This weekend I am putting on new pads and rotors on my NSX, I've done a search and found a few different ideas on how to bed in a new set of both pads and rotors and would like further advice. I'm doing a track event a week from now so what's the best way to bed these things in once I get them installed tomorrow? Any advice? I've read everything from drive lightly for a week to go immediately and do a bunch of stops from 80 or 70mph and I can't decide what may be best for my situation considering my upcoming track event. Thanks in advance.
Need proper "bed in" procedure for my brake pads and rotors
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I've always heard to just go easy on them at first. Any really hard panic stops and you can "glaze" them which is not good. Just make sure everything is really clean before you button everything back up, I never even like when there are fingerprints. Be generous with the brake clean.
Here's how they describe it in Stoptech's white paper on the myth of warped rotors:dnyhof said:
There is only one way to prevent this sort of thing - following proper break in procedures for both pad and disc and use the correct pad for your driving style and conditions. All high performance after market discs and pads should come with both installation and break in instructions. The procedures are very similar between manufacturers. With respect to the pads, the bonding resins must be burned off relatively slowly to avoid both fade and uneven deposits. The procedure is several stops of increasing severity with a brief cooling period between them. After the last stop, the system should be allowed to cool to ambient temperature. Typically, a series of ten increasingly hard stops from 60mph to 5 mph with normal acceleration in between should get the job done for a high performance street pad. During pad or disc break-in, do not come to a complete stop, so plan where and when you do this procedure with care and concern for yourself and the safety of others. 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.
They talk about ten increasingly hard stops. I like to start with around five mild stops (say, slowing from 60 to 40 mph, at intervals of 1/4 to 1/2 mile), and then follow them with 6-10 VERY hard stops (say, 70 to 20 mph, at the same intervals). (This is not really different from Stoptech's advice, just more specific about the number of stops and the intervals.) When you do the hard stops, if your windows are open, you should be able to smell the pads heating up.
As they note in their procedure, it's then important not to do any more braking on the way home, and to let them cool to ambient temperature (e.g. overnight). I do mine late at night on a certain stretch of road close to home, and if any of the several traffic lights are red on the way home, I can slow the car down to about 5 mph by downshifting and using engine compression.
The "drive lightly for a week" advice does not pertain to pads to be used on the track. That's conventional advice for breaking in street pads for street use. Glazing is not a concern for pads that are going to be used on the track. (Street/track pads tend not to glaze, and even if the surface did glaze slightly, that would wear off quite quickly when you get out on the track.)
There are TWO objectives to the bed-in procedure noted above, with hard braking: First, as Stoptech's white paper notes, you need to deposit a uniform layer of pad material on the rotors. Second, the pads will have a chance to outgas when you heat them up. Pads that have not been heated up will fade a LOT the first session (and maybe the second) you take them out on the track. (All pads do this.) By getting them really hot during the bed-in procedure, you should avoid this (or, they shouldn't fade as badly during the first session, and none at all after that).
dnyhof said:
My off-the-cuff response is your pads should have included directions, and manufacturer's advice is best.
Failing that, my Carbotech Panther pads recommended 4 - 6 times from 40-60 mph down to 30 mph followed by 40-60 mph down to 0 mph 3 - 5 times followed by parking for 30 minutes. Brakes should be very hot, but not smoking.
The advice that Ken (nsxtasy) gave is spot-on. 4-5 stops from a moderate speed (30-40 mph) followed by 5-6 stops from a (I have heard) very high speed. I usally use 80-90 mph as my target high speed. Be sure to give the brakes a minute or two to cool down a bit between stops.
You shouldn't have to take off any coating, the pads will take care of that.
You shouldn't have to take off any coating, the pads will take care of that.
They usually washed off with soappy water and rinsed 'em out with spray...
I found the most challenging part is to find the right road to do the bed-in with no conseqences... Ken's suggestion is good, however, I lived in an area that those stupid red light doesn't want to turn green after mid night... and there're always some cops waiting at the corners even at 3am!!
That's one of the hardest things for me to think of how to do right now. I wonder how understanding a cop would be if you explained you were trying to bed in your breaks....
So do you want to start this bed in procedure as quick as you can from leaving your driveway or is it ok to drive a few miles to a highway?
I recommend you use "BrakeKleen" or comparable product. Easy, evaporates and will cause no ill efects on all brake parts. NAPA about 2-3 bucks
What pads do you have??
HTH,
LarryB
What pads do you have??
HTH,
LarryB
Keep the braking as minimal as you can, hopefully you don't live on a Mountain (which I do)... I would say very light braking without dragging with downshifting to lowest gear possible won't do enough damage, also if in case you really have to stop, try not to hold the brakes, and let it rolled a little(just to minimize the uneven deposit).. well, better be safe than sorry.
I understand the importance of bedding in new brake pads. I wonder if the NSX factory guys do that to the cars after production though.
I don't know. The place where I do it has no intersections for about a half mile, so there is nowhere for a police car. Not that I'm going all that fast anyway; I get up to about 65-70. With hard pedal pressure, that's enough to get the brakes hot enough. (If you can smell them, they're hot enough.)dnyhof said:I wonder how understanding a cop would be if you explained you were trying to bed in your breaks....
The problem isn't leaving, it's getting back. You can go however many miles you want; but after the bedding procedure, you want to use the brakes as little as possible, preferably none.dnyhof said:
Hint: If you are going to GingerMan and staying overnight, there are no traffic lights for several miles west of the hotels. So you can use that stretch of road late at night, last thing before going to bed, and then get back to the hotel without any braking.
dnyhof said:Cobalt Friction GP Sports (or is it GT Sports?) front pads and Axxis Ultimates on the rear.
Not sure how agreeable the police officer will be, but the judge bought it.. Of course that is only if you have the master defense attorny by your side. Need I say more?
LarryB
. Of course that is only if you have the master defense attorny by your side. Need I say more?LarryB
Like everyone above said, go easy on them at first. At red lights, don't keep the brake pedal pressed down... that can warp rotors due to the high heat.
Other than that, I couldn't put it better than what nsxtacy has done it.
Other than that, I couldn't put it better than what nsxtacy has done it.
Woohoo!!!!!!! I finally did all four corners today with pads and rotors and only a few hiccups! 
Bedding in the GT Sports is really easy, once I actually looked in my shipping box of parts I found the card for bedding them in. You only need to get up to 45-50mph for these pads or Axxis Ultimates so I went the the huge middle school that's a few hundred feet away from my house and proceded to run heat up and cool down laps all through their parking lot. 
They've got their football field there too so there's multiple level's with connecting roads and so forth so it was like running a mini autocross at times. Kinda fun. All in all I'm pretty proud of myself since this is my first big diy repair I've done on any car. Now those brakes better not fail me at Gingerman! 
Bedding in the GT Sports is really easy, once I actually looked in my shipping box of parts I found the card for bedding them in. You only need to get up to 45-50mph for these pads or Axxis Ultimates so I went the the huge middle school that's a few hundred feet away from my house and proceded to run heat up and cool down laps all through their parking lot. They've got their football field there too so there's multiple level's with connecting roads and so forth so it was like running a mini autocross at times. Kinda fun. All in all I'm pretty proud of myself since this is my first big diy repair I've done on any car. Now those brakes better not fail me at Gingerman!
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I hope that was a typo...dnyhof said:
Don't forget "Green Fade", based on the way you bleed you brakes, I suspected that the temp. will not be high enough to experience it, and you must experience it either when you doing bed-in or the first couple session while you on the track; go easy on first session as you use your brake hotter... Maybe brake a little early, so when it does fade, you won't flying into the gravels at the end of the stragiht, Just remember...Don't Panic...
Yes, that's what I was describing when I said:NSXDreamer2 said:
nsxtasy said:
If you smelled your brake pads - nice and strong - when you bedded them, then you got them hot enough. Typically, you will also see a slight discoloration in the pad material along the rotor surface, when you look through the spokes of the wheel.NSXDreamer2 said:
Regardless, dreamer is right - if you experience fade your first time out, don't panic; just bring the car into the pits, let it cool down, and it will disappear by your second (or, at worst, third) track session.
You know, I wonder if I really got my pads all that hot bedding them today... Cobalt says to do 4-6 45mph to 15mph slow stops, cool during 10 minutes of driving, then do 4-6 hard stops from 45mph to 15mph with a 15 minutes cool down drive. That doesn't sound very harsh does it? They certainly didn't warm up the rotors as I could touch them with my finger at the 15 minute cool down. Should I go out and really work them tomorrow again?
Cobalt says to do 4-6 45mph to 15mph slow stops, cool during 10 minutes of driving, then do 4-6 hard stops from 45mph to 15mph with a 15 minutes cool down drive. That doesn't sound very harsh does it? They certainly didn't warm up the rotors as I could touch them with my finger at the 15 minute cool down. Should I go out and really work them tomorrow again?
I would.dnyhof said:
Keep your driver's side window open, and when you do the hard stops, they should be REALLY hard, and you should smell the brake pads quite strongly.
If you can get up to a faster speed - say, 60 mph - it will help.
I would suggest doing six HARD stops from 60-70 mph to 20-30 mph, at intervals of 1/4 to 1/2 mile. Do it with your window open. If you don't smell anything, do another 4-6 stops. Then go home without using your brakes at all, if possible, and let the car cool down for several hours or overnight.dnyhof said:
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