Do you bed pads on the street or during your first session?

[-BEASTMW-]

Prepping for my first track day in the M3, but I've done 5 with my old S2000. In the past, I've just bedded pads on the street somewhere that's somewhat safe and out of the way, but it's still a little sketch at times. Not to mention I bought lightly used RS19s, which they recommend at least a few stops from 100-30, which is hard to do safely on the street.

Someone mentioned they just use the first session to bed the pads, as you typically undergo pretty much the same process. As this will be my first time tracking a car this fast so I won't be going balls-out right away, and at a brake-heavy track (Laguna Seca), would this work? I'd say each lap I'd probably be slowing from 100mph or 110 to 40-50 four times.

[doogee]

First session always works for me

[SYT_Shadow]

I use PFC pads that seem to break in magically on their own

Best stuff since sliced bread


To answer the thread: I do not bed my PFC pads in, ever. It does not cross my mind


I'm always surprised to hear people have time to bed theirs the night before track events or whatever. Someone would have to pay me to run pads that require bed in. Life is too short and there's too much stuff the track requires to add on additional, arcane tasks

[Z K]

I usually bed it on the street - find a long stretch of road with no cars.

Some track pads don't get hot enough so you do need to bed it on track. Take it slightly easier the first session to bed it in and then let it cool off.

[WAKman]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

I use PFC pads that seem to break in magically on their own

Best stuff since sliced bread

I used to bed them in a bit on the street, but now do them in the first session of the day. The key is to do it fairly gradually, over a series of laps. Although I'm not an expert, I think what you are doing is trying to burn off binder material contained in the pad itself, which happens while you are seating the pad face against the rotor surface. If you go too fast too soon, you may get what I call a "pad burst"--where quickly heated pads suddenly seem to exhale a burst of burned off binder material all at once. This results in a notable lack of braking power, at which point excitement may ensue. Different brands of pads bed at different rates and with different characteristics.

Agree on the PFC pads. I've used them for years (first PF97's and then 08s, which superseded them) on my track cars. They are relatively pad friendly, seem to bed in quickly, as Shadow said, and I love the feel of the 08s.

BTW--below are some photos of the rear rotors from my Cayman S track car, which I switched out last weekend for some Girodiscs (a big shoutout to girodiscs, btw). It appears, from the cracking, that I did this just in time! I haven't yet run the M3 on the track, but expect it to be a bunch harder on brakes than the much lighter Cayman.

Terry

[redpriest]

Originally Posted by WAKman

I used to bed them in a bit on the street, but now do them in the first session of the day. The key is to do it fairly gradually, over a series of laps. Although I'm not an expert, I think what you are doing is trying to burn off binder material contained in the pad itself, which happens while you are seating the pad face against the rotor surface. If you go too fast too soon, you may get what I call a "pad burst"--where quickly heated pads suddenly seem to exhale a burst of burned off binder material all at once. This results in a notable lack of braking power, at which point excitement may ensue. Different brands of pads bed at different rates and with different characteristics.

Agree on the PFC pads. I've used them for years (first PF97's and then 08s, which superseded them) on my track cars. They are relatively pad friendly, seem to bed in quickly, as Shadow said, and I love the feel of the 08s.

BTW--below are some photos of the rear rotors from my Cayman S track car, which I switched out last weekend for some Girodiscs (a big shoutout to girodiscs, btw). It appears, from the cracking, that I did this just in time! I haven't yet run the M3 on the track, but expect it to be a bunch harder on brakes than the much lighter Cayman.

Terry

Wow!!

[dbyrd]

You might have difficulty following the Pagid bed-in procedure at the track. They call for more gentle brake pressure and can be a bit finicky if not bedded-in properly.

[ThunderMoose]

Originally Posted by dbyrd

You might have difficulty following the Pagid bed-in procedure at the track. They call for more gentle brake pressure and can be a bit finicky if not bedded-in properly.

I run pagids. I never worry about bedding other than usual braking at the track. I have not had any issues. I don't switch between compounds and am in E46 M3 if that makes any difference.

[tdott]

I like to bed mine in before hitting the track. Late at night works best for me, atleast 1 good heat cycle and then the drive to the track and they are ready for abuse. Pretty impressed with my DTC70s so far, but I've never tried any other track pad as yet.

[dbyrd]

Originally Posted by ThunderMoose

I run pagids. I never worry about bedding other than usual braking at the track. I have not had any issues. I don't switch between compounds and am in E46 M3 if that makes any difference.

Good point - I've experienced the dreaded pad deposits only one time after switching from Stoptech Street pads to the RS-19s, and I didn't follow the Pagid bed-in instructions. The brake shudder made driving almost impossible.

I happened to be at CoTA when it happened, and I was able to remove most of the pad deposits by driving in reverse on the empty service road and braking hard multiple times. I'm sure all the tractor-trailer drivers sleeping in their cabs were wondering WTF this nut was doing which is still a valid question.

It's probably not as much of an issue if you're not switching between pad compounds.

[M3 Number 86]

I let them naturally bed themselves while on track.

Squeal entering track in the morning. Squeal goes away somewhere in session 2 (bedded).

Squeal comes back a couple days later on the street (scraped off)

I don't swap pads anymore I just drive them on the street.

[roastbeef]

First sesh. First sesh is a wash for me anyways. I try go get the jitters out and calibrate my senses to the speed, focus on getting back in the groove, etc.

[NoCarrier]

Usually at home or on the way to the track (there are some long empty country roads on the way to Willow Springs), or sometimes I just skip it. Based on all the various bedding procedures I've read, the track doesn't really allow you to properly follow the procedure, usually involving:

- A warm up period
- A series of hard slow-downs, sometimes to as slow as 5-10 mph, with no cool-down period in between
- A lengthy cool-down period with no braking for several miles

I'm not saying you can't approximate it on the track, but you're not quite ticking all the boxes. And if you are following the procedure to the letter on the track then you're driving in a way that's pretty unpredictable to other drivers.

[admranger]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

I use PFC pads that seem to break in magically on their own

Best stuff since sliced bread


To answer the thread: I do not bed my PFC pads in, ever. It does not cross my mind


I'm always surprised to hear people have time to bed theirs the night before track events or whatever. Someone would have to pay me to run pads that require bed in. Life is too short and there's too much stuff the track requires to add on additional, arcane tasks

All of this is correct.

I finally realized this a while back and just started to put down the coin down for PFC pads (and rotors on the old E46M3 -- likely will do the same for the E90 M3 when I need them) and SRF fluid so I didn't have to dick around with stuff at the track. I'm too old for that crap.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by NoCarrier

I'm not saying you can't approximate it on the track, but you're not quite ticking all the boxes. And if you are following the procedure to the letter on the track then you're driving in a way that's pretty unpredictable to other drivers.

probably not 100% correct, but i've tried twice and had a really hard time doing it safely on the street. first sesh seems to work ok.