Any better brake pads than Hawk HPS?

[SoonP5ismine]

I have been a Hawk HPS user since my first pad replacement years ago after my original pads worn out. I like the harder grip of the HPS but they are not cheap. I priced a set online and seen them no lower than 55$ for a set of front HPS pads hb211f.606. So now I am unemployed and was just curious if anything compares to the HPS but costing less. I tried Autozone Gold organic pads ($34.99 dec 2012) and they are complete s*** as for some reason I have worn out half of the pads already in 4 months. driving about 4000 milesmiles since December. So anyway I found a brand on Ebay called Hardex https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned) . And they make a nice ceramic pad set and they are cheap. Not sure if they are good enough to try though.
Any ideas?

 

[Brian_K]

have you tried EBC pads?

http://ebcbrakes.com/products/brake-pads/

 

[SoonP5ismine]

I have not but I tried their rotors and those are crap and ridiculously expensive. I got in 2010 a set of EBC performance slotted and dimpled rotors and they are 6 months over due for a change. My mechanice told me in december to change them as I went to him for a emergency caliper swap as it seized. So anyway the rotors lasted me 2.5 years since I changed them in summer of 2010. So to be honest I don't think I want to support EBC. But thanks for the suggestion.

 

[rit14623]

I bought plain Centric Posi-quiet ceramic brake pads. Not expensive.
I'm using them with slotted rotors. No issues. Braking is smooth and predicatable. Haven't run into a situation requiring emergency braking and I don't race.

 

[SoonP5ismine]

I bought plain Centric Posi-quiet ceramic brake pads. Not expensive.
I'm using them with slotted rotors. No issues. Braking is smooth and predicatable. Haven't run into a situation requiring emergency braking and I don't race.

How old are your rotors? do they show rust in the slots?

 

[rit14623]

How old are your rotors? do they show rust in the slots?

The rear rotors are Power Stop slotted and do not show rust in the slots. They are about a year old.
The front rotors are ATE and show some rust in the slots. They are less than six months old.

 

[MazdaSpeeder]

I like stoptech pads...they dust a bit more, but have great bite and are not super expensive.

 

[joe944]

The one thing about hawk is that they are tried, trued, and tested.
EMC became popoular for this car according to the threads for a while.
Then Centirc.
Never tried stoptech. Wouldn't argue against them for this car.
Didn't put hawk on my other cars.
But, for the p5, they have forever been competitive and continue to put out the same product at the same cost without many negative reviews.