When my friends or customers come to me asking for brakes front or rear, I usually ask a few specific questions to help determine the type of pad and rotor combo that would best suit their needs.
As for me and everything Ive owned over the last twenty or so years, has always ran Hawk pads and Power Slot,(made by Centric) rotors and nothing else.
I do not use Cross Drilled rotors primarily due to the amount of surface area that is lost by the drilled out rotors. With slotted, yes, you lose some surface area but nothing as much as the drilled.
I run the HPS pad combination. Never had a problem, low dust, great bite hot and cold.
Hawk just introduced a new product simply called their 5.0 pads. They are new on the market and only in limited numbers.
I installed a new set of the 5.0's on my t4 on the front and I am here to say, WHOLLY MOLLY these things are the BEST non-race pads I have ever used. I am a very spirited driver on and off road. The other day, I was out on some rally type of roads I know pretty well. The visibilitywas great, so I can see if there is any on-coming traffic. I stopped periodically to check brake temps and the results were amazing.
At the hottest, I had brake temps around 687 degrees. Thats right 687 degrees. Didnt have any pedal fade, no brake smell and no brake smoke. I still had a consistent, ready to work brake system that gave me confidence....
Find me a set of pads that could get that hot without noise, fade or smoke.
The only thing Im going to do though is flush my brake fluid, front and rear after that stress on the fluid. Flushing brake fluid is highly suggested after high speed runs. Im sold on HAWK and CENTRIC/POWERSLOT SLOTTED, not cross drilled rotors. Thanks for reading my long story.