightly

Or maybe then I should say 'rough' rather

Ah. They probably have a thickness variation. Cheap rotors (I say cheap because I highly doubt someone spent $100/rotor for them) have a tendency to develop "high" and "low" spots within the rotor face after some time. I see it quite often. I wouldn't be surprised if you had rust rings exactly following the drilled sections too. This would most likely occur on the inner face of the rotor.

+1 on the cheap rotors thing. Mine aren't too bad for what they are but I want to invest in some quality parts.

I read this whole thread thinking we were talking about supercharger rotors. The concept was surprising to say the least. I'm an idiot.