Goodwood

Picking up my C6 later today after installing new Carbotech XP10/8's and new Napa rotors, along with a brand new set of Nitto R888's on my OEM wheels.

Could I get some advice on the proper bedding of the pads and rotors, and the proper procedure for heat cycling these tires?

Don't have access to a track facility, but do live out in the countryside. Can all of this be done at once, or should the brakes/rotors be bedded in, then tires heat cycled later?

beerkat

Bedding in the brakes in not too hard to do on the street. normally you do a series of hard fast slow down and stops. You may do some slow downs like 70mph to 20 mph, 50 to a stop. you would do those several times. You should be able to smell the brakes. Then you want to let them cool down, overnight is good.

I have only order my tires heat cycled so I can not help with those.

varkwso

There are instructions from Carbotech in the box with the pads normally - but Beerkat pretty much summed them up. Get them good and hot with a series of slow downs, without coming to a complete stop if possible, then let them cool.

Heat cycling a street tire is pretty much a waste of time - but...

Put the tires on - get them good and hot with about 20 minutes of driving - then take them off and let them cool for 24 hours without a load on them. To be honest it only makes a difference to the top 1% of drivers with well tuned cars for a few laps at best. I rarely heat cycle any and I do not pay Tire Rack to heat cycle them their way....I have seen little to no different impact in tire life or longer grip in the tires either way.

watch your wear and monitor pressures on tires....

Goodwood

Since I'm not installing them myself, I didn't look for instructions in the box. I'll follow those instructions, and not worry about heat cycling the R888's.

varkwso

You will really like the Carbotechs I believe

rhneff

The R888 is not a street tire, it's a competition radial similar to the Hoosier R6 and the Kumho V710, and it will benefit from heat cycling in the same manner as those. The major benefit I've found is not in absolute performance, but rather in consistent performance as well as longer track life. YMMV, but I go through 8 - 10 sets a year and have seen the difference in consistency and tire life - the effort/expense is worth it IMO.

Buckeyefaninks

If I were you, I'd check out Stoptech's web site for info on some theory behind bedding in brakes / rotors. They have some interesting stuff about adherent v abrasive friction. They indicate that normal street driving (where temps are lower) can de-bed your brakes / rotors. I normally only bed mine in before I go to the track, on a road near the track... otherwise, that layer connecting your pads / rotors just naturally fades away through normal use.

My PFC-01 pads dont mention this, but for my Hawk HP Plus's, they say to cover your brake duct inlets... this assures that your brakes heat faster and you acheive a small level of brake fade. Let them sit as long as possible, then untape the brake duct inlets.

-Steve

RUN4CVR

I am anxious to hear about the R888's? I think i am leaning towards these tires as well because I need something to drive to and from the track (no trailer.)

Please give us some feedback on them when you can.

beerkat

The following is from the Carbotech website,


*Proper bedding of pads and rotors will result in greater performance and longevity of both pads & rotors.

1. All new brake pads/shoes require a bedding process; start the process by pumping your brakes a few times to assure proper installation. Once on track perform several moderate (medium) speed near stops (usually requires at least two laps) to thoroughly warm up the pads/shoes and rotors. This transfers a thin layer of the pad material to the micro-grooves present on all rotors.

2. After the pads and rotors are warm, perform a series of hard near stops until some brake fade is felt. Do not lock the tires. Once this occurs, slow down immeadatly and stay off the brakes (as much as possible) and bring the vehicle into the pits or paddock.

3. Allow the brake pads and/or rotors to cool down to ambient temperature; NOT less than 30 minutes.


WARNING: Failure to properly bed in your pads could cause the friction material to chunk and break up resulting in poor pad performance and pad life. This can lead to overheating and cause your pads to glaze. Glazed pads can result in the vehicle not being able to slow properly or stop.

NOTE: The proper way to bed your brake pads and brake rotors is to bed them on the racetrack, NOT on the street (excluding the Bobcat 1521 compound).

Goodwood

I got them bedded real well with about 10 hard slow downs from about 70-80 to 15-20(after getting them up to temp), then cooled them down afterwords. The next time I drove it, WOW amazing grip, firm pedal, and very grabby at low speeds! Should be good to go.
As for the tires, I'm not going to sweat the heat cycling of them. They got pretty warm during the pad bedding process, so that's all they're gonna get. I wasn't willing to remove them afterwords. Too much like work. Besides, I'm not at any advanced level of driving yet, with just 2 1-day DE's under my belt. I will say they grip infinitely better than my KDW2's after just 40 miles on them. I gradually poured on the coals in 1st through 2nd, and while it did fight for traction in 1st, it didn't bust em loose like it would've with the KDW's.

varkwso

good job - good choice - now go have fun with them...


Kim - you need to stop reading those instructions ! Where, on track are you going to get to do "step 2" ? Maybe CMP....

beerkat

They probable just put #2 in there so if you complain about the pads wearing out to fast they have an out.

Order another set of 12/10 for backup at RR. But since there are only a couple of spots where a person needs to brake hard I hope not to have to change the ones I have.

05C6GAC

I am anxious to hear about the R888's also? I think I am leaning towards these tires as well for track days!!!! I also only have a couple of D/E days at RR but I looking at at a couple of others in the next couple of months!!! Can you tell us where you bought yours!!!

Please give us some feedback on them when you can!!!

beerkat

I was at Nitto's website and they make no mention of an R888.

varkwso

Did you order some spare rotors?

gkmccready

Toyo R888. Toyo RA-1. Nitto 555RII. Nitto NT01.

beerkat

He said he was getting Nitto R888

Traded my NAPA pads in for rotors so I have new back up set.

sefa01

Just got back from a track day at Watkins Glen with brand-new R888s. These were not heat-cycled beforehand.

I thought they'd be greasy early on, but they really weren't. Took a couple of laps to get some heat in them. After that they were fine.

I'd been using Hoosier R6s before, so there is a difference. The R888s allow you to slide a little more, although they have plenty of grip.

One day and several sessions isn't enough to do a full evaluation. But so far, I definitely like them.