I have followed the manual for breaking in the brakes:
Avoid making hard stops for the first 200 miles
(322 km) or so. During this time your new brake
linings are not yet broken in. Hard stops with new
linings can mean premature wear and earlier
replacement. Follow this breaking-in guideline
every time you get new brake linings.

However, Stoptech and other high performance brake manufacturers say this:

Bedding in new brakes:
When a system has both new rotors and pads, there are two different objectives for bedding-in a performance brake system: heating up the brake rotors and pads in a prescribed manner, so as to transfer pad material evenly onto the rotors; and maturing the pad material, so that resins which are used to bind and form it are ‘cooked' out of the pad.

The first objective is achieved by performing a series of stops, so that the brake rotor and pad material are heated steadily to a temperature that promotes the transfer of pad material onto the brake rotor friction surface. There is one pitfall in this process, however, which must be avoided. The rotor and, therefore, the vehicle should not be brought to a complete stop, with the brakes still applied, as this risks the non-uniform transfer of pad material onto the friction surface.

The second objective of the bedding-in process is achieved by performing another set of stops, in order to mature the pad itself. This ensures that resins which are used to bind and form the pad material are ‘cooked' out of the pad, at the point where the pad meets the rotor's friction surface.

The bed-in process is not complete until both sets of stops have been performed.

Bedding-in Street Performance Pads
For a typical performance brake system using street-performance pads, a series of ten partial braking events, from 60mph down to 10mph, will typically raise the temperature of the brake components sufficiently to be considered one bed-in set. Each of the ten partial braking events should achieve moderate-to-high deceleration (about 80 to 90% of the deceleration required to lock up the brakes and/or to engage the ABS), and they should be made one after the other, without allowing the brakes to cool in between.

Depending on the make-up of the pad material, the brake friction will seem to gain slightly in performance, and will then lose or fade somewhat by around the fifth stop (also about the time that a friction smell will be detectable in the passenger compartment). This does not indicate that the brakes are bedded-in. This phenomenon is known as a green fade, as it is characteristic of immature or ‘green' pads, in which the resins still need to be driven out of the pad material, at the point where the pads meet the rotors. In this circumstance, the upper temperature limit of the friction material will not yet have been reached.

As when bedding-in any set of brakes, care should be taken regarding the longer stopping distance necessary with incompletely bedded pads. This first set of stops in the bed-in process is only complete when all ten stops have been performed - not before. The system should then be allowed to cool, by driving the vehicle at the highest safe speed for the circumstances, without bringing it to a complete stop with the brakes still applied. After cooling the vehicle, a second set of ten partial braking events should be performed, followed by another cooling exercise. In some situations, a third set is beneficial, but two are normally sufficient.


I now have 900 miles on the car with no hard stops. Should I:

Just use the brakes?
Follow the Stoptech proceedures now?
Sell the car, start over and do it right?

TIA - JD

 

Just use them

Rember Stoptech is also using a whole different rotor and compound on there brakes than the factory setup

 

Follow StopTechs bedding procedure.

all those that say dont do any hard stops are writen by company attornies to prevent law suites.

Heck when we bed in new brake pads or rotors, the Stop Tech procedures are mild.

This is how most track / road race guys bed in

Find a nice quite low traffic straight road. Day time only. Bake in straight lines only no curvers.

do a few gentle stops from 40 down to 5 mph
then do 3 to 5 HARD 40 to 5 mph stops

then do 3 to 5 80 to 5 mph stops

and if you have the nads

3 to 5 100 to 5 mph stops.

Drive around for 30 -40 min too cool the brakes down then put you car away for 24 hours to finish the cooling process

 

This is the way I am leaning, but can I do this sucessfully on 900 mile pads? Thanks

PS - your proceedures above are what Stoptech does recommend for racing

 

http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm

Here is a good procedure. Used on mine and no squeaks and the brakes seem to work fine.

 

 

No problem. I think bedding pads and new rotors is fun. I did it a while ago and my Wife want to go for a ride with me.

I said OK

she amost puked when I did the first 100-5 stop ( imagine if you will a corvette doing a motocycle 'stoppie' ) that is what it fells like with race pads.

Now for the life of me I cant figure out why she wont go for a ride with me on track ???

 

Good ole Dave! He uses basically the same procedure as Stoptech (he is a stoptech dealer). But can I use this proceedure on 900 mile brakes?

 

I did that when I put the Erataspeeds and Hawk pads on my C5

 

I did mine with 1,000 miles or there about.They work fine.Listen to
AU N EGL.He knows what he is talking about.

I have 6 track days on mine without a minutes trouble.You probably haven't used the brakes hard enough to bed them or season the rotors.

The process increases heat slowly which will not damage any parts.The cooling process needs to be complete.All the way back to air temperature.24 hours!


Dan

 

Thanks, Dan.

 

Presto, pads are completely bedded in in 5 miles.

 

Just don't eat any HOT spicy foods before you bed in brakes.

 

Just some good ole NC style BBQ (Partial to Fuzzy's in Madison)