i'm about to do a minor update to my braking system before the next hdpe and am listing things that need to get done to prep the braking system. one of them of course is bedding in race pads.

the one problem i've had is finding a suitable place/location to do proper bed-in. where are some areas or locations you guys take your cars to when bedding in your pads?

i.e.
empty parking lot?
deserted road?
freeway in the middle of the night?

thanks for any input.

kepani-who's "new" to the rr/ax forum...

 

1st session of the day....for me....and for most ppl that don't have road-legal/registered track vehicles

 

hey matt! this is jay (met briefly @ jgtc ). i've read in some articles suggesting that there is a "curing" period you should allow before using the pads after a bed-in procedure?

kepani

 

I'm with the chicken on this one...no street-legal car means using the day's first session for bedding. I try not to use those pads later that day (I'll use them the next day or the next event weekend) so it's best to have several sets in some kind of rotation. However, when I DID bed pads on a street-legal car I simply looked for a deserted road. The bedding procedure for those pads only required (I forget the number) a few stops from 30, 45, and 60 which is easy to do on a frontage road. Then let them cool overnight if you can. They will work that same day, but the life is shorter. Keep in mind this advice/experience is limited to Cobalt and Carbotech pads so it's not universal.

 

Walmart parking lots are great for that. I Kiiiidddd. I Kiiiddd. <voice of triumph the dog>. Me I have one road that is out in the country that is a long straight with zero sideroads, driveways, etc. The speedlimit on that road is sufficient (55mph) to do the bedding of the pads. So I just drive up and down this one straight to about 60mph and do my repeated slow downs/almost stops. I will do it ONLY if there is no one in any direction. If you can find a place like that and want to bed them before hand I don't think that is "wrong". Otherwise, do it your first session at the track. I have a H1 level prepared "track car" that has a license plate, blinkers, etc.. Otherwise that might be costly with the local law enforcement.

Barry H.

 

I live on the edge of town so country roads at night work fine without attracting the wrong type of attention.

 

travis: the pads in question are cobalt friction gt spec vr's. appreciate the help. i really like these pads on track. excellent bite when up to temperature and minimal fade.

apexinghonda: now that you mention it, i know of a nice long *downhill* road. i suppose it's ideal so that you don't have to really accelerate per se. just get up to speed - brake - coast downhill - brake - and so on.

but yeah, i totally agree with you guys on this. it's dangerous to do out on a public road; with the frequent stopping/starting. i just might do bedding-in procedure on the first session like matt suggests.

kepani

 

Find a nice road w/ a 45mph speedlimit and lots of 15-20 mph turns

 

I've used the loop road at the downtown executive airport a couple of times.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kepani &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hey matt! this is jay (met briefly @ jgtc ). i've read in some articles suggesting that there is a "curing" period you should allow before using the pads after a bed-in procedure?

kepani</TD></TR></TABLE>


I, personally, do not worry about the "curing" period at all. Time between sessions seems to cure them enough for me

The obvious downside is the loss of a session to other activities....

Parking Lot = has to be large enough and empty enough to be "safe," and has the possibility of running into curbs if the pads really fade. Plus they tend to be private properties....all of which would make me hesitant to bedding pads on them.

deserted road = pretty much best bet, providing it is straight enough and has plenty of visibility. Also keep the crown of the road in mind when doing aggressive braking, the more toe-out you have in front the more the car will follow the crown (Ie will want to go the right under braking)

highways at night = not too bad, but visibility is decreased, plus with pads that have high metallic content you'll be putting on a spark show.

 

i use the highway myself. a few stops from 80 down to 45-50 seem to work good. Then i got off at the next exit and turn back around and that provides some good cooling for them. Then i just go home and park it.

s

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by El Pollo Diablo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">plus with pads that have high metallic content you'll be putting on a spark show.</TD></TR></TABLE>

sounds more like a plus to me.

thanks for the advice gang!

for more technical reading. i'm sure many of you have seen it. but helpful to the non-informed.

from stoptech.com website
http://stoptech.com/whitepapers/bedintheory.htm
http://stoptech.com/whitepapers/bedinstock.htm
http://stoptech.com/whitepaper...e.htm

kepani

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kepani &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the pads in question are cobalt friction gt spec vr's. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I have not found the VRs to need much bedding. They are fine after the first 1 or 2 corners. The first lap on new pads should be taken with some extra care, but the VRs worked fine out of the box for me.

 

I use a local street that has no cross-streets, and I go late at night so there are no other cars on the road. This is a street that is close to home, so that after the bed-in, I can drive all the way home without using my brakes (and wearing off the layer of material that the bed-in procedure deposits on the surface of the rotors).

 

service road or beach parckway. both pritty empty after 11pm

 

i bed in mine on a long 2 lane road about 12 at night. I actually set my front stock pads on fire while bedding in the rear axxis ultimates It was pretty funny, and needlss to say alot of brake fade

 

you mean your pads arent supposed to shoot flames when you bed them in?

 

i'd say freeway but... u can also do this. install the pad the night before the track day. then bed it in on the way to the track on freeway - i do that sometimes. all it really needs to do is to warm up and get the gases out, and then cool down before you drive hard on it. so on the way to track is perfect...

 

....especially if j00 run track-only rotors like many people do.

Although pad bedding in isn't really about off-gassing the pads...it's pretty much all about pad material transfer onto the rotors.

 

race kar on highway

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ghettoracer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i'd say freeway but... u can also do this. install the pad the night before the track day. then bed it in on the way to the track on freeway - i do that sometimes. all it really needs to do is to warm up and get the gases out, and then cool down before you drive hard on it. so on the way to track is perfect...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Think carefully before considering this. When I go to the track, I have a whole bunch of 20-40 pound objects in the back of my car - track tires, jack, tool boxes, etc. While I try to secure everything and pack everything as low as I can, I'm not always entirely successful. So I really don't like the idea of doing any REALLY hard braking with all that stuff behind the seats (for obvious reasons).

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by El Pollo Diablo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Although pad bedding in isn't really about off-gassing the pads...it's pretty much all about pad material transfer onto the rotors.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's true. Even though new pads get hot during the bedding procedure (smells mmmm good), I find that I usually still experience some fade due to outgassing during my first track session on them.

 

i don't think you have to brake that hard. just steady long speed decrease (like 65-50 mph), repeated until it heats up enough where u feel the friction increases a lot, and the pads mates to the rotor surface. some instructions are very specific about what speed, and how many times you do it, IMO it's not necessary to follow it exactly. YMMV. (+ standard disclaimers)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ghettoracer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i don't think you have to brake that hard. </TD></TR></TABLE>

BS. You need to get the pad to its operating temperature and beyond - green fade them. If you dont get them to that point in bedding, you're not stopping hard enough or enough cycles.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">some instructions are very specific about what speed, and how many times you do it, IMO it's not necessary to follow it exactly. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Every time i have not followed the directions w/ carbotech pads the results have not been very good (not bedded properly, or shitty pad life).

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nsxtasy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Think carefully before considering this. When I go to the track, I have a whole bunch of 20-40 pound objects in the back of my car - track tires, jack, tool boxes, etc. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Duh, Ken. He borrows someone else's car to bed his pads.

Actually, you can really get your brakes hot with left foot braking on the highway. The only way I get my rears hot is with the e-brake too.

I try to get some varying speeds in my bed-in, usually 55 mph highways with stopsigns, and dragging brakes inbetween.

-Chris

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris F &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Actually, you can really get your brakes hot with left foot braking on the highway. The only way I get my rears hot is with the e-brake too. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Really not the 'correct' way to bed them either - just dragging to generate heat wont transfer enough pad material to the rotor.