I've got some dumb (and maybe some even not so dumb) rookie racer brake questions. My front brake rotors are pretty grooved. I understand that racing pads are very abrasive, but when should you get new rotors? When does it become too grooved? I haven't experienced any issues with the brakes, but I'd rather replace them before that occurs.

Lets assume that I did get new rotors. Seems like I would want new pads as well. The old pads are going to have the same groove pattern as the old rotors and it seems like these would just regroove the new rotors fairly quickly. Am I thinking correctly here or can I use the old pads and they will just wear flat on the new rotors?

If I have new rotors and new pads how do I bed them? I've read a couple places that you want to bed new pads with old rotors and new rotors with old pads. I may not want to use the old parts for fear of grooving the new parts. So what do I do? Also, I've seen "pre-bedded" pads. Do you really not need to bed these or is this just a marketing gimmick?

Finally, the bedding process itself. Most of the stuff I've seen has you getting up to speed and then rapidly slowing down to get heat into the brakes. You increase your speed after a few runs up to some top speed. For race pads it seems you start off around 50 or so and work up to 80 or 90. Where the hell do you do this? The only place to me seems like the track, but it also seems dangerous to me to be slowing down to 10 or 20 on a racing course even during practice days. So do you just do it off line or is there some other way?

This is on an ITA 1989 240SX if that makes any difference.

Thanks for your replies.

David