How to bed brakes on a racecar?

[bills]

Newbie with a rather basic question.

I just replaced the brake pads and rotors on the racecar. No tag, so I cannot bed in the brakes on the remote road I use for our street vehicles. Neighborhood has too many kids and pets. Could possibly use the parking lot at work, but 30-40mph is about max.

How the heck do I bed in the new brakes?

If the details matter, the pads are Performance Friction PFC97, new Brembo rotors, and the car is a Miata. Will be at Sebring for a track day soon, so could do something in the paddock or track.

[gran racing]

http://www.ctbrakes.com/faqs.asp#bedding4

It's important to do it the right way.

Carbotech now has a pre-bedding process that I've used and it sure eliminates some of the PITA aspects of doing this.

[bills]

The instructions from Performance Friction are at the bottom of this post.

I was thinking that I should go to the back of the pack, so that I would not disrupt people behind me, and hope I am not black-flagged. Do a few 40mph-20mph stops, then 45-20mph, etc until I get up around 70-80mph. Hopefully the front of the pack does not catch me before I am done!

Was concerned that I would piss-off some corner workers by the random braking, so thought I would ask what other people are doing.

By the way Dave, I bought and repeatedly read your book a few years ago. After a dozen track days, finally going for my driver's school in a few weeks.



Info from Performance Friction :

Bedding New Performance Friction Brake Pads

On the first lap, perform several snubs with progressively higher pedal pressure and braking force and from higher speeds. You will feel the effectiveness of the brakes increase with each successive brake application. This should take 6 to 10 snubs per lap and is usually completed in one or two laps. If non-PFC friction materials were previously run on the discs then this procedure could take as many as three to five laps. This is because the non-PFC friction material transfer layer must first be cleaned from the disc and then a fresh layer must be imparted to the disc.
Running additional laps is the best way to accomplish the new transfer layer and, due to the higher surface temperatures, will assure a complete removal of the old friction materials from the disc. Braking effectiveness should be excellent at this point and the car can be driven normally.

[Xian]

If you've got a parking lot that you can get up to ~40mph, I'd go that route... take the car out, get up to speed, apply the brakes and give it gas at the same time. Let off the brakes, get back up to speed, lather, rinse, repeat. Use this process work the heat into the brakes abd get your transfer layer. As PFC references, you'll be able to feel them "come in" as the ebd and will also be able to smell them. The other option is to bed them during a test day or during a practice/quali session at a race weekend.

FWIW, I used to take a couple sets of pads/rotors to test days and bed multiple sets in one day and then keep them as matched sets, ready to go onto the car. YMMV and all that...

[JLawton]

Usually you have a practice or qualy session before the race. I go out easy the first two laps or so using the usual braking zones, get them heated up, then take a lap or two with no brakes to cool them and then they're usually ready to go. ---> Hawk Blues

[AE86ITA]

Here's Essex Parts Version

http://www.essexparts.com/learning-center/cat/brake-pads/post/Bed-in

[Knestis]

Usually you have a practice or qualy session before the race. I go out easy the first two laps or so using the usual braking zones, get them heated up, then take a lap or two with no brakes to cool them and then they're usually ready to go. ---> Hawk Blues

This - exactly. Hawk Blues.

K

[bills]

Thank you all for the suggestions.

Bill

[SPiFF]

Running Carotech, Cobalt, and now Raybestos, I have never had any problem bedding in pads/rotors on the formation lap of a race.

What I do:
* Drag the break on the way to the grid and for the first corner or two to get the pads and rotors to mate.
* Do a couple of medium level breaking tests in succession to get the feel of things.
* Do one big break test at close to race level as you can get.

They will be ready by L1 T1.