View Full Version : Bedding-in New Brake Rotors


JimBlake
08-18-2009, 12:42 PM
Here's a procedure for bedding-in new brake pads & rotors. This should be done whenever the rotors are replaced or resurfaced.

What's commonly called "warped" rotors are usually not actually warped. What happens is that brake pad material gets transferred & embedded into the surface of the rotor. If this happens unevenly, you get brakes that pulsate as the rotor turns from a more-slippery part to a less-slippery part of the disk.

Doing this procedure when they are new will transfer the brake pad material uniformly around the entire disk. For some reason I don't completely understand, they will tolerate abuse better after this is done. This might sometimes work to improve brakes that have begun to pulsate, but it doesn't always fix that.

First, you have to find someplace where you can do this whole thing without being stupid in traffic.

1 - Brake hard from about 40mph to 10mph. DO NOT STOP COMPLETELY.
2 - Drive around for a couple minutes to let them cool.
3 - Repeat a few times.

4 - Brake real REAL hard from about 50mph to 15mph. DON'T COMPLETELY STOP.
5 - Drive around for 10 minutes or more to cool down.
6 - Repeat several more times.

SaGort
08-25-2009, 01:06 AM
yeah sames Will hehe. How about machining your rotors, how often do you guys get the machined. I just got mine machined for free from Subaru but was curious at how often it should be done.

JimBlake
08-27-2009, 02:56 PM
I get mine resurfaced whenever I replace the brake pads. Kinda like 40-50k miles for me, but how long anyone's brake pads will last is very unpredictable.

19Accord97
09-03-2009, 11:30 PM
Thats EXACTLY what Hawk recommends.

JimBlake
09-04-2009, 07:27 AM
Yeah, I'd been doing that for years before I saw it printed on the boxes.

The procedure started out being kinda controversial. "OH MY GAWD, YOU SHOULDN'T ABUSE YOUR NEW BRAKES LIKE THAT...". But I started doing that 10 or 15 years ago and it's always worked well for me.