Brake Pad Showdown | EBC vs Hawk Brake Pads

We are back with another episode of Versus. This is going to be a fun one, because today we are comparing brake pads. We are going to be testing the EBC Redstuff brake pads vs Hawk HP Plus pads.

Brake pads are an often overlooked upgrade by many enthusiasts looking to improve their cars performance, yet they can be one of the most effective upgrades, besides tires, to improve lap times at the track. Oftentimes what makes a good pad for a stock daily, leaves something to be desired when we start upgrading and modifying our cars.

To view brake pads for your Subaru, head over to out website

[bewithU]

It should be Hawk HP Plus vs Yellow stuff and Hawk HPS5.0 vs Red Stuff. The HP Plus is slightly on the track pad spectrum, same as yellow stuff.

[TVTransmo]

Just upgraded to some Redstuff on my Alfa Romeo Giulietta QV (~260hp). Not done with the bedding process yet thou (did it today), but so far they feel/bite nice compared to the OEM Brembos.
I'm a "Spirited" driver" and like curvy country roads and meeting fast cars at the traffic light, i´m not doing tracks.
The OEM Brembos did stop me 1 foot / 30 cm before being involved in a multi-car high way accident (no serious person damage) and I assume the Mercedes stopping 1 foot / 30 cm behind me had Brembos too. So absolutely not complaining about the OEM Brembo pads, I owe those brakes a lot.
Me and my car left without a scratch, but with a car covered in oil, battery acid and cooling fluid, I guess it was ....a pain getting of the windscreen.
Tire´s and brakes has always been my top priority, now more than ever. If you like driving (too) fast, you better make sure you can stop again :D
PS: I live in Denmark, so highway speed here is 80 mph / 130kmt. This happened when it was dark and wet, so was only driving around 65mph i think.

[grapeeggplant]

Being that I'm not gonna take my daily driver to the track, nor am I a race car driver, the red stuff is perfect alone for the mere fact that brake dust is not even a thing with those, and with the addition that they stop damn good as well.

[daniellawson]

EBC red stuff pads produce almost no brake dust, thats why I use them. If you saw any "dust" in this test, that was just the break-in coating coming off.

[puffnstuff]

Would've been better if the pads were more similar but I do appreciate the differentiation between the three. I've used EBC Yellowstuff in the past and they worked well for me with no noise and some increased dusting which I found to be an acceptable tradeoff for increased brake performance.

[JinkxSoldga]

Nothing says performance like a dual piston caliper station wagon. Sorry, I just couldn't resist. Great quality vid!!

[mekhipeck]

I made a custom pad that uses steel, carbon fiber and Kevlar fibers…works amazing

[tropmonky]

After using LOTS of different mfg pads I've settled on EBC. Why? because of the consistency between different models of pads. They are always top-notch, as are their rotors.

[Alex-rjsv]

I've been using Hawk HP Plus pads for years I have virtually zero break noise.

Follow their instructions for the bed-in

[ghernandez]

I'm curious if they performed the brake in/bedding for each one of these pads and if so would bedding various brake pads on the same rotor within a short period of time affect these results in any way.

[ToastedBread]

Thought redstuff wasnt made for the trackdays, better to use blue or yellow stuff in my opinion ✊

[jjw]

Solid content. Was on the fence about buying high performance pads . You convinced me . The differences were massive . Thanks and good work!

[snewstead]

I believe the EBC yellow stuff pads are more of a comparison to the Hawk HP Plus. Great testing tho. I prefer EBC of these 2 brands, but I prefer Carbotech above all other Brands.

[tdd]

Very nice test, i think it would of been nice to use different color tape for each brake pad and then show an overview photo to see the scatter pattern :). Also, i know EBC has a special bedding coating on the pads before they are 100% efficient, then needed to be used at least 200 km / 125 miles, unsure about the Hawk as i never used them :)

[noobpowerlifter]

I literally looked for a video like this yesterday.... thanks yall

[AlphaCobraNFG]

EBC Green stuff pads and Hawk performance rotors the best combo

[Hajduk]

EBC red stuff has been a good choice for me. Smoked them once during the break in period, but that happens sometimes

[Defcon]

Had a set of hawks on my old heavy yukon. They didn't seem to have much stopping power but they still had a ton of life left, then tried some brembos, those had some serious stopping power but didn't last very long, just got a set of the ebc yellows with the rotors. TBA!

[ZigArrok]

So EBC themselves do not say that the red stuff pads are track pads. In fact they explicitly say in their explanation video that they aren't. They are meant to be street pads that are an upgrade over OEM. That being said, I guess you can technically take anything to the track. Also, you didn't say whether you went through the proper bedding process for either. If you didn't ebc pads come with an abrasive outer coating to help the bedding procedure. They don't need thermal cycling really, but they do recommend about 500 miles of normal driving without super hard stops. Obviously if you've gotta you gotta but the bed process is super important here. If you didn't bed the pads the way the manufacturer recommends then it's not really an accurate test. This is my issue with reviews and test videos like this that don't run the pads for long periods to really get them seated completely. Still a good video though.

[donbalooga]

MAN I'M RUNNING SOME EBC RED STUFF ON MY 2014 BMW 335I XDRIVE AND THEY SOUND LIKE A BIG TRUCK FROM DAY ONE, I PUT BRAKE QUIET AND STILL! WHEN I BREAK MY CAR SOUND LIKE A TRUCK! CRAZYYYY NOISE