Brake Pad Bed In After Swapping Between Street and Track Pads

[heinzboehmer]

Apologies in advance for what is likely a super noob question, but I've been debating this lately and can't settle on what's the best course of action.

First track day (for both the car and myself) is coming up in a couple weeks, so I've bought some DTC-60 pads to swap in for the event. For the street, I run stock (non-comp) calipers, zimmermann blanks, and textar pads. My plan is to swap to the DTC-60s a week or so before the event, just to avoid messing with the car right before putting it on track. I don't drive it much these days, so it'll probably only get driven once or twice before heading to the event.

Now for my question. The drive to the track is about two and a half hours and I know that track pads are super abrasive when not up to temp. So, should I even bother bedding them in beforehand? Or will the drive there with cold pads remove any deposits on the rotor anyway? Maybe just a couple warm up/learning laps will be enough to get the pads bed in?

And on a related note, for those who switch between street and track pads on the same rotor, do you bother with bed in when switching back to street pads? I guess ideally I would have two sets of rotors, but I don't really hear about many people doing this.

Thanks in advance for the help.

[elbert]

IMO if you go through the trouble of switching pads, just swap rotors too. You can get high carbon Centric rotors from Rock Auto for around $50 each, which have worked well for me. Use a 5% code to offset shipping/tax.
My track rotors wear differently than street rotors, so the pads will adapt differently. Plus most of my driving to a track is on the highway, so I usually don't lose a lot of the deposits on the way there.

[Estoril]

Driving 2 hours to the track is not bedding. Just do the straight full bedding procedure. Find a good local place you can do it fully without attracting attention.

[sc_tr0jan_m3]

If it's your first day at the track. I would just swap the pads in, make sure the fluid is fresh, then don't worry about bedding the pads. Your drive out to the track (guessing Sonoma or Laguna, if it's two hours away) will scrub any old street pad off the surface and your first lap or two will lay down a nice bed.

As for the drive back, you can still drive the track pads and swap them back to the street at home.

[heinzboehmer]

IMO if you go through the trouble of switching pads, just swap rotors too. You can get high carbon Centric rotors from Rock Auto for around $50 each, which have worked well for me. Use a 5% code to offset shipping/tax.
My track rotors wear differently than street rotors, so the pads will adapt differently. Plus most of my driving to a track is on the highway, so I usually don't lose a lot of the deposits on the way there.

Yeah you bring up a good point. I think it's a little late to be ordering and swapping rotors, but it's definitely something I'll do for the next event. It won't be a big deal if I have to replace my current rotors prematurely (thank you FCP).

Good to hear you're not loosing deposits on the way to the track. I've never had track pads on the car before, so I have no way of quantifying how much the drive to the track will remove deposits. Like you said, it's mostly highway driving, so I don't think the bed in procedure will go to waste.

Driving 2 hours to the track is not bedding. Just do the straight full bedding procedure. Find a good local place you can do it fully without attracting attention.

Yup, I'm aware. I'm moreso concerned that the drive to the track will remove the deposits on the rotors after I perform the bed in procedure

If it's your first day at the track. I would just swap the pads in, make sure the fluid is fresh, then don't worry about bedding the pads. Your drive out to the track (guessing Sonoma or Laguna, if it's two hours away) will scrub any old street pad off the surface and your first lap or two will lay down a nice bed.

As for the drive back, you can still drive the track pads and swap them back to the street at home.

Thunderhill actually (had to be the one you didn't guess lol). Just flushed the brakes this past weekend with some RBF 600, so I'm good on that.

I think I'm just gonna bed them anyway beforehand. Won't hurt anything if I do. If the drive up does end up removing the deposits, then hopefully the first few laps will re bed them, like you said.



Really appreciate the help guys. Might be overthinking stuff a bit, but I wanna make sure everything is in order before the event so that I can just focus on enjoying my time there.

[sc_tr0jan_m3]

Yeah you bring up a good point. I think it's a little late to be ordering and swapping rotors, but it's definitely something I'll do for the next event. It won't be a big deal if I have to replace my current rotors prematurely (thank you FCP).

Good to hear you're not loosing deposits on the way to the track. I've never had track pads on the car before, so I have no way of quantifying how much the drive to the track will remove deposits. Like you said, it's mostly highway driving, so I don't think the bed in procedure will go to waste.



Yup, I'm aware. I'm moreso concerned that the drive to the track will remove the deposits on the rotors after I perform the bed in procedure



Thunderhill actually (had to be the one you didn't guess lol). Just flushed the brakes this past weekend with some RBF 600, so I'm good on that.

I think I'm just gonna bed them anyway beforehand. Won't hurt anything if I do. If the drive up does end up removing the deposits, then hopefully the first few laps will re bed them, like you said.



Really appreciate the help guys. Might be overthinking stuff a bit, but I wanna make sure everything is in order before the event so that I can just focus on enjoying my time there.

I miss Thunderhill... I'm gonna be back to pick up my car from TC Design hopefully early May and I'm eying a day at Thunderhill for a shakedown.

Most important thing... go have fun and don't worry too much about the mods. This last weekend I brought my entirely stock F80 to the track with just a brake fluid swap and it was able to hang with the rest of the instructors... until I stopped cuz it was chewing up my outsides of my tires :P

[BBRTuning]

Apologies in advance for what is likely a super noob question, but I've been debating this lately and can't settle on what's the best course of action.

First track day (for both the car and myself) is coming up in a couple weeks, so I've bought some DTC-60 pads to swap in for the event. For the street, I run stock (non-comp) calipers, zimmermann blanks, and textar pads. My plan is to swap to the DTC-60s a week or so before the event, just to avoid messing with the car right before putting it on track. I don't drive it much these days, so it'll probably only get driven once or twice before heading to the event.

Now for my question. The drive to the track is about two and a half hours and I know that track pads are super abrasive when not up to temp. So, should I even bother bedding them in beforehand? Or will the drive there with cold pads remove any deposits on the rotor anyway? Maybe just a couple warm up/learning laps will be enough to get the pads bed in?

And on a related note, for those who switch between street and track pads on the same rotor, do you bother with bed in when switching back to street pads? I guess ideally I would have two sets of rotors, but I don't really hear about many people doing this.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Stoptech has a tech memo on this very subject. I've followed it and never had any issues over many seasons swapping between Stoptech Sport and Stoptech SR-33, all on the same rotors. The most important part of this process is when going from Street --> Track pads, that you want to actually make sure you've scrubbed off the street pad's transfer layer BEFORE exposing the brakes to high temps, meaning before bed-in or before track use. The reason for this is the street pad's remaining transfer layer/material that's partially baked into the rotor will quickly overheat and smear when exposed to on-track brake temps, causing uneven rotor deposits.

This means you actually *DO* want to drive the car on the track pads on the street for a short while before heading to the track, particularly with cold brakes (more abrasive), to make sure the rotors are scrubbed clean and ready to accept a new transfer layer from your track pads. You'll know when this is complete when you start to hear noise from the brakes at low speeds. For the first time on new track pads, you will want to do a full bed-in procedure (after allowing the cold pads to clean the rotors). From then on, subsequent pad swaps don't need a re-bed-in, although there's nothing really wrong with doing it again.

Going from Track --> Street pads seems much less of a concern. With normal use the transfer layer will be replaced with the one from the street pads.

Can't find the White Paper on Stoptech's site anymore but found it shared here:

https://centricparts.com/getmedia/231712d7-a4d8-4e06-ace6-a766f704a664/Centric_and_APC_Technical_Whitepaper_C5-Bed-In-FAQ-8-2018.pdf

[heinzboehmer]

Stoptech has a tech memo on this very subject. I've followed it and never had any issues over many seasons swapping between Stoptech Sport and Stoptech SR-33, all on the same rotors. The most important part of this process is when going from Street --> Track pads, that you want to actually make sure you've scrubbed off the street pad's transfer layer BEFORE exposing the brakes to high temps, meaning before bed-in or before track use. The reason for this is the street pad's remaining transfer layer/material that's partially baked into the rotor will quickly overheat and smear when exposed to on-track brake temps, causing uneven rotor deposits.

This means you actually *DO* want to drive the car on the track pads on the street for a short while before heading to the track, particularly with cold brakes (more abrasive), to make sure the rotors are scrubbed clean and ready to accept a new transfer layer from your track pads. You'll know when this is complete when you start to hear noise from the brakes at low speeds. For the first time on new track pads, you will want to do a full bed-in procedure (after allowing the cold pads to clean the rotors). From then on, subsequent pad swaps don't need a re-bed-in, although there's nothing really wrong with doing it again.

Going from Track --> Street pads seems much less of a concern. With normal use the transfer layer will be replaced with the one from the street pads.

Can't find the White Paper on Stoptech's site anymore but found it shared here:

https://centricparts.com/getmedia/231712d7-a4d8-4e06-ace6-a766f704a664/Centric_and_APC_Technical_Whitepaper_C5-Bed-In-FAQ-8-2018.pdf

Thank you for that document, that was super helpful.

[eacmen]

Been a long time since I had to swap pads like this, but when I did do it I just used the first session as brake bed-in. Would go out in clean air and just wail on the brakes for a few laps then come in early.

One event I didnt realize how low my rear pads were going into day 2. I had to go get some generic street pads from autozone. I ended up glazing the rotors and the rear brakes were basically useless. So this is a valid concern.

[Stack]

I ran Stop Tech Sport pads that came with my BBK trophy kit

At the track I swapped to DTC-70’s
Decided to bed them in by doing 5-80 80-5 mph runs

After a few laps I figured the pads where worn in
I had a pretty bad steering wheel shimmy
Went away next time I went out for the session

I guess this would explain the deposit build up

I’m going to save this information thank you for sharing


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[Obioban]

I put my track pads on before I leave for the track and put street pads on when I get back home.

Track pads are abrasive enough when cold that they remove any transfer layer from the street pads on the way to the track. On the way home from the track, that same abrasive characteristic removes any deposits that you gained over the event (or any transfer layer the track pads has moved to the rotor), so the rotors are ready for street pads again.

I don't bother with bedding track pads-- IMO it's a fools errand, as any driving with them cold (gas station runs, paddock, going out to lunch, 2x cool down laps, etc) removes the transfer layer again. I do bed the street pads when I put them back on.

[heinzboehmer]

I don't bother with bedding track pads-- IMO it's a fools errand, as any driving with them cold (gas station runs, paddock, going out to lunch, 2x cool down laps, etc) removes the transfer layer again. I do bed the street pads when I put them back on.

Yeah I ended up experiencing something similar. Bedded in the track pads before the track day and drove straight home, trying my best not to use the brakes. Even though I only hit a few stoplights, it was enough for the brakes to be squealing again as I parked in my garage.

At the track, the brakes were soft at first, but as soon as I got a semi fast lap in, I felt (and smelled) the pads bedding in. Brakes felt much better after that.

I did also bed my street pads in once I got those back on. In the future I won't worry about bedding the track pads. Just slap them on, drive to the track and take it easy for a couple laps.