Bedding In Brakes...

[Willis]

What's everyones opinions/techniques for bedding in new brakes?

Sticking some new pads & discs on the front with some HEL lines all round in the next week or so and I'm on a track day on the 22nd so I'd like them to be all good and grippy by then. I've never had a car with brakes as beefy as this before so just wanted to make sure I don't end up making a mess of it all. My usual technique would be braking from 60MPH-10MPH with moderate force 10 times, then having a steady ''cooling'' drive for 5-10 minutes followed by another set of 60MPH-10MPH decellerations.

Any advice appreciated!!!

Cheers,

Will

 

[ken182]

i never bother bedding brakes in on my race bike. i fit new pads all the time and just go straight out on track. not so sure about the car though. maybe just take it for a quick spin after you fit them to check everything works. that whole 100 miles to bed in is ******** imo

after a lap theyre sorted on the bike and cant see a car being much different really.

 

[Mike Roberts]

What you said sounds fine, pretty much what I do. The whole point is to get them smoking hot almost past the point of fading and then 'set' them by letting them go stone cold. They'll be ready to use straight away after this.

What pads did you go for?

 

[Willis]

Cheers Mike!!!

I've not ordered the pads yet but I was just going to go for standard Brembo ones when I get paid on Friday. I've just had the normal HC Brembo discs delivered as well as the lines and some Millers Oils Racing Fluid. The rear pads are Brembo and have only been on since September so I don't really want to change them to match the front ones as they've plenty of life left in them.

Main reason for sticking with OEM is that I got the discs for £70 and I can also get pads for £70 so even with the caliper pins thrown in, I'm still £'s up over Ferodo pads alone. I was looking at Ferodo DS2500 though, used them before on a 205GTi. How are they with standard discs?

Ken, I've looked into bedding them in on track and it is do-able but you still need to complete a couple of heat cycles... That was going to be my emergency technique incase these needed some daft 300 Mile bedding in procedure like some brakes do. Luckily that doesn't seem the case with these as I'd have struggled to put that mileage on in the next fortnight with work etc.

 

[Mike Roberts]

The OEM aren't a bad pad, they just tend to leave deposits on the discs if you push them past the point of their capability causing vibration. As long as you're mindful of this and don't stay out on track too long, then you'll be fine. Everything else you've bought sounds great.

Discs, grooved are a nice to have, but at £XX more money and increased pad wear, can you be bothered? I can't.

Rear pads, don't waste your money, the OEM ones are excellent. The rear brakes hardly do anything, so you want something with good initial bite from cold as you'll never see enough heat to get anything tasty pad wise working correctly.

DS2500s, loved them on my old MKII Golfs, tried them on a MKV and ruined them in half a day on track - general feeling is with heavy cars, they're nothing better than a fast road pad, they overheat and turn to coal... actually crumbled in my hand!

 

[daz]

How many track days would you expect to get from a set of OE front discs and pads Mike?

 

[ben_r1]

I've always just took it easy for 300 miles with light and short braking.

 

[Mike Roberts]

Hard to say, I've done 3 so far and mine are showing no signs of being worn, but I'm using Pagids.

 

[Foxspeed]

if all parts are new doesnt take long to "bed-in" a couple of heavy stops and all should be fine

if its old discs and new pads this takes longer - bedding in recommendations vary from maker to maker on brake products but i just usually give them quite a few heavy stops from speed etc

 

[Willis]

Cheers for your input guys!!!

Well I figured that the setup on these isn't exactly shabby as standard and realistically I'll do no more than 3 track days this year so hopefully I'll get at least 12 months out of them.

 

[BenW]

You're meant to do about 10 heavy stops from 60mph to 10mph to get the pads nice and hot but make sure you dont come to a complete stop as this will leave deposits on the discs.

Then once you've done that plenty of gentle braking to just cool them down slowly. You should see a grey or black film on the discs which is the pad material and shows its all bedded in properly