beding in new pads a rotors

[SS Dave]

Hi all

I am looking for advice as to bedding new disks and pads.
Some say hard stop then cool down with gentle driving. Others say gentle braking for 160k then medium braking for a 100k's or so then the hard brake system.
Your thoughts Please

SS Dave

[coalminer]

i think it is like when everyone gets a brand new car..just go for it

[SS Dave]

i think it is like when everyone gets a brand new car..just go for it

So drive it like i stole it then.

SS Dave

[whitey66]

The main thing is to not overheat the brakes before they are fully bedded in.
You can quite easily "cook" new pads and rotors without realising it.

It all comes down to disc machined surface finish, pad material ,size and shape of the pad as well as many other variables.
There is no hard and fast rule really, some pad manufacturers give the bed in procedure so if you stick with that you can't go wrong. Bendix and other companies place a special compound on the pad surface that promotes quick bed in and i've found that these work reasonably well for the average punter.

[Godzilla]

No no no and no. (and no)

What brand of pads and which compound are you running?

Didnt they come with Bed in advice?

If not, give me the brand and compound and ill tell you the procedure for them.

Some require a bed in procedure, some have a bed in coating (for Christs sake dont try to bed those in because you will cook your brakes in seconds if they are the rotor conditioning type).

[whitey66]

No no no and no. (and no)

What brand of pads and which compound are you running?

Didnt they come with Bed in advice?

If not, give me the brand and compound and ill tell you the procedure for them.

Some require a bed in procedure, some have a bed in coating (for Christs sake dont try to bed those in because you will cook your brakes in seconds if they are the rotor conditioning type).

So are you saying no to what I said???
Because if you did, you just repeated most of it in your reply.
Regarding the pads with the special coating, they still need to be bed in, but normally just by regular driving, they still do however,bed in.

[SS Dave]

No no no and no. (and no)

What brand of pads and which compound are you running?

Didnt they come with Bed in advice?

If not, give me the brand and compound and ill tell you the procedure for them.

Some require a bed in procedure, some have a bed in coating (for Christs sake dont try to bed those in because you will cook your brakes in seconds if they are the rotor conditioning type).

Disks are DBA T2
Pads are EBC Red stuff

SS Dave

[Godzilla]

So are you saying no to what I said???
Because if you did, you just repeated most of it in your reply.
Regarding the pads with the special coating, they still need to be bed in, but normally just by regular driving, they still do however,bed in.

No not targeting you.

[Godzilla]

Disks are DBA T2
Pads are EBC Red stuff

SS Dave

DBA T2, are made in China. (Just pointing out what most dont know as its kept very hush hush, still a good rotor)

Now EBC Red Stuff.

Made in the UK, a Ceramic Kevlar compound, with a sand paper type bed in layer, rated to 650 degrees.

I run them on the wifes BA Ghia, Currently on my GTR (But being upgraded to Blue stuff Race pads with the new engine build), my son ran them on his S2000 (now went Yellow to step up to a 900 degree temp rating) and they are on my FG Turbo delivery Ute.

They are that good that virtually everything i own runs them or has run them until we went beyond street speed hard driving temps.

Extremely gentle on rotors and considered the worlds lowest dusting pad AFTER BED IN, during bed in they are dusty as hell, rotors still look like new after 60,000Km+, no lips, nothing on them.

Bed in is a strange thing with them if you have not used them before, the very first time i tried them around 5 years ago i almost turned the car back home to pull them out, thinking i must have put a pad in backwards (metal to metal sound).

The early bed in procedure (more than 1-1.5 years ago) was gentle driving for the first 1000-1200Km, avoiding hard stops (unless you were about to have a accident).

The new paper work over the last year or so states 320Km bed in.

I have tested both old and new bed in procedures and spoken (complained) to their Tech department about the length change, bed in layer compound was not changed, distance was shortened on the paper work because some customers were put off by the long bed in phase.

I picked up on it because i have my own way of knowing when they are bedded in, i just watch the dust levels on the rims, whichever batch i had, new or old it always took 1000-1200Km for the dust levels to drop as per the old paper work.

Many local people we know in car circles who buy them from me usually bring their cars straight over once they are fitted to be shown how to bed them in and why, i usually take them out for 10-15 minutes to get through the most vital phase of the bed in to show them how to drive at the start.

The sand paper type finish is the bed in layer, this generates a incredible amount of heat through friction and dust, fit the pads on and drive it normally for 10 minutes around the suburbs, get out and you will be shocked to see the calipers smoking, and the rims seriously hot to touch from the transmitted heat through the hub. (not good for bearings)

The way i do it for the first 30 minutes (Minimum) is to avoid using the brakes as much as possible, slow gentle driving with very light pedal pressure to wash off speed, reading traffic and lights using engine braking combined with minimal brake pedal, when stopped at lights i leave a large gap to the car in front, if manual i dont sit on the brake pedal, i ride the clutch if its up hill, if auto i stop and every now and then let the car move forward 6 inches so the pads not soaking heat into 1 spot on the rotors.

From there on just gentle normal driving, avoiding hard braking unless needed, once the 1000-1200Km mark is reached you can go for broke with them.

Also i tell my customers to try parking the vehicle in gear or in park without the handbrake on if rears were fitted for the first few drives on them, this is to avoid the rear rotors from warping due to the high heat levels generated with the rear brakes locked on, especially models that use the handbrake in a drum inside the disc.

Reds are one of the best street and light track work pads out there, from there up its Yellow stuff which is rated to 900, they are dusty and do cause more rotor wear, next up is Blue stuff which is a proper race pad rated over 900 and rotor wear is not something you worry about on a race car.

Just to add a side note of interest, we have sold quite a few EBC pads for dedicated race cars, these are cars that cannot bed the pads in for hundreds of Km, they are on the track and on it from the get go, after discussing this with EBC we now advise these customers to throw the pads on a belt sander to remove the bed in coating, then heat cycle them a few times during practice before the race.