Bedding In Track Pads - Where?

Brake pads are still good for now, but will probably need to be replaced after (or possibly at) this next track day. I'll be swapping on Hawk HP+ pads.

So, I was looking at the bedding-in procedures, and it says for the second stage to make a series of stops of track operation speeds. I figure that's like... 70-5 or 80-5 mph stops.

Where do you guys do that?

Normal pads are, at most 50-5mph stops. There is a quiet business complex behind the apartment that I'm comfortable doing 50mph down on a weekend. Although it's long enough, I'm really not comfortable going 70-80 down a surface street. If someone decides to pop out, that's just too dicey.

I'm thinking of using the big skid pad at Thunderhill at the end of the track day. I know I have space to top out second and stop, and that there will be no risk of anyone running in front of me.

Where do you guys go to do the bed-in procedure on track compound pads?

I live in a rural area, I just find a nice stretch and do a few 55-25 hard brakings, then go to 75-5 for several more until I can smell the brakes, I find this works out pretty well.

Interstate very late at night (early AM), in my area we have an separated 2 lane HOV. There are a few sections that are about 1/2 mile strait, so you can make sure no one is coming behind you. Plus less worry about noise bringing lots of attention.

private airstrip

I did mine on a back road that has some nice straights and very little traffic.

blaze86vic wrote: Interstate very late at night (early AM),

Right lane, brake and stop in breakdown lane, test the 0-70 capabilities of your car, repeat.

Residential streets near elementary schools.

What?

I actually do use a large school parking lot.

When I bedded in my HP+ pads I did it late at night on a deserted back road that I had scouted first. I know I don't need to tell you this, but proper bedding on HP+ pads is essential to getting good bite and to minimize the squeaking, moreso than any other pad I've run (though the HP+ were the most aggressive I've run).

I'm not certain if there is one near you, but most towns have an abandoned "big box" store with a huge parking lot. That's where I scrub in my new tires and stuff.. just watch out for the cute little "islands". And light poles; watch out for them, too.

I always go to my local industrial park. Miles of abandoned roads after buisness hours.

former520 wrote: I always go to my local industrial park. Miles of abandoned roads after buisness hours.

Just be sure to cruise through first to check for enforcement activity - the 65 in a 30 ticket I got in one as a kid really hurt!

NYG95GA wrote: I'm not certain if there is one near you, but most towns have an abandoned "big box" store with a huge parking lot. That's where I scrub in my new tires and stuff.. just watch out for the cute little "islands". And light poles; watch out for them, too.

Abandoned as in "out of business" or abandoned as in, "closed for the night"? That's actually the most feasible. There's a Costco only about a mile away. I could hit that at the wee hours of the morning. There are a ton of those islands and light poles though.

HP+ aren't track pads. Unless they're going on a very light weight car, you're gonna melt them.

docwyte wrote: HP+ aren't track pads. Unless they're going on a very light weight car, you're gonna melt them.

Umm... they're not a dedicated race pad. But they are engineered as a track/auto-x pad that is usable on the street. http://www.hawkperformance.com/performance/hpplus.php "This compound was designed for autocross, Solo II, and Track Day applications."

They're going on a Miata. Currently I'm using Hawk HPS, which are aimed more at street/auto-x use, but have done very well for me on the track.

I'm fairly certain the HP+ will hold up better.

In the Boston area, there's a short 2 lane divided road (part of Rt 20 in Brighton) that's usually pretty deserted. It's just long enough to get up to 70-80mph before getting hard on the brakes. And there's a nice U Turn option at each end so you can turn around and repeat.

There's a group of Italian guys who play Bocci in the park next to this strip. I like to think they appreciate me ripping through 3 gears at redline again and again and again.

What's wrong with bedding them in at the track? Take a few slower-pace laps and you should be good. You should do this anyway at the beginning of a session to warm everything up, right?

If you are out here (left coasty type) I5 from the bathrooms(Los Banos) to Coalinga at just about any time is great for making sudden stops for no apparent reason. I always bed my brakes here, and enjoy the other people doing the same.

confuZion3 wrote: What's wrong with bedding them in at the track? Take a few slower-pace laps and you should be good. You should do this anyway at the beginning of a session to warm everything up, right?

might be a dumb question, but shouldn't you let them cool? Or does running a few slow laps and then going for it work ok?

bigtoed wrote: If you are out here (left coasty type) I5 from the bathrooms(Los Banos) to Coalinga at just about any time is great for making sudden stops for no apparent reason. I always bed my brakes here, and enjoy the other people doing the same.

I am a Left-Coasty type. And I'm by I-5. But I'm in Sactown, so I'm at one of the busiest stretches of I-5.

(Los Banos is not the goofiest named city in Cali. It actually means "the baths", not "bathrooms". The two dumbest ones are "Vacaville" and "Manteca".)

If you swap pads between track and street use, do you need to re-bed them?

Salanis wrote: If you swap pads between track and street use, do you need to re-bed them?

Yes. Bedding in is the deposition of a layer of pad material onto the surface of the rotor to help the pad grip the rotor smoothly. If you change pads and not rotors you need to rebed the pads.

To address the post about bedding them in in track, I wouldn't - the instructions say to let them cool for a while after the final high-speed bedding, and I'd sure want to know I don't have any brake problems before I hit the track.