Brake bedding

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Is this manufacturer dependent on material? I bring this up as ive seen many times on here where folks are stomping on the pedal for several stops (say 80-30) several times in succession.

But usually when I look at a owner's manual tjey say to drive gently for 500-1000 miles to allow the brake linings to wear or whatever.

Is there a happy medium, just as in motomans scalding vs manufacturer's easy breakin. Like, smooth pulls in upper rpms for short spurts.
 
Any time I have done several repeated hard stops to bed in the new brakes, I seem(I SEEM) to have more brake related issues very soon after the initial install, compared to just driving normally. So needless to say, I don't do the hard stops anymore, I just drive normally!

I think that the brake bedding is more of a concern with high performance brakes than with OE or aftermarket OE type pads.

Just my .02c!
 
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Brake bedding is very misunderstood.

Commonly used on track vehicles to establish a coating of pad material on the rotor for better performance at very high temps. May not really be related to regular passenger cars or trucks.

Most folks try to apply the exact same procedure across multiple platforms which is not effective. Brakes and capacity vary wildly from vehicle to vehicle. A small import may only require 3 hard stops from 60 mph to bed its brakes while a high performance car with huge rotors and mult-pot calipers may need 10 stops from 80 mph to achieve the needed heat.

That said, I have cured many a pulsation by simply bedding the brakes on trucks and cars. So it does have its place in the repertoire of an experienced mechanic for specific issues...
 
Originally Posted By: Char Baby
(I SEEM) to have more brake related issues very soon after the initial install, compared to just driving normally.

Brand-new cars need their brakes broken-in, just like when the pads are replaced on an older car. Every new-car Owner Manual I have ever read says specifically to AVOID hard braking for x-miles. Instead you are advised to brake smoothly and gently for those x-miles.

When I replace pads, I drive for x-miles as though the brakes were new from the factory.

Why do people figure replacement pads are somehow different from factory-new, when in fact they ARE factory new?
 
Wagner Brakes tech support told me to drive at about 20 mph then apply the brakes gently. They told me to do this about 20 times. I have a large city park, parking lot at the end of my street, that I do the bedding in.
A timely post since I'm ready to replace my front pads.
 
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Unless you're trying to bed in brakes for a race car, just drive gently and smoothly. Which you should be doing all the time anyway....unless, of course, you absolutely, positively have to drive fast.
 
Follow the pad manufacturers recommendation, absent a specific admonition to bed them - follow the owners/factory service manual recommendation.

FWIW - Every bed in procedure I have ever seen had a cool down requirement after the repeated stops (such as 10 minutes with NO application) that is usually fairly hard to comply with on the street.
 
SteveSRT8

I have 2010 Toyota Avalon that pulsation when stopping kind of fast from 70 mph plus.
Normal stopping I don't feel any pulsation.

At what speeds and how many times etc. did you stop that cured some of pulsation.
I going to try before replace rotors etc.
 
A lot of times the pulsation is caused by bad deposits on the rotor. If you can get them hot enough to "burn" the deposits out, the pulsation will go away .. asuuming that's what was causing it.
 
Doesn't hurt to read the instructions on the replacement pad box.
smile.gif
 
I've had twelve new vehicles in my lifetime and never did anything but drive them. Never was concerned with "bedding" in new bands or discs. Never followed any special procedure for new brake components either.
 
Yes, it is highly manufacturer/material dependent.

To me, the better quality pads from Raybestos and Wagner feel like they bed in almost instantly.

LuK/Ruville recommends 10 firm stops each: 20 to 0 Km/h; followed by 30 to 0 Km/h; then 50 to 0 Km/h.

Fritec [mainstay Mexican brand; decent quality] take forever to bed in. Usually the only way to get them to conform to the disks is 60 to 250 miles of highway driving.

I usually just do a safety test over several blocks. 5-10 firm stops 20 to 0 Km/h followed by 2-5 30 to 0 Km/h. The rare cases when a customer has bedding related complaints I do some firm high speed braking. I avoid test driving due to the fact that few of my customers have insurance and many don't have their registrations and plates in order.

On my own vehicles, my experience is that just driving normally and avoiding heavy braking is best. On customers cars heavy braking is a good idea because of the limited time the mechanic is in contact with the car, if something is going to generate a complaint, better to have it show up during the test drive, rather than when it's already in the customer's hands.
 
Originally Posted By: Tegger
Originally Posted By: Char Baby
(I SEEM) to have more brake related issues very soon after the initial install, compared to just driving normally.

Brand-new cars need their brakes broken-in, just like when the pads are replaced on an older car. Every new-car Owner Manual I have ever read says specifically to AVOID hard braking for x-miles. Instead you are advised to brake smoothly and gently for those x-miles.

When I replace pads, I drive for x-miles as though the brakes were new from the factory.

Why do people figure replacement pads are somehow different from factory-new, when in fact they ARE factory new?
Originally Posted By: bigt61
Unless you're trying to bed in brakes for a race car, just drive gently and smoothly. Which you should be doing all the time anyway....unless, of course, you absolutely, positively have to drive fast.


Tegger,
I think people, including myself, read too much into what others are doing with their vehicles and we try/experiment with new brake pads to see if this works for us. I haven't done the "Several Hard Stops" in many, many years. I have for a long time now, just drive normally.

bigt61,
I agree 100%-It doesn't get any better than this!
 
Originally Posted By: DuckRyder
Follow the pad manufacturers recommendation, absent a specific admonition to bed them - follow the owners/factory service manual recommendation.

FWIW - Every bed in procedure I have ever seen had a cool down requirement after the repeated stops (such as 10 minutes with NO application) that is usually fairly hard to comply with on the street.


Good catch, I completely forgot that part!

If you are trying to establish a pad coating on the disc you MUST drive a mile or two without touching the brakes.

That can be very tricky!
 
Originally Posted By: Bebop367
SteveSRT8

I have 2010 Toyota Avalon that pulsation when stopping kind of fast from 70 mph plus.
Normal stopping I don't feel any pulsation.

At what speeds and how many times etc. did you stop that cured some of pulsation.
I going to try before replace rotors etc.


Saved myself thousands of dollars this year alone on brakes just by doing this first.

If your brakes only do the pulsation when hot then a pretty good clip is recommended. Try three stops from about 70 or so. Then you could try 4 if that's not enough. Not all pads will wipe the rotor clean of deposits though.

Here's a guy who has forgotten more than most will ever know about braking systems:

http://www.stoptech.com/technical-support/technical-white-papers/-warped-brake-disc-and-other-myths
 
This thread makes me cringe. Please everyone stop talking about hard stops as the proper break-in procedure, because it's not.
Originally Posted By: Char Baby
Any time I have done several repeated hard stops to bed in the new brakes, I seem(I SEEM) to have more brake related issues very soon after the initial install, compared to just driving normally.

Of course, because hard STOPS is not a proper break-in procedure! This was just covered in another BITOG thread and people still are doing the exact opposite of what is required!

Make several hard near-stops down to 5MPH... but do NOT stop!
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8

If your brakes only do the pulsation when hot then a pretty good clip is recommended. Try three stops from about 70 or so. Then you could try 4 if that's not enough. Not all pads will wipe the rotor clean of deposits though.

Here's a guy who has forgotten more than most will ever know about braking systems:

http://www.stoptech.com/technical-support/technical-white-papers/-warped-brake-disc-and-other-myths

Apparently you've forgotten too. DO NOT COME TO A COMPLETE STOP. That just deposits more pad material in one spot and causes more pulsation. From the article:
Yes, read the article, especially this part:

"If you come to a complete stop before the break-in process is completed there is the chance for non-uniform pad material transfer or pad imprinting to take place and the results will be what the whole process is trying to avoid. Game over."

"Similarly, even if the brakes are properly broken, if, when they are very hot or following a single long stop from high speed, the brakes are kept applied after the vehicle comes to a complete stop it is possible to leave a telltale deposit behind that looks like the outline of a pad. This kind of deposit is called pad imprinting and looks like the pad was inked for printing like a stamp and then set on the disc face. It is possible to see the perfect outline of the pad on the disc. "
 
Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
Is this manufacturer dependent on material? I bring this up as ive seen many times on here where folks are stomping on the pedal for several stops (say 80-30) several times in succession.

Several hard stomps 80-30MPH is a good break-in procedure, hard stops is not. I've found 55MPH to 5MPH just as good.
Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28

But usually when I look at a owner's manual tjey say to drive gently for 500-1000 miles to allow the brake linings to wear or whatever.

Is there a happy medium, just as in motomans scalding vs manufacturer's easy breakin. Like, smooth pulls in upper rpms for short spurts.

Gentle break-in works well for non-high-performance brake bedding UNLESS during that break-in period, you are forced to make a hard complete stop due to traffic conditions, and then you are in danger of the pad imprinting mentioned by the article linked above.

That's why I do the proper stomp-to-slow-but-not-stop break-in procedure under controlled conditions, because I do not know what the future holds when I go to work or for groceries.
 
One of the reasons to follow manufacturers advice is because the issue is dependent upon the brake material being used. They know what material is installed or being installed and therefore should know the best way to bed that material.
 
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