Bedding in brake pads - brand new car

[Jim 5]

Just curious,

Nobody talks about bedding in the brakes on a new car, though when you change your brake pads, there is a specified procedure. New cars come with new brake pads.

Is something done at the factory? Or if your car is made overseas, can you depend on the longshoremen driving the cars on and off the boats (like the duke boys in the General Lee - I've seen some videos of this) to have done this?

 

[Quest]

just drive and brake normally.

No need to pamper those brakes on newer cars. Besides: it didn't begin it's life @ 0 miles (more like 3~18miles, depending on how many ships/containers/trains, etc. it has to move between the end of the assembly line to the stealerships).

Q.

 

[440Magnum]

The first test drive takes care of that... ;-)

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Jim 5
Just curious,

Nobody talks about bedding in the brakes on a new car, though when you change your brake pads, there is a specified procedure. New cars come with new brake pads.

Is something done at the factory? Or if your car is made overseas, can you depend on the longshoremen driving the cars on and off the boats (like the duke boys in the General Lee - I've seen some videos of this) to have done this?


I routinely see the longshoremen driving Kia and Hyundai cars off the boat at the Philadelphia port. They go very slow, in a controlled, all in a line manner. They dont even really hit the gas it seems.

Even if they drove hard, one or a few stops isnt going to do it. Pad bedding is done by repeated hard stops to get everything up to temperature.

On a new car I drive gently and work to get everything under load and temperature at a reasonable, controlled manner.

 

[sleddriver]

Just be aware that it'll take (much) longer to stop when they're new and it's best not to make any sudden, hard, panic stops unless unavoidable.

 

[nleksan]

Check Stoptech's website. Excellent write.up and I use their recommended process on any car.

 

[Doog]

My bed in procedure is 25-30 slow gradual slow downs from 40mph to 5 mph with a mile of cool off driving in between. This squares the pad evenly against the rotor and allows enough pad transfer onto the rotor surface without overheating and glazing the pads.

I usually get 60-75,000 miles out of factory Toyota pads with this method.

 

[SteveSRT8]

http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm

Read this link carefully and read the links to stoptech's articles as well. There's a LOT of braking knowledge there.

 

[nleksan]

My method is Stoptech's and I use it for anything including my 4-wheel ST BBK through my Camry's tiny brakes.
I go to this long straight road in the middle of nowhere, let the local police know what I am doing, and do the following:
Ensure the car is fully warmed up and do 10 HARD stops from 65mph to 5mph (as in slamming the brakes as hard possible), accelerating back to 65mph as quickly as possible and as soon as I reach that speed, slam on the brakes. I give no time to cool down, and when I am done the brakes are smoking and the rotors glowing. Then I drive without braking at all for 20min or so until they have cooled completely (on 328 w MTech2 bumper and CF brake ducts they cool in half that time, others take longer).
The result is perfectly working brakes and noticeably shortened stopping distance.
The pads and rotors also last longer, by about 15-20%

 

[mechtech2]

Originally Posted By: nleksan
Check Stoptech's website. Excellent write.up and I use their recommended process on any car.


Those Stoptech article are for very high performance and racing.
They do not apply to normal street vehicles. Pad deposition and temperatures are way different.

So just drive normally.

 

[HTSS_TR]

I never bedding brake system on all my street cars, new or used, just drive and brake easy the first few miles.

 

[nleksan]

Maybe I am a freak of nature, but I can tell a difference between brakes that have been "properly" bedded and those that haven't... Regardless of intended use.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Since I never bedded any brake, I don't know if braking distance and/or brake feel could be difference with proper bedding or not. But all my car's brake system are performing well as expected. That why I don't bother with "proper brake bedding method".

Since you can tell the difference then you should perform the bedding.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Proper bedding procedures have saved us THOUSANDS in the few years I've known about them.

Now the first thing we do with a braking issue that used to mean a new rotor and/or pads is bed them. 9 times out of ten that solves the problem.

It most definitely works on any braking system on any car or truck. And you can bet the typical tech is NOT going to tell you about it!

 

[mechtech2]

The Stoptech articles state that the techniques they recommend are not applicable for street cars in normal use.
But people ascribe to them like Gospel truth for all situations.

 

[nleksan]

I don't ascribe to them like the bible, I have simply found it to work well in all the brakes I have used it with.

 

[SteveSRT8]

yep, everything from cheap econoboxes to huge work trucks. I even have a friend who does this to his Harleys.

It's a great procedure that won't hurt a thing if done carefully and correctly with a good braking system in place.

On a street car you usually quickly wipe the rotor clean in a few days, but in the meantime the squealing and vibe that everyone calls 'warping' are gone for good.

It's perfectly ok to not use it on your car.

 

[mechtech2]

Stoptech says that with street use, brake pad deposition is far less than the scrubbing effect to wipe it off.
Net deposits of zero occur.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Is that supposed to be some sort of revelation?

It's right in my post earlier that you will quickly wipe of the deposition layer in street driving.

 

[Jeff_in_VABch]

Vehicles like the CTS-V and Camaro SS with the really big brakes have specific brake maintainence info with the car. I didn't read the details though. Will check later.