Last Minute Pad/rotor Change

[Yeedogga]

Hi guys,

My car off at my mechanic's joint this morning for a service and a once over before the SAUNSW MDTC day on the weekend.

I would normally do the above myself, and with plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately I have been 'stuck' (for want of a better word!) at Bathurst for the last 2 weeks...

Aanyway, so it seems i need new pads and rotors as my spanner man thinks the pads might not last the day.

Im just going to get him to throw some RDA slotted and Bendix Ultimates on it

So, whats the best way to have the brakes bed in and ready to run for Sat morning? I am going to drive the car down to Marulan from Syd (2 hour drive)- if i give them a bit of welly on the way down will that be enough?

Cheers

[Moodles2]

Haha bendix ultimates at the track, they won't last the day, maybe 3/4 of a day if you're lucky.

When I change my pads at the track, I just drive normally and take it easy (but still hard on the brakes) the first few laps, then they're completely bedded in.

[Yeedogga]

Yeah, they arent my first choice but the most readily available at short notice.

Is the idea to get them super hot when bedding in? Tjere seem to be different schools of thought..

[Moodles2]

Best to follow the manufacturers method of bedding in, whether it's the rotor's or the pad's manufacturer.

What I do on empty roads is, get up to 40, lock it up to full stop, drive around for acouple minutes to let things cool down, again but 60 this time, finally at 80 and drive at least for 5 minutes to prevent thermal shock.

[Duncan]

I've used bendix ultimates for heaps of track days and they were fine. Good in fact. Not a race pad but a very good street/track compromise

Bedding in the pads is simple (I'm assuming they've installed and cleaned everything OK).

Head out somewhere open and do 4-6 stops from about 80 to 20 (not to 0....) with the windows down. You will smell when they are warm enough Once they are nice and hot do one more stop, and then drive the next 5 minutes without heavy braking to allow the brakes to cool evenly.

Yes you do want them to be very hot (compared to normal) to bed in. There are 2 things to acheive:

1/ burn off any coating on the pads

2/ distribute the pad material across the disc.

You need to do this ASAP when the new brakes are on, if not they will not bed in or spread there material properly and you will have to start again. If you do have to start again, take the pads out and rough them up on a grinder or even a concrete surface.

[Beer Baron]

Best to follow the manufacturers method of bedding in, whether it's the rotor's or the pad's manufacturer.

What I do on empty roads is, get up to 40, lock it up to full stop, drive around for acouple minutes to let things cool down, again but 60 this time, finally at 80 and drive at least for 5 minutes to prevent thermal shock.

i'm sorry but this goes against everything i've seen and had recommended by any brake 'expert'. you do not want to be locking brakes during bedding in (it will just give you hot spots on the disk at best). you also should not be doing hard stops to a complete stand still. coming to a full stop does the same as locking the brakes, it just leaves a big deposit of pad material and/or hot spot in one place on the disk.

as duncan said you want to start by doing 80-20 maybe 2 of those, then bump it up a bit (obviously only if safe to do so) like 110km/h to 20 and 2 or three of those (with some cooling time in between), then drive normally at decent speed for 5-10 mins without using the brakes (again if safe to do so). doing it on the freeway is fine but check your mirrors carefully as you don't want to get rear-ended at 20km/h in a 110 zone. you will be able to smell them quite strongly and they may even smoke a little bit. there's no need to get them super hot (like glowing red to the point they are about to catch fire) but they need to be progressively (but quickly) brought up to temp and then progressively cooled afterwards.

this can be done easily on the track in just 1 or 2 laps. but better to do it sooner rather than later as you want to burn off some of the coatings/release agents and like duncan said you are transferring a layer of pad material/resin onto the rotor face.