Hawk HPS 5.0 on '05 dcsb TRD Sport 4x4

My '05 double cab 4x4 needed new pads for the front brakes. I've driven this vehicle for 22,000 miles, it now has 127,000 miles on it. It had Toyota pads on it - they worked o.k., but pedal always seemed soft (even after a fluid flush and bleeding) and stopping distance was not as great as I had hoped.

I had used the Hawk HPS (pre 5.0 versions) on some other cars, and liked them. Great stopping and almost no dusting.

After reading the sales info, I decided to get the HPS 5.0 for the Tacoma. I installed them on the existing rotors, which looked good so I did not even bother having them turned. I have now put 1,500 miles on the new brakes. Zero issues with reusing the old rotors, and not having them turned.

Compared to the stock pads:

+ better pedal "feel", as soon as I put a little pressure on the pedal, the truck starts slowing down. MUCH better than with the stock pads.

+ Stopping distances seem better. I had a panic stop situation, and the Hawks stopped me in a shorter distance than I would have expected with the stock pads.

= No noise with these pads, but I had no noise with the stock pads, so this is "="

- Wheel dusting. The Hawks are not horrible, but they DO put more dust on the wheels than the factory pads. I had about 1,000 miles before I noticed the dusting. The non-"5.0" Hawk HPS pads I've used on other cars had almost no dusting, so this was a bit of a surprise to me.

Overall I'm happy with the Hawks. I'd be happier with less wheel dust, but I'll live with it for the better stopping.

 

This is old but Google led me to your review, thanks for writing it. I'm planning to try these pads.

 

I'm glad it helped someone! The dusting seems to have lessened. I also started spraying the wheels with Armor All's wheel protectant, applied after cleaning and drying the wheels.

I've had a couple of hard "panic stop" situations since installing the pads, and they DO stop well!

 

15,000 mile update:

The dusting (red dust, not easy to clean off) gradually diminished. It was probably not until maybe 8,000 miles that I noticed that it TOTALLY went away. No other issues, and they still stop VERY well.