Lane's SCA - Brake Pads

I've tried a bunch of different types of brake pads on the track, but I haven't found any that perform as well as Hawk Blue. They don't need much warm-up time, wear like iron, and perform like you've thrown an anchor overboard. They do have some disadvantages though. Their dust is harmful to your paint if you get moisture on it, and the rotors tend to wear extremely quickly. To me, the rotor wear is not a big deal. Since the pads cost three times as much as rotors, I don't mind replacing the rotors more often. A more detailed writeup of my opinions is HERE.

After really getting used to how the car performs on the track with these pads, Hawk discontinues making them for Saturns. Noooo!

Based on a tip from a fellow Saturn Performance Club member (thanks Bryce!), a bit of investigation revealed that pads made for another make of car are virtually identical in size and shape to Saturn's front pads. Hawk's diagram with dimensions on these pads can be seen HERE, and the number is HB213. The HB213 pad is listed to fit the Mitsubishi Eclipse, along with a bunch of Dodge/Chrysler/Plymouth vehicles. You can find a full listing of them HERE (search on 'HB213').

I found the best deal on a set of these pads through Livermore Performance, where I've ordered stuff from before with great results. I installed the pads on my street car with a fresh set of rotors. You can see pictures of their size compared to some Saturn-specific Carbotech Panther Plus pads, and how they fit below.

Click the thumbnails below to view a larger-sized image.

While you can see there is a slight difference in size and shape, they fit into the calipers without any modification. But how will they work? Will there be clearance problems or other issues? I decided on the track at over 100 mph was not the best place to find out.

I installed the pads on my street car with a fresh set of rotors and drove them for about 120 miles of mixed city and highway driving. Aside from having to put up with a ton of brake dust, squealing, and grinding (all normal for these pads), they appeared to work just fine. The pictures below are after removal, and you can see a few spots where they're contacting the caliper where they aren't supposed to. It only took a few minutes to grind a bit off that edge on a bench grinder.

Click the thumbnails below to view a larger-sized image.

If these pads perform as expected, Saturn owners who don't mind a bit of tinkering may have access to some pad compounds that they wouldn't otherwise be able get. I'll be sure to post an update after using them on the track.

6/2005 - After the minimal modification above, I experienced no fit-related performance problems with the pads in several track sessions that followed. They worked as expected, and it was great to be able to enjoy the excellent performance of the Hawk Blue pads once again.

After discussing this issue with fellow members of the Saturn Performance Club mailing list, the following additional information was relayed regarding alternative pad options:

EBC lists their Saturn front pad with a part number of DP2839. Other vehicles with a matching part number include 93-94 Nissan NX (2.0 ABS), 91-94 Nissan Sentra (2.0 ABS). The part number on EBC rear pads is DP21609, and several other vehicles with matching part numbers include 95-97 3.1 Monte Carlo, 2000 3.1 Monte Carlo, 94-96 2.8 and 3.1 and 3.1 Turbo Grand Prix. There were a number of other matching vehicles as well so check their website.

- Information provided by Tom (thanks!), visit his website HERE.