Went out for my 2nd track day, got a little too excited and ended up glazing over my front brake pads. They are pretty new. So I was wondering if theres a good way to bring them back to life? For anyone intrested they are hawk blues. I really wouldnt mind getting more use out of them.
Sand with 60 grit. Have a flat surface, put the sandpaper on it, rub the pad back and forth. Wear a mask.
Sandpaper and a figured-8 pattern. Long term you can also look at slotted rotors.
Another vote for sanding. I happen to always have 80 grit sticky paper for bodywork so that's what I use.
Files also work remarkably well.
Resist the urge to use power tools with sandpaper. Any time I have done that, it "seems" to remove some parts but not others, makng the pads feel worthless until they wear a little. Files don't seem to do that, and I've never had the patience to use sandpaper by hand.
@ OP. Are you sure you did not load up the disk? Did you properly bed the pads? Are you running the correct compound for the track/car weight? Are you getting enough cooling or to much cooling of your brakes? Reason I ask is glazing over modern pads is not a common occurrence and to me is a sign that something else needs to be looked at.
Big question I have is... what material are the pads? If they are organic or hybrid organic, just use them. Organic compounds are pretty forgiving and they'll scrub away the glaze. Metallic, not so much.
Hawk blues are pretty aggressive on their own. We used to use them to de-glaze rotors that had uneven pad transfer lol
Make figure 8's on the side of a cinder block with the pads. Done.
I'd try just bedding them again. It's worked for me on R4S pads.
Hawk Blues are pretty old school pads. They're also super, duper abrasive. I used to use them to wipe the pad deposits off of rotors. You can sand them like others above have suggested or you might just try driving them around on the street for a few days.
They'll be way out of their temp range and might just un glaze themselves since they're such an abrasive pad...
if you choose to sand the pads, please wear a mask and set up your shop vac to suck the dust away as you are sanding.
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