I've had issues in the past (on previous cars) with Hawk pads and the crummy bonding agents they use on the HPS and HP+ so I'm definitely familiar with that scenario. Was just a little surprised to see this on the MX72, although I'm not convinced it's their fault. Perhaps the XDS system had something to do with this considering I don't have an LSD? Come to think of it, that actually makes a lot of sense ... there were definitely times in big sweeper corners that the XDS was firing off trying to keep me on track. THAT would be a time where a lot of extra heat could be introduced without me actually braking. Meaning, times where the brakes SHOULD have been cooling off, they weren't. Hmmm. Maybe time for OBD11 to shut that thing off/down?
I had definitely bedded these pads/rotors properly. Both were brand new, I followed the Endless procedure to the "T", brought the rotors up over 856f so proper heat was applied, and a perfectly even glaze of blue was on the rotors before I hit the track. I drove on them for a few thousand miles on the street and they've been absolutely perfect.
Still love this setup, but having them deposit on me is incredibly annoying.
XDS should only be acting in the rear as far as i'm aware, unless that's only on the PP GTI models??
Hawk pads are junk for anything other than street/autocross. They caused a lot of warping on my old rotors on my wrx as well.
What rotors did you get? I see they're slotted. Most of the guys I've talked to in the racing world and those who are heavy into hpde/track events stay far away from slotted because supposedly they eat pads unnaturally. The idea is that the slot is supposed to wipe the pad clean and push material out when wet. There's a disadvantage in the dry because you lose some of the contact surface you would have otherwise. The GTI and R both pulsate the brakes while it's raining anyway, so there's really no need for a rotor that's geared towards wet weather. Everyone is aware of the obvious large cracks that develop around drilled rotor's holes, but slotted can also have cracks, just not as large. These cracks (crazing) can only be seen when you get really close to the rotor while it's still hot (expanded metal) and sometimes the pad glaze can reveal them more clearly as well.
To avoid crazing, some rotor manufacturers will claim certain rotors for certain temps, and that's based entirely on the type of metal they use. The higher the carbon content, the less warping will exist due to the atomic bonds that carbon makes (4 of them, and very strong ones) with ferrous materials. Carbon helps to essentially make metal more like a wall, rather than a rock if you can picture that metaphor on the atomic level. Less warping means the pad has a more consistent surface to grab to, less chance of scoring the pad, and less chance of cracks developing. If you've ever seen the bi-metallic fuses within a breaker box, it's essentially the goal of a good rotor to avoid that action. If all metals were 100% pure this would not be an issue, but ferrous carbon materials are known for how they love to bond (think about how much rust builds on a rotor).
There are also cryo treated rotors, which are essentially brought down to a temperature at which the molecules within the metal are losing reactivity and the bonding structure is formed into a tighter shape (think ice cube vs water). These do work in preventing some warping, however, the effects are not as great as moving to a higher carbon content rotor.
From personal experience, I'd say the chances of glazing happening as a result of an event are: improper bed in/cool down, pad material/bonding agent, warped rotor, drilled holes/cracks, crazing, pad heat, caliper pressure (boiled fluid or piston pressure).
Based on the responses above, I'd say the weak areas for the gti/r are the rotor cooling, fluid, pad, caliper contact. Better vented rotors with more carbon, better fluid, better pad, and the Ti shims seem to solve a decent chunk of the issues. I'd warn against anyone just jumping on a BBK bandwagon without proper ABS distribution testing. Rear braking can be significantly affected by going to a more voluminous front caliper since that can drastically change overall pad pressure. Stoptech is famous for engineering designs strictly to fit an ABS application, but other take off parts are not so great. I'd stay very far from away from generic BBK setups like wilwood, brembo, and others. If they don't have data to present on the caliper pressure pre/post it's not worth the risk. The TTRS calipers may be a good solution since the appropriate size is kept and they have the same ABS unit (as far as I'm aware), but the rotor will make a bigger difference than the caliper anyway. Also, the R and GTI like to understeer from the factory, but the rear brakes are stronger than the front so trail braking seems to do a lot in terms of rotation. I recommend both front and rear pads be changed at the same time to keep a balance between the two.