New OEM Brake Pad/Rotor (Break-in)

Hey guys,

I'm curious how you break in your new pads/rotors on your truck. I just replaced mine with new OEM parts. I found this on olathetoyota.com:

1. Startup your Toyota and then take it out for a spin in the neighborhood.
2. Bring your car up to 45 mph and then press your brakes in a slightly aggressive way. (Repeat 2-3 more times.) You don’t need to come to a complete stop. This step heats up your rotors enough to prevent sudden thermal shock.
3. Bring your car up to 60 mph and then aggressively hit your brakes until the car slows down to 15 mph. (Repeat 7-9 more times.) Try not to be too aggressive because you don’t want the ABS to kick in and the wheels to lock up.
4. Cruise on the road at whatever speed you’d like for about 5-10 minutes without stopping. This cools down your brakes. It’s important that you don’t stop. At this point, your rotors and brake pads are extremely hot. If you stop, the brake pads may imprint some material on the rotors and make the surface uneven.

This Toyota website talks about how to break in new vehicles, and it says to avoid hard braking for the first couple hundred miles. This is sort of the opposite of the above break-in procedure:

https://www.captoyota.com/service/information/new-toyota-break-in-period.htm

Then I also found on another Toyota website (can't find the link), an even different procedure. It was much less aggressive than the first one I posted above. I believe it said to slowly brake feom 50mph to 30mph, wait 2-3 minutes for cooling, and to repeat 4 times.

Any recommendations?

 

Put them on and drive

 

Yes that is the correct routine. If you do NOT do that, you will get pad deposits on the rotors after your first hard brake (like coming to a red light where you have to wait with the brakes held down).

You will know when the rotors are correctly heated because they'll have a blue/brown hue.

 

Just gentle applications, I try to not hold too much pressure while waiting at a light. Usually can bed pats in 5 minutes, don’t stress it

Aftermarket upgraded pads usually require more aggressive procedures.

 

The aggressive technique you describe is normal for track cars with track pads that will commonly be at very high temps. At least that’s what I did with mine. OEM pad compounds are usually very soft and rotor friendly so I doubt that technique is needed in this case. I’d just drive.

 

I always slow down moderately, but not aggressively.

10 or so 35-10 slow downs
Followed by 10 or so 45-5 slow downs
Drive around a little bit to cool things off, but never stop completely.
Several 60-15 or so slow downs
Then drive around normally

Always seems to work for me. Everybody's experience will vary.

 

I'd bet good money over 82.734% of the people here have never properly bedded a set of brakes.

Look for the 'my rotors are warped' threads

 

how many people get brake jobs done at their mechanic or a midas properly break their pads in ? I would say very few...Even if you
get your brakes done at Toyota, people don't brake them in properly. New car owners pick up their new car and just drive on..Same with getting new tires installed...People don't re-torque the lug nuts...

 

Hardest part of the procedure is going to be finding an area with little traffic to be able to not stay stopped for too long.

 

Just slap them on and replace them after 4-5 years

 

I got 8 years (150,000km) out of the first set of OEMs. Pads were down to around 2mm, maybe less on some of them. Was starting to get some shaking in the steering wheel while braking. I'm assuming the rotors were a little warped.

I want these ones to last as long as the originals. I follwed the break-in procedure from the OP.

 

I cannot count the number of brake jobs I've done (owner operator of a garage) I always bed in brakes after install (50kph to 10kph moderately aggressive about 7-10 times ) when I'm finished the stink and smoke is coming off the brakes lets me know I got it hot enough, if bedded in properly there will be no noises, no shuddering, no pulse. and the brake bite when applied. there are many recommended ways of doing it, speeds and brake intervals vary depending on types of brake systems, hi-performance brakes are usually higher speed break in.
I also clean the rust from under brake shims, and file fit pads if needed, to get pads to slide freely in brackets. to the idiots who respond in this thread about slapping in pads and not bedding in brakes. you are doing a disservice to others, please don't pass on your shit and make it sound like its ok to do. its not ok, freshly installed brakes in a panic stop may not stop the veh. a local toyota shop made break in mandatory after a customer collided with another car, claiming brakes would not stop car, turns out tech did not bed the brakes.
rant off

 

you dont actually come to a stop (my case I slow to 10 kms then accelerate back up to 50kph/30mph) luckily my shop is on a service road and I can time it right, but I agree with you it can be hard to find a safe place to bed brakes

 

I do something similar with all my vehicles. I usually do ~35 mph and ~45 mph. Typically brake pad MFRs will have a recommendation for their pads, so it's a safe bet to go with the MFR recommendation (which is typically similar to what you've described above).

 

I bought my 2015 brand new with 3 miles on the odometer, never did a break-in procedure and somehow the brakes lasted 100k with no issues

 

^^^ a friend worked at the car port. All Japanese built vehicles got their brakes "worked" from the boat to the parking lot.

 

It depends ..do you have OEM brakes...or Aftermarket Road Rage pads

 

This is what I do, I'm just a little bit careful until Everything is working the way it should.

 

I bed mine, but new cars are likely never bedded to that procedure. It's like asking if you need to break in a new rifle barrel.
I bed mine and I re-bed them every year or so. My brakes work great.