I have heard so many ways, but what is the true way to break in brakes?

i just speed up to 50-60ish and then slow down to about 5-10 stopping increasingly faster each time. i think you're not supposed to come to a complete stop in between as much as possible. i think about 10x usually does it. you should be able to smell the pads when you're done.

Originally posted by MCubed45
you should be able to smell the pads when you're done.

No. If you can smell it, you are cooking it. You are not allowing sufficient time for the rotors and pads to cool.

The following is a good procedure I have followed for the passed few years when breaking in brake systems on customer vehicles. It is cut and pasted from this article.

http://www.kitcarbooks.com/brakepads.html

The Bedding Procedure
For street applications (which represents all, if not most of your shop's work), the best advice is to use the brakes "normally" by using moderate pedal pressure for the first batch of stops. Of course, if a panic stop is required due to road conditions, the driver isn't expected to compromise a safety situation by babying the brakes. Once the pads have been initially seated (where the transfer film has occurred between pad and rotor), a sensible break-in period should ideally be performed. "Normal" break-in simply means you should do your best not to overheat the pads too soon during the first hundred miles or so. Use a degree of common sense.

Treat the new pads just as you would a fresh engine. Allow the brakes to settle into a comfortable routine before heavy-duty use, if at all possible. Reality however, dictates that you'll use the brakes as conditions require, but a reasonably gentle period in the beginning is preferred. Quality post-cured pads are really designed for full use from the outset, but a proper initial seating of pad-to-rotor and a sensible adjustment period is the ideal in order to lay the groundwork for optimum performance and pad life.

For break-in of semi-metallic pads (immediately following installation), apply moderate pedal pressure at vehicle speed of about 40 mph. Bring the vehicle to a complete or near-complete stop. Remove your foot from the brake pedal, and again accelerate to 40 mph. Apply moderate brake pressure again, bringing the vehicle to a complete or near-complete stop. Repeat process,ideally, 12-30 times. Drive about 1/4-mile between each braking. If possible,do not sit at idle with the brake pedal depressed immediately following one of these deceleration runs, to avoid creating localized hot spots on the rotor.

When dealing with carbon-metallic pads, bear in mind that not all are created equal. Performance Friction pads, for instance, are burnished using a laser process. For this type of pad, Performance Friction recommends a bedding procedure of moderate braking that brings rotor temperature up to 600 degrees F, repeated in a series of 12 stops. Bringing the rotors to this degree (600 deg. F), notes Performance Friction Darrick Dong, you're trying to cast-off any low-density volatile that might be trapped in the friction surface, or any other contaminants or solvents in the brake rotor.

We fully realize that the ideal street application bedding procedures that we've outlined here may be difficult to accomplish depending on available time and local road and traffic conditions, but do your best to follow the guideline where conditions permit.

The most generic statement that we can make is that with a high-quality pad that has already been post-cured, a handful of moderate stops should be all that's required to place the pads and rotors into full service.Whenever possible, a controlled series of moderate 40 mph-to-zero stops is best.

Once the pads have been bedded a sensible initial routine of brake use is preferred, especially in the case of a towing application, where the vehicle is intended to tow a trailer (car trailer, boat trailer,horse trailer, camper, etc.). In this case, it's best to first drive the vehicle for 100 - 200 miles before the trailer is connected. This will allow the pads and rotors ample time to mate and condition, before high heat and extreme pressures are applied during downhill braking of the vehicle and trailer.

I got some hawk pads(I don't have the part # off hand, but they are the stree/track ones), and just took it easy on them for about 100 miles. Now I hammer them and they work great other than they create alot of dust. But I have slotted/drilled rotors as well.

new brake pads or rotors?

Originally posted by CODE4

Originally posted by MCubed45 you should be able to smell the pads when you're done.

No. If you can smell it, you are cooking it. You are not allowing sufficient time for the rotors and pads to cool. The following is a good procedure I have followed for the passed few years when breaking in brake systems on customer vehicles. It is cut and pasted from this article. http://www.kitcarbooks.com/brakepads.html

depends what kinda brakes/pads you have i guess. i have performance pads/rotors with gsx calipers so this is what i follow:

http://www.stoptech.com/whitepapers/bedinstock.htm

stop tech has some great info on their site :thumbsup


Bedding-in Street Performance Pads

For a typical performance brake system using street-performance pads, a series of ten partial braking events, from 60mph down to 10mph, will typically raise the temperature of the brake components sufficiently to be considered one bed-in set. Each of the ten partial braking events should achieve moderate-to-high deceleration (about 80 to 90% of the deceleration required to lock up the brakes and/or to engage the ABS), and they should be made one after the other, without allowing the brakes to cool in between.

Depending on the make-up of the pad material, the brake friction will seem to gain slightly in performance, and will then lose or fade somewhat by around the fifth stop (also about the time that a friction smell will be detectable in the passenger compartment). This does not indicate that the brakes are bedded-in. This phenomenon is known as a green fade, as it is characteristic of immature or ‘green’ pads, in which the resins still need to be driven out of the pad material, at the point where the pads meet the rotors. In this circumstance, the upper temperature limit of the friction material will not yet have been reached.

As when bedding-in any set of brakes, care should be taken regarding the longer stopping distance necessary with incompletely bedded pads. This first set of stops in the bed-in process is only complete when all ten stops have been performed - not before. The system should then be allowed to cool, by driving the vehicle at the highest safe speed for the circumstances, without bringing it to a complete stop with the brakes still applied. After cooling the vehicle, a second set of ten partial braking events should be performed, followed by another cooling exercise. In some situations, a third set is beneficial, but two are normally sufficient.