New Brake Discs and Pads

[Sohaib-ijiiv]

Hi All,

Purchased a new set of pagid discs and pads for my 335i and have had them installed for nearly 90 miles.

How long does it take for performance to become optimal as I lack a bit of confidence in them at the moment.

The indy I took it to did the break in procedure.

Thanks!

[swampy442]

Depends on the pad really, some say hammer them from the off, some say gentle braking, some say accelerate to a certain speed and then brake hard.
Find out what the instructions say

[trickywoo]

Lack confidence how?

Unless that 90 miles was motorway with minimal braking they should be pretty much as good as they are going to be now.

[brillomaster]

You have to be quite brutal with brakes to bed them in properly, not something a garage would normally do.

Isnt it find a quiet stretch of road then do 10x 60 to 20 stops, 10x 70 to 20 stops, then 10x full abs 80 to 20 stops, to get them really hot, then keep driving round for 20 mins without stopping so they can air cool?

[996TT02]

I find that it usually takes one pedal press for braking performance to return to what it was before. The single pedal press that it takes for the pistons to take up the slack, in the garage. Unless you have pads that are track biased and only work properly when hot then something is not quite right. It is possible that the fitters may have opened the calliper bleed screw to let out oil so that they could push the pistons back easily. Perhaps, if so, there is now air in the calliper and the pedal feel is soft, so the brakes need a bleed. Just an Internet diagnosis of course, no matter how feasible.

[Chris32345]

Probably in your head
OEM spec pads rarely need any sort of bedding in procedure just just take it easy for the first 100 miles or so

[Gary C]

unless the disks are shagged, pads should be perfectly fine in a few miles.

Unless you got oil all over them when fitting.

I just fit, go for a drive, gentle braking at first to seat and pickup any ridges, then heavier, then some longer braking down hill to get some temp in and burn off any deposits and its done. 10 miles at most and even that is over the top in many circumstances.

BUT, if your disks are already worn, it may take time for them to wear to full contact, Easily seen, have a look at the disk and make sure the shiny bit covers the full braking surface of the disk. If not, it may take a bit longer (or you need new disks too)

I do note you had new disks, just a general observation.

Edited by Gary C on Wednesday 11th December 19:18

[Piersman2]

Chris32345 said:

Probably in your head
OEM spec pads rarely need any sort of bedding in procedure just just take it easy for the first 100 miles or so

^This.

I replaced all my discs and pads this last week and the instructions said to take it gentle for 150-200 miles. I do that each day so by the end of my commute in to work the brakes were 90% back to what they should be, by the time I got home they were back to normal even with me taking it easy still.

Last two days I've just been driving it normally and all is good so far, full feel back.

[Wombat3]

brillomaster said:

You have to be quite brutal with brakes to bed them in properly, not something a garage would normally do.

Isnt it find a quiet stretch of road then do 10x 60 to 20 stops, 10x 70 to 20 stops, then 10x full abs 80 to 20 stops, to get them really hot, then keep driving round for 20 mins without stopping so they can air cool?

I also subscribe to the bedding in process but that's too much IMO . 8-10 good solid applications of the brake without reaching a halt is more than enough. Then, as you say drive around & let them cool off.

You don't want to cook them & you don't want to get near boiling the fluid either.

[Tony1963]

I hope the OP hasn’t suffered brake failure and piled into a ditch!

[untakenname]

The bedding in process depends on the friction material used, most road pads don't need bedding in as you don't need to cure them but some more performance oriented pads need the material to cure first otherwise they won't last long.

I've used the same set of Hawk HPS pads for multiple track days but another driver in the same model of car found they didn't even last a whole day, I spent a little time bedding them in properly before going on track whereas they just fitted them at track and destroyed them in the first few minutes of use.

I follow these bed in instructions from Pagid and haven't ever had any issues with any type of pad apart from some EBC Reds where the backing plate failed which was unrelated to bed in.

[Monkeylegend]

I always fit my own pads and discs and afterwards just get in and drive normally, none of this faffing around doing emergency stops.

I haven't hit anything yet.

[Tony1963]

I think it’s worth doing a little bedding in, just to get some pad material on the discs. But, I wouldn’t fret about it if I forgot or couldn’t be bothered.

[ninjag]

Sohaib-ijiiv said:

Hi All,

Purchased a new set of pagid discs and pads for my 335i and have had them installed for nearly 90 miles.

How long does it take for performance to become optimal as I lack a bit of confidence in them at the moment.

The indy I took it to did the break in procedure.

Thanks!

Were the discs cleaned of the storage rust protecting oil before installing?