Seeking Brake Break-In Advise

[IndyFan]

I'm having new ceramic pads and high carbon rotors put on my Ford Transit 350 today. What is the best break-in procedure to burnish them and set them up right for reliable, long, smooth, quiet service? I've read new car brake break-in procedures, but they use cheap pads and rotors, usually. I'd like to know from someone knowledgeable about the combination of ceramic (high end, probably Wagoner) pads and high carbon rotors?

I'll have the van back in about 3 hours. My wife has previously just had the Ford dealer do brake jobs with OEM parts (cringe) without checking with me first, and they just don't last very long and produce horrific brake dust. In fact, the original brake pads put out gobs of dust that pitted the rims before the warranty was up, and I kept them as clean as I could, but couldn't keep up. Of course, Ford refused to cover the wheel pitting under warranty claiming I wasn't cleaning them. I was. I was cleaning them at least once per week.

Ultimately, I did get some Wagoner Thermoquiet pads on there and they lasted longer than any before them and produced little to no dust, stopping the pitting and destruction of the finish on the wheels. But those are worn out now, too. I think they went twice the distance of the Ford OEM pads.

This is a heavy vehicle and is often carrying a sizeable payload of kids and their stuff and my wife is pretty hard on brakes. So I finally caught it at a point where I could not only have good pads put in there, but also higher quality rotors. So I want to break them in correctly. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[MParr]

Good luck with your ceramic pads. With a vehicle that heavy, you would have been better served using a severe duty semi-metallic pads. Anyway, here’s what you asked for.

Disc Pad Break In

Brake discs, pads, and shoes need a little breaking in before they can get ready for the road - here's the procedure and how to get ready for it!

www.wagnerbrake.com

 

[Donald]

Some high quality pads like Akebono ProAct do not need a breakin. At least I believe that is what is on the instructions for the pads.

 

[Danno]

Good luck with your ceramic pads. With a vehicle that heavy, you would have been better served using a severe duty semi-metallic pads. Anyway, here’s what you asked for.

Disc Pad Break In

Brake discs, pads, and shoes need a little breaking in before they can get ready for the road - here's the procedure and how to get ready for it!

www.wagnerbrake.com

I would go with the second break in process. Just my preference.

 

[demarpaint]

I make a hard stop or two approaching the first two stop signs in my neighborhood to make sure it stops, then drive it as I normally would. Many people over do it with "brake break-in," end up glazing the pads and/or rotors and create problems. Opinions vary, but I know I'm in good company with well respected mechanics on this one.

 

[wpod]

Just drive.

 

[IndyFan]

Good luck with your ceramic pads. With a vehicle that heavy, you would have been better served using a severe duty semi-metallic pads. Anyway, here’s what you asked for.

Disc Pad Break In

Brake discs, pads, and shoes need a little breaking in before they can get ready for the road - here's the procedure and how to get ready for it!

www.wagnerbrake.com

Actually, I believe that's the direction they went. I'll know in a minute.

 

[Eddie]

I usually just do some local easy braking and then do several firm 60 mph to 10 mph stops in succession. This mothod, has served me well for over 50 years. Ed

 

[Trav]

Make sure it stops okay then just drive it. As Demarpaint said people tend to overdo it and end up glazing the pads. Racing pads may be different but this is a transit van.

 

[Gimpy1]

Your best bet on bedding in the pads is to go the the manufacturer's website look up your pads and they will have the proper bed in proceedure. Each pad compound and manufacturer is different so go straight to the source the made the pad and will tell you the best way use it
.

 

[edyvw]

Street pads should not need any specific break in procedure. If you had some specific pads designed for racing or street/track, yes. But normal pads are designed for easy maintenance and use.

 

[Crash Bandicoot]

Short answer is do what the manufacturer says. Personally I do 4 sets of 5 or so hard stops from 40-60 with 5 minute breaks between intervals and I try to sit on the parking brake at lights for the first few days. I have a perfect dead road in an industrial area that has yet to have offices built yet near our house. When I did our rogue I couldn’t bed them in this way (lived in a different area) and they work perfectly, despite their first drive being my wife driving them in bumper to bumper traffic. Mostly use the bed in process to make sure everything is working properly under extreme conditions. Better to have a failure on a flat empty road than a mountain pass.

 

[nascarnation]

For track use, you need to make some high energy stops (hard braking from high speed) to cook the volatiles out and prevent premature fade, but on the street you just drive normally.

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

Some high quality pads like Akebono ProAct do not need a breakin. At least I believe that is what is on the instructions for the pads.

Installed same pads last month. Haven't change anything as far as pad break in. Start it up, put it in gear and go.

 

[nthach]

Just drive - avoid emergency stops if possible for 100 miles.
When I install new brake pads or shoes, I like to do 10 stops from 20-30MPH once the linings had a few gentle stops on them with about a few minutes of cooling between stops.

 

[meep]

In my experience, manufacture instructions vary per pad. when I’ve had problems with pads, they’ve generally been ceramics, but most of my experiences with akebono ceramics haven’t required anything special- just drive. I didn’t do anything special with raybestos element 3 pads either, just drive.

 

[UG_Passat]

First 100 or so miles, drive normal and brake gently to start preparing the rotor surface to the pads. Then do the say 10 60mph to about 10 mph slow downs to heat up the pads and rotors and get the pad transfer layer onto the disc. You may smell the brakes when you do this.

Then drive normally preferably without using the brakes, to let the brakes cool down a bit.

Note, you might have to do this twice... 1) to get the resins to cure properly, then 2) do the pad material layer transfer.

The discs, you should see some discoloration of the rotor surface from the heat you just put in.

Do this in a safe place, like an empty highway late, late at night, around 4:00 am for instance. Get home and park the car and let cool completely.

 

[demarpaint]

Installed same pads last month. Haven't change anything as far as pad break in. Start it up, put it in gear and go.

That's been working for me for as far back as I can remember. IIRC I did my first disk brake pad replacement in the 1970's. The car was a friend's 1973 Plymouth Satellite.