Do you need to bed in brake pads?

[spanner]

I need to change my front brake pads soon but do you still need to bed the pads in? i have seen about 300 miles as a bedding in period but i do alot of motorway miles and dont have the luxury of 300 miles where i can be gentle on the brakes. I know the next day after changing them, the first time i'll need them would be for a BIG stop!

[Mackmot]

dont be gentle on them, thats no bedding them in. Drive up a quiet road and keep braking real hard for about 20 mins.

[Carlos]

Wont that just scorch the surface?

[Slippy Diff]

I would suggest that rather than just giving them **** for 20 minutes, it depends on the type of pad to be honest. It used to depend very much on what type of pads I ran in my race car, just how they were bedded in.

[Amaroo Park]

To bed the brakes in the way I always did it was give them two really hard stops and you will feel them start to fade. Then drive around for about 10 minutes not using them to slow the car (use the gear box and engine to slow the car), by that time the heat should have gone out of them and they should be ok. It will take a week or 2 of normal driving to get heat cycles in them to fully bedded in. I wouldn't give them a hard time for 20 minutes a suggest above as you will warp the brake discs and end up with brake shudder.......

[BlueBlood]

It depends on how the pad is finished when produced, but here is a guide froma company that produced 55 million sets of pads per year.

In order to maximise the benefits FERODO brake pads offer the driver, it is essential they are bedded in correctly.
1. Accelerate vehicle to 60KPH. (37MPH)
2. Apply brake using moderate pedal pressure, reduce speed to 5kph (do not stop if possible)
3. Repeat setp 1 and 2 between 8 and 10 times allowing 0.3 to 0.6 km between brake applications.
4. Avoid strong pedal pressure for the first 200km. After completing bedding in procedure, the vehicle can be driven like you stole it (or in a normal manner).
Adherence to this necessary procedure will optimize the performance of the FERODO asbestos-free disc brake pad.

[Dave Brand]

Originally Posted by colinbond

To bed the brakes in the way I always did it was give them two really hard stops and you will feel them start to fade.

'Fading-in' isn't needed with modern pad materials. Most will not exhibit the 'green fade' characteristic which makes that process necessary; those which do are scorched as part of the production process to ensure consistent braking right from the start. Just a few gentle applications (in essence what Ferodo advises) will be adequate to bed pads in properly.

[Amaroo Park]

Originally Posted by Dave Brand

'Fading-in' isn't needed with modern pad materials. Most will not exhibit the 'green fade' characteristic which makes that process necessary; those which do are scorched as part of the production process to ensure consistent braking right from the start. Just a few gentle applications (in essence what Ferodo advises) will be adequate to bed pads in properly.

No quiet correct. We have found the Ferodo way to promote disc warping. I have a lot experiance with brake issues with working in GM dealerships. 2 good stops is enough to bed them in without stressing the brake disc

[spanner]

Thanks for the info guys. Was planning on changing to standard pads from manufacturer, as the current Tar-0x pads now seem to struggle without putting quite a force onto the pedal and and planning on selling it in a month or so.