How to Bed Your New Brakes Properly

If you’ve ever installed new brakes (or even just new pads), you’ve undoubtedly seen the manufacturer state that you need to bed in your new brakes. Sure it gives you a procedure, but what does “brake bedding” actually refer to?

All new pads have manufacturing resins that need to burn off before they work effectively. Burning the resins off will help avoid uneven deposits on the rotors or pad glazing. It will also leave a transfer layer of pad material on the rotor which will help increase the level of friction between the pad and the rotor while braking. While it is important to bed the brakes in initially upon installation, it may (at some point) be necessary to re-bed the pads in. This is normal, and is frequently necessary after track days or something that has put a lot of pressure on the pads.

So now that we know what it is, how is it done? While there are many different methods of bedding brakes, this is the procedure that I have used for years to bed in my brakes. As a disclaimer, if your brakes came with bedding instructions, follow them. This is a generic process that has always worked for me. As another side note, bedding brakes generally produces a lot of dust, so if your wheels are fairly dirty after installing your low dust pad, don’t worry. This is normal.

Instructions

Step 1

Find a long road relatively devoid of traffic. You need to be able to get up to 60mph, so make sure you can do this legally.

Step 2

During this step, you will repeatedly brake from 60 mph to 10 mph. Do not come to a stop, and do the braking runs back to back. Start using ~10% pressure on the pedal, and gradually build up braking pressure in increments (10%, 25%, 40%, 50%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 100%). The last two braking steps should be fairly hard, and you should come close to or actually engage the ABS system.

Step 3

After you finish the 8th stop, drive without touching the brakes so that the rotor can cool to ambient temperatures (this should take 15-20 minutes). Driving on the highway is a good way to accomplish this.

Step 4

Repeat Step 2.

Step 5

Repeat Step 3.

Step 6

You’re finished! Enjoy your new brakes!