It has been discovered that Hawk HPS and RacingBrake ET300-ET500 REAR brake pads for the gen2 and gen3 Acura TL have an issue with the inner pad fitment.
There is an extra tab on the inner pad backing plate which will contact the caliper piston. This causes the pad to ride at an angle to the rotor face, not flush as designed.
The result is uneven pad wear across the width of the pad and reduction of braking surface area.

What to do:
Look for rust across half the rotor face on the inner side of rear rotors
Remove the rear pads and inspect for excessive wear.
Inspect rotor for surface rust buildup- use sandpaper to clean as needed
Use a grinder to quickly remove the offending center tab from backing plate.
A grinding stone in a drill works but is slower.
If you have extreme angled wear on RacingBrake ET series rear pads purchased from MrHeelToe- contact him at marcus@heeltoeauto.com for replacements.
If you bought factory direct- contact them.

I have emailed RB and they are very concerned with keeping their hard earned/well deserved reputation for hi-quality products and 100% satisfied customers. They are working out which Acura models need the tab and will make a fix at the factory level.

If you have Hawk pads: contact hawk and explain the situation to them. They say lifetime warranty on defects right on the box, but so far they have not responded to several customers and vendors on this issue.

RB followed hawks choice in pad backing part #s- the rsx uses the extra tab, but not the TL CL TSX. Such is the parts business, you trust an industry leaders choice and look what you get

Once the tab is removed, wear will even out and full braking surface obtained.

Again, RB wants to keep its customers happy and resolve this error. If you have more than minor wear that you feel will fix itself and would like replacement pads: Contact your seller.

Inspect your brakes NOW. A check of local parts stores found the extra tab on other no name brands too. The only thing needed on the back of the TL pad is the squeeler.
Pics coming
While I am not affiliated with any of these companies, because of my well known love of my RB setup- I was asked to convey this info to fellow aziners.

NOTE: This applies to the REAR brake pads only

 

thanks alot man i noe wat im doin tommorrow when im at work goin throw my car on the lift and check the pads

 

BUMP for important information - Please share with gen3 owners.
Same rear brake pads- same problem.

 

is this across the board on hawk pads, so the hawk ceramics have the same extra tab as well?

 

i say sticky till the companies correct the pads and have new ones on the market

 

Thanks for posting this man. It's good info. Took me a good 10 minutes to file the tabs off when I first installed the RB-ET300s. A FYI, I originally thought about putting in the pads without the backing shim, but it looked as if the piston would butt up right against the tab instead of the flat portion of the pad. Thus, I used a file to file it down. I know another person used a dremmel.

 

I have not checked the Hawk Ceramics for the third tab, but logic says they use the same backing plate for everything they make for Acura/Honda
Its easy to look at the inside of the rotor and see rust on part of it. Thats a sure sign!
Beyond that inspection- its only 5 wheel lugs and 2 caliper bolts to remove- and 1 bolt that holds the brake line in place, cant forget that extra labor!!

RacingBrake immedialty replied to my emails and they contacted MrHeelToe to work together to make the parts right, and get replacements or refund taken care of.

I will stay with the ET300 pads, they have proven themselves over and over to me already, even with partial rear braking- I was still outbraking people~

 

Good post. You are good to those you give advice and recommendations to.

 

I have to get the pics up of the pad backings and take a few measurements of the pad wear so everyone knows what to look for on any brand rear pads they buy.
It was another ziner who figured out the problem and advised me
Most people would never know- since the superior pads brake better anyway, and a few/several years down the road when it needs rear pads again- the funny wear is attributed to caliper problem, which you may also have with that many miles and your escaped mental patient driving style !!!

 

Thanks for the heads up. Glad I have RB + Hawk pads in the FRONT.

Whew!

 

Its an easy DIY fix or wait for the replacements.
Sure I was upset to learn and experience the problem myself- but at least RB is taking care of it 100%, while Hawk still has not returned emails.

The ET300 pads themself are awesome braking material- especially when used on RB rotors- they were designed to work together perfectly.

 

Latest news:
Hawk responded and will be making a change at their end- but things take time and informing all the distributors etc....
Anyone who buys rear brakes pads from any supplier should check for the 3rd-center- bump/tab and grind it off.

Hawk will send replacement set- send them the old pads so they can see what happens when used on certain applications- if they ask.

RacingBrake sent an RMA form, Return Merchandise Authorization, and wants me to send them the old pads FIRST- then they will ship replacements.
Double labor effort for their mistake? I dont think so.

Hopefully this will resolve my ongoing ever-changing brake weirdness

 

Thankfully, I have satisfied pro-ceramic on the rear and hawk HPS on the front only. Good loooking out 01tl4tl.

 

I think you're being way too nice in this matter. I'd be a little pissed. I think it's unreasonable for them to expect you to be without a car while you ship back their mistake.[Presumably at your expense.] I assume they would ship the new pads, bill you, then credit you when they received the pads.

How could they have handled it? "Sir, please accept our apology, and thank you for bringing this to our attention. We will be overnighting you a replacement pad set, a UPS call tag for your old set, and a certificate for 10% off your next order. If you incur further expense, please bring it to our attention. We take great pride in our product, and place a high premium on customer satisfaction."

While not likely, it's possible you saved them from a lawsuit.

That said , the treatment you're getting is much like the treatment I got years ago, when I had a bad guideplate take out an expensive roller rocker...and the intake valve. I had to buy another set of guideplates up front. Too bad about the collateral damage....and labor to pull the head.

 

RB thought about it over the weekend and saw fit to ups me replacement pads along with a return package- prepaid by them. Should arrive shortly and I can report how my car feels with 100% operational brakes...... finally.

I was not so nice in my letters to them, tried to be more reasonable on here- so people understood that no matter WHAT BRAND you buy- there may be a 3rd tab on the backing plate- of the inner pad for the rear. Always check your parts carefully

It seems -that- backing plate really fits some hondas and the button activates the parking brake.
One person made an assumption honda fits acura and the result is others followed their advice. That is just my opinion I have no proof

Both comapnies have acknowledged the problem now, and are making changes as needed.

 

Akebono catalog has 2 part#s that fit a lot of Acura and Honda applications. ***537 has the tab. ***536 doesn't. These numbers are on Accord,CL, TL, Legend, RL, RSX,TSX, and Vigor. On TLs, 95-98 take ***537, 99-06 take 536. Napa's listing is not so clear. Car Quest [Raybestos, I think] is pretty close. I think even a good counterman could get this wrong. Best advice is what you already said... look closely!

 

its the RSX that needs the 3rd tab or so I am told
the TL CL TSX do not
It is believed that Hawks intent was to provide for the TL CL TSX aftermarket user and well....

 

Any pics available yet? I just had my HPS pads off yesterday, as I'm getting a lot of squealing from the rears, even though they are only a couple of months old.

When looking at the pads, one of the inner pads had some uneven wear on the bottom 1/3rd of the pad, from side to side.

Could this extra tab on the back of the HPS pad be causing the squealing? I just bought new rotors to install, as I thought that might be causing the squealing (I believe they may be the original rotors on the car; at 100K kms right now).

I don't have a grinder or anything, so I'll contact Hawk as soon as possible, but I would really like to see any pics available so I know which tab I'm talking about.

Thanks very much.

 

that tab in the center that does nothing- look close at it and you will see a little wear on part of it from the caliper piston hitting it. That tab needs to be ground flush with the backing plate. The pads will even out soon enough~

If you dont have a grinding stone for the drill or a real grinder,
take them to any shop, muffler shop- any regular mechanic shop--
if you bought them at pepboys- they have a shop,
ask anyone to do it for you...takes a few seconds to remove with the right tool

Then make sure on the bracket, the metal clips where the end of the pads fit in- clean and grease the top side of them and grease the pad backs where there is contact with the caliper.
Noise is from parts not sliding correctly, assembled- all the brake stuff has a small amount you can move things by hand

Did you remove the rear rotors and check the park brake shoes?

 

and if it is badly worn at the bottom, I would call HAWK and demand that they supply you with new pads. After all, it is their defect that caused this and arguably not safe anyway.

 

I haven't removed the rear discs yet. I do need to adjust the parking brake, as there seems to be a large amount of slack in it, and it doesn't hold very well.

I did grease up the pad backs, but not the metal clips. I was going to replace the rear discs with new ones I bought today, but I'm going to contact Hawk first to see if I can get replacement pads. I can't afford to have the car out of commission for a day to take the pads to a shop to have the tab ground down.

Is the extra tab that small little raised part near the top-centre of the pad? It's barely raised, but I can see it interfering with the top of the caliper, during contact.

 

yes thats it
it makes contact and cocks the pad causing the wear thatyou see
You dont have to demand anything~ I told hawk about the prob and they sent me a new set of pads- no biggie
If you plan to replace the rotors- which is a good idea anyway, and adjust/inspect the parking brakes, either have a buddy with a car on hand to run to the store for tab grinding, or let a shop raaaaape you on the rotor install and brake adjust.
Its not something you just tighten- it must be done right or big problems from little parts

 

You running Hawk again? Thought you were on ET300's

 

Is this the tab you are referring to....




I am having these pads installed tomorrow and want to make sure I take care of the grinding tonight. This entire tab (circled in red) needs to be removed or just grind off the top of it that sticks off a little? Thanks in advance for a quick reply.

 

Grind that puppy off there making it flush with the backing plate prior to installing.

 

Thank you so much for the reply. My dremel is dying in me... do you think this is good enough or does it have to be completely flush?

 

as long as its below the shims level- then its flush enough
If its still above that- keep working on it~

 

Well I am thinking about getting hawks HPS pads, but this concern regarding the fitment is not an issue if I am gettin new rotors with the pads, right???

 

Yes it is a problem regardless of rotor- its a caliper contact issue
The pad backing plate needs to be modified by grinding off the middle tab.
The tab contacts the caliper piston- thats bad news

This pad fits many calipers- just not ours without a little modding

 

this is a REAR brake pad problem- the fronts fit perfect as is
Since only 30 percent of the cars braking force is from the rear- unless you are a hardcore brake user- you dont really need killer pads in back- good ones yes but...
so it mod is an issue to you- other brands fit exact

 

Just letting everyone know, this is still a problem on the newest RB300 pads. I just got my set from heeltoe, and its got that center tab.

 

is it possible you got the "old" pads before Hawk supposedly corrected the problem?

perhaps tom was given lip service 1.5 years ago.

 

If you ordered these pads for an 01 accord [as your name might indicate] the correct pad should have the center tab. I believe this also applies to cl and tl up to 98. If the parking brake cable connects to the caliper, you need that tab to allow the parking brake to work properly. If you have parking brake shoes inside the rotor hat, you need pads with no tab.

 

an 01 accord is my old car. I now have an 03 CLs and ordered the correct pads. Marcus said nobody ever orders CL pads so they just hadnt updated there catalog yet.

 

i just got some HPS pads for my TL-S, ill be installing them tomorrow so ill post more if i run into any problems. i left the pads at my shop so cant check if they have the tab or not

 

Gahh what a bunch of idiots, got hawk hps for the rears and it has a date of manufacturing 5/17/10 and they still are including the tab..

 

in the spirit of cataloging manufacturers that don't care about us TL drivers, Stoptech rear pads have the same tab. surprisingly (or not depending on which side of the bed you got out of this morning), no mention of the need to grind the pad from either Stoptech or our sponsor HeelToe (where purchased) in the package or install instructions. and these guys say they are in the business to make us happy - how much money do we spend with them each year?

(I guess I got out of the wrong side today).

 

I bought a set of Hawk HB145Z.570 rear pads for my 03 TL. Date of manufacture is 5/23/12.

The bump is still there, I had not read this thread beforehand and I installed the pads, sure enough the piston was sitting on the bump. I don't have a dremel so I used a concrete curb and some elbow grease to grind it down...took a while to do. I guess Hawk just doesn't give a fuck. I will not be buying their products again.

 

My mistake, Hawk changed the part number to HB572Z.570 for the rear ceramic pads. The 2nd gen diy thread is outdated it seems.

 

the hawk HPS are known for the prob of using the RL backing plate,,w 3rd tab

maybe they got it right on the ceramics?
most of us hard core brakers scoff at ceramic.... so I would not know

ALL using RB rotors need to be on RB pads
I have done extensive testing of hawk hps vs rb300,,,guess who won