These vehicles use a ceramic compound pad from the factory. And, because of such, the brakes are terrible right from the factory.
Hawk pads are decent, but I've had just as good of results with the Performance Friction Carbon Metallic pads available at AutoZone. They actually seem to be getting better with time...When I first installed them, they took forever and a day to finally break in, but now that they've got some miles on them, they're fantastic. Never heard a squeal out of them, very little dust...even less than the OEM ceramics, and excellent pedal feel and stopping power.
I've got probably around 20,000 miles on my Performance Frictions now, and they're still as thick as the day I installed them. I did all 4 corners with new Brembo (stock replacement) rotors, and Performance Friction pads all at once. As far as I see it, it'll probably be the only set of rotors and pads I'll ever need, based on how everything is wearing now.
I've tried Hawk HPS pads on my Grand Prix, and they weren't bad, but produced a few squeaks and squeals, along with substantially more black brake dust. I tried just about every pad known to man on that car, and finally determined that the Performance Frictions were the best overall. That car would crack the rotors with ceramic pads, not to mention having a terrible feeling pedal and longer stopping distances...It always gave the feeling of the brakes being wet, even when they weren't.
Under no circumstances would I buy a ceramic pad for these vehicles.
