Bedding In Brake Pads - Learn How To Do It
Proper bedding or burnishing starts with the new pads being run through one complete heat cycle and then cooled before using them in race conditions. Best performance and overall results will come from bedding new pads on an already bedded or “seasoned” rotor. Used rotors must be flat and smooth. New pads can be effectively bedded to new rotors, if some care is taken at first break-in.
To bed-in your brake pads, begin by applying the brakes at low speeds to assure proper system operation. On the race track or other safe location, make a series of hard stops from moderate to slower speeds. Gradually increase the speed and the braking until the pads reach a hot racing temperature. If any brake pad fade is experienced during the bed-in, immediately begin the cool down process. Drive the car at slow to moderate speeds while the pads begin to cool, and be sure not to drag the brake pedal. Pit the car with minimal brake use and allow the brakes to finish cooling before subjecting them to race conditions. This procedure will minimize pad wear and maximize friction values over the broadest possible temperature band.
Watch this video to learn the proper procedure for bedding in racing brake pads:
Video Transcript - Hawk Performance Bed In Procedure
"Hello this is Todd Miller I'm the product specialist here with Hawk performance. We're here today to talk a little bit about how to break in your new brake pads for racing use. So you just went out you bought some some nice new hot DTC 70s, you're gonna throw them on your car so you can go brake your competitors and win the race, and you need to know how to put them in and how to get that transfer layer."
"The transfer film that you're gonna get built up is basically taking the brake pad material and building it up on the rotor so that they mate nicely and that's what does most of the work. You'll find on the back of all of our boxes are the braking instructions so that way you have a good reference point so don't throw the Box away right away. So basically what you do is you seal up all your brake ducts (if you have them) then you're gonna go about medium speeds, you're gonna slowly engage your brakes six to eight times and you're not gonna want to come to a complete stop nor do you want to drag your brakes. After you're done with those six to eight stops you increase speed to near race speed. Then you're gonna do another six to eight stops without coming to a complete stop, so you're going to brake relatively aggressively moderate to heavy pressure. Once you're done with those ones you want to go park the car making sure not to drag the brakes where you're stopping there and releasing it as soon as you're stopped. Let it cool for about 15 minutes so it comes to ambient temperature. Then you're ready to go race and win!"
