Hawk  Talon Performance Ceramic Brake Kit - Slotted & Drilled

July 13, 2020 (Verified Tire Rack Customer)

Shopped a year for brakes. I have Akebono on all my other cars and they are firm but velvet smooth with zero dust. But they don't make pads for something as big as the Q7 and not many do. Hawk does and is reputable but not all the reviews were positive. If you don't mind leaving nose prints on your windshield and spending 15 minutes washing down the black trails from your concrete driveway after washing your car every week, then the stock semi metallic are for you; the stock initial bite is ferocious and so is the dusting. Hawk Performance Ceramic make 90% less dust and feel just as authoritative as stock, without the face slamming bite. I read online that wet braking could be scary but experienced none of that driving back from Colorado to Cali in a huge downpour in mountain passes. The Hawk Performance Ceramics also feel more linear to me and tons more responsive at the end of braking when bleeding pressure to come to a smooth stop. I took a year to purchase brakes because I agree with the Q7 engineers on their design principles, on nearly everything except their brake formulation; gigantic Brembos with stock semi metallic pads are ferocious even stone cold and I just wanted tune down the ferocity. And BTW, Tire Rack was at least $200 cheaper than anywhere else on the internet, with outstanding service and by far the most informative website. I have only the highest regard for Tire Rack for all the data that they publish.