Hi Guys,
I’ve posted a couple of brake-related articles and videos on this forum over the past year and have received a great response from other members. I recently finished my latest piece that focuses on swapping between street and race brake pads. This is a topic that constantly comes up as a problem area for track day enthusiasts. When done improperly, a whole string of bad things can occur…uneven pad deposits, vibrations, destroyed discs, etc. My purpose with this installment is to teach you how to avoid these issues. I thought this topic would be particularly relevant since track season is now in full swing.

On this particular piece, I’d strongly recommend you read the article before watching the video.

As with my prior efforts, this material is not intended to promote any one brand of brake pad, rotor, or brake system. The objective is to teach enthusiasts how to get the most out of whatever brake system they have on their car. My hope is that you’ll get more enjoyment out of your car, you’ll save money on brake parts, and we’ll all have fewer repetitive topics to wade through on this forum.

A few notes: When you click the link, please be patient and give the video a few seconds to load and buffer before viewing it. Finally, if you find this information useful, please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the video page. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy it!

Jeff

http://www.essexparts.com/learning-center/swapping_pads

 

Your videos are awesome.

 

Good stuff,

 

So is there a need to bed-in the brakes if I'm still using the same type and brand of pads (ex: OEM to OEM pads)?

 

When pads are manufactured, the finished product has different resins, binders, etc. that need to be burned off. That's why many pads will exhibit what is called 'green fade' when you first use them. In other words, they'll often fade after only the first few stops. Once all of this 'stuff' is burned off/out of the outer layer of the pad, then they can be used to their maximum capacity.

A lot of manufacturers today scorch their pads prior to sale. The pads are manufactured and then run through a giant scorching oven. It essentially cooks the outer layer of the pads. In my experience though, this doesn't fully cure them, and it's better to bed them.

Bedding any new pad with a particular disc will also get them seated properly against the disc face. The surface of the disc and pad will mate together nicely and give you the most 'grip' available.

Thanks guys.

 

Thanks for another great article. Unfortunately, it was about 1 week too late for me - and I have some vibration/juttering while braking on the track. I suppose that I didn't clean off enough of the street material before tracking..

Am I stuck with it? or will it go away with some street driving with race pads installed? - or is there some other suggestion?

Thanks again,

 

I'd try doing the race pad on the street thing and see how it goes. It makes more sense to try this first before resorting to other measures.