Bedding in new pads and disks

Bedding in new pads and disks

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Discussion

dxbtiger

Original Poster:

4,389 posts

172 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
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Picking up my car later, had new front pads and disks (OEM) put on at my trusted local indy.

The garage owner is at SEMA so can't get his advice, I assume they will need bedding in.

What is recommended, a few sites I have found have a similar set of instructions to the below

'The procedure is several stops of increasing severity with a brief cooling period between them. After the last stop, the system should be allowed to cool to ambient temperature. Typically, a series of ten increasingly hard stops from 60mph to 5 mph with normal acceleration in between should get the job done for a high performance street pad. During pad or disc break-in, do not come to a complete stop, so plan where and when you do this procedure with care and concern for yourself and the safety of others'

Sound about right?

Car is a 2006 Mustang GT if that makes any difference.

Shaoxter

4,048 posts

123 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
Yep, sounds about right.

But you have to find a deserted motorway/dual carrigeway, otherwise you're just asking for an accident. Oh and be careful when you first use the brakes, they'll have very little stopping power!

dxbtiger

Original Poster:

4,389 posts

172 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
Shaoxter said:
Yep, sounds about right.

But you have to find a deserted motorway/dual carrigeway, otherwise you're just asking for an accident. Oh and be careful when you first use the brakes, they'll have very little stopping power!
Cheers.

The roads within 100 yards of the garage should be perfect for the above to be honest, dual carriageway with very little traffic and 2 roundabouts about 1 km apart.

andyiley

9,105 posts

151 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
You should not need to bed in OEM discs & pads as above, the procedure mentioned is for race pads.

A couple of brake applications should be fine, even a couple of "brake drags" for a hundred yards should be fine.

BritishRacinGrin

24,602 posts

159 months

Thursday 6th November 2014
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Just drive normally and give them a couple of hundred miles.

lanan

814 posts

227 months

Monday 10th November 2014
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BritishRacinGrin said:
Just drive normally and give them a couple of hundred miles.
and just hope that you don't need to brake hard in a hurry until then..!
Bed them in as you described. Race or road, you need your brakes to work 100%...be it in 5 miles time or 5000 miles time.

BritishRacinGrin

24,602 posts

159 months

Tuesday 11th November 2014
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lanan said:
BritishRacinGrin said:
Just drive normally and give them a couple of hundred miles.
and just hope that you don't need to brake hard in a hurry until then..!
Bed them in as you described. Race or road, you need your brakes to work 100%...be it in 5 miles time or 5000 miles time.
Yes the brakes won't work 100% at first so the best course of action is to accelerate up to 60mph rolleyes

OEM pads will work pretty well from the very beginning, by the time they've manouvered out of the workshop and onto the forecourt they are more than capable of locking the wheels / waking up the ABS if applied hard enough. A dedicated break-in procedure simply isn't necessary on an OEM pad.

The break-in procedure described by the OP would be typical of a fast road / race pad where the heat and pressure is required to basically complete the baking process and make the pads perform to their potential.

The Wookie

13,909 posts

227 months

Tuesday 11th November 2014
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andyiley said:
You should not need to bed in OEM discs & pads as above, the procedure mentioned is for race pads.

A couple of brake applications should be fine, even a couple of "brake drags" for a hundred yards should be fine.
Bit slow to the party but what he said.

Road pads are designed for a gentle bedding and will be fine with a couple of hundred miles normal driving. Race pads need a 'controlled' beating to bed properly (i.e. used hard but not abused), hence the set process usually given.

PhillipM

6,515 posts

188 months

Wednesday 12th November 2014
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Even most road pads will bed in far faster and deliver better performance with a proper heat cycling process to transfer compound over to the discs in an even layer as soon as possible.

Patrick Bateman

12,143 posts

173 months

Thursday 26th February 2015
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Just got new front discs and pads on today and the leaflets the came with the parts said (well, showed via. diagram) not to apply the brakes harshly for the first hundred miles or so. Is it best to give them a few hard stops after this period?

BritishRacinGrin

24,602 posts

159 months

Thursday 26th February 2015
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Does the leaflet tell you to?

Just drive normally in my opinion. They don't need any special treatment after break-in.

lanan

814 posts

227 months

Thursday 26th February 2015
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This happened after 15 miles on new brakes, with quite a few decent brake applications.
But of course you could listen to everyone telling you that they should be fine after a couple of hundred miles. Just keep your fingers crossed that you don't need them urgently in the meantime.



Like many, I didn't feel the need to really bed road brakes.....Changed my view now

Edited by lanan on Thursday 26th February 16:33

Russwhitehouse

962 posts

130 months

Thursday 26th February 2015
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Ouch!!!

The Wookie

13,909 posts

227 months

Thursday 26th February 2015
quotequote all
lanan said:
This happened after 15 miles on new brakes, with quite a few decent brake applications.
But of course you could listen to everyone telling you that they should be fine after a couple of hundred miles. Just keep your fingers crossed that you don't need them urgently in the meantime.



Like many, I didn't feel the need to really bed road brakes.....Changed my view now

Edited by lanan on Thursday 26th February 16:33
Ouch! Have to say I find it suprising, especially on an iron disc 430!

The pads we typically supply give not far off full bite and power straight away. I know as I'm constantly fitting new pads for testing and the roundabouts and traffic lights around here are poorly designed and sequenced so you regularly get some blind tit flying straight over a red light at speed and have to anchor on. Annoying if you're on your way to conduct a green test somewhere. The advice to bed gently is more about conditioning and possibly disc life if fitting new pads to old discs.

The only time I've had truly ste braking from a road car that's just had a pad change was my old Focus where they hadn't pumped the pedal up after pushing the pistons back, I drove it out of the workshop and up to the first set of traffic lights and it ran out of travel, but if you'd used the brakes a few times then that can't happen!

My old man's first 430 with iron brakes was pretty similar in terms of cold performance and bite to some of our softer kits so I would have guessed the pad material was similar, obviously not!

Patrick Bateman

12,143 posts

173 months

Thursday 26th February 2015
quotequote all
BritishRacinGrin said:
Does the leaflet tell you to?

Just drive normally in my opinion. They don't need any special treatment after break-in.
I suppose I should maybe have worded it as, after just that initial hundred miles or so, I'll be alright taking the car for a proper blast, yes?

Mr2Mike

20,143 posts

254 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2015
quotequote all
lanan said:
This happened after 15 miles on new brakes, with quite a few decent brake applications.
But of course you could listen to everyone telling you that they should be fine after a couple of hundred miles. Just keep your fingers crossed that you don't need them urgently in the meantime.



Like many, I didn't feel the need to really bed road brakes.....Changed my view now
I wonder why you don't see loads of bent Ferraris scattered in a 15 mile radius of the dealers...

Were these new, OEM Ferrari pads? Does the owners handbook not mention the break in period and technique for the pads if it's required?

New road pads on old discs can take a bit of bedding in IME, but on new discs they work pretty well from the start. Competition pads do require bedding in, they don't work at all well until this has been done.

andyiley

9,105 posts

151 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2015
quotequote all
lanan said:
This happened after 15 miles on new brakes, with quite a few decent brake applications.
But of course you could listen to everyone telling you that they should be fine after a couple of hundred miles. Just keep your fingers crossed that you don't need them urgently in the meantime.



Like many, I didn't feel the need to really bed road brakes.....Changed my view now

Edited by lanan on Thursday 26th February 16:33
What a lot of sh!t.

Firstly what does "new brakes" mean?

New pads, new discs, new brake lines, new brake hoses, new ABS unit, new master cylinder, new servo, new callipers, new handbrake cable, new brake fluid, new brake pedal, new brake light switch, etc. etc.

How was the job done?

Was it done correctly?

Were the brakes even applied at the time of the accident?

Were the brakes even the cause of the accident?

Did the driver just lose control?

Who knows the answers to any of this?

If brakes were as bad as you claim in the first 200 miles there would not be a car on the road with as many as 200 miles on the clock.

They would all be in a ditch at the first roundabout/traffic lights/corner within 20 miles of the dealer network.

lanan

814 posts

227 months

Friday 6th March 2015
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Really great contribution Andy rolleyes

Ranger 6

7,042 posts

248 months

Friday 6th March 2015
quotequote all
andyiley said:
You should not need to bed in OEM discs & pads as above, the procedure mentioned is for race pads.

A couple of brake applications should be fine, even a couple of "brake drags" for a hundred yards should be fine.
This thumbup

I bedded in some OEM pads once (in my much younger and less experienced days) using the technique described and cooked them. The pads over heated and caught fire - useless after that and needed replacing again........

Since then the only pads that have needed bedding in are uprated ones.

PaulKemp

979 posts

144 months

Saturday 7th March 2015
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Oh here we go again
I'm right, No I'm right etc etc
A Ferrari is not a normal car and does not run normal brakes
I've fitted dozens of pads and discs in all combinations to a wide range of cars
If in doubt follow the instructions that came with the pads, make sure the anti rust coating has been washed off the discs,
DRIVE WITH CAUSION
you can feel how the brakes are working so for the first miles build up your confidence
DO NOT FLY INTO THE FIRST CORNER AND HOPE THE BRAKES ARE OK
Pretty basic stuff realy
Bit of common sense needed don't you think
A bloke on the Internet said I should boil the pads in old engine oil, coat the discs in WD40 then accelerate to 80mph on a busy road then slam brakes on
REALLY