Jonty

Evening folks.

A week and 266 miles ago I fitted new EBC discs and Red Stuff pads to the front of my MY00 Classic... and have been taking things very gently since, as per the bedding-in instructions.

This evening I was decelerating having exited the M4 and happy to confess that I'd mis-judged the distance of the stationary traffic ahead so applied the brakes... a little bit harder... harder... much harder... until I finally stopped. It wasn't an emergency stop, nor did the ABS kick-in.

What worries me most is the smoke which appeared at the front, at both corners. We're not talking London's Burning but my brakes obviously weren't happy! Now in the stop/start traffic I could sense that my brakes weren't very efficient, but 5 mins later they seemed okay going from 20/30 mph to a stop.

Will I have destroyed the pads though..?

I hear differing stories of how to treat new pads (take it easy and then drive normally, or, take it easy and then do some emergency stops, or, nail them immediately) so I'm at a loss. Personally I was just going to treat them gently and then increase the stress with increasing levels of foot pressure and road speed... but I've kinda stuffed that plan. Hmmm...

Jonts.

mgcvk

I wouldn't worry too much, just don't expect your redstuff pads to last much longer than 3000 miles even without hard braking. The disks are stonger than some give them credit for though.

MaDaSS

Jonty - Pad bedding in procedure does vary according to different manufacturer. The bedding in of my Axxis Ultimate pads for my StopTech kit is very severe. We are talking high speed and stamping hard on brakes down to 5-10 mph, then repeated many times at different speeds, in order to maintain heat in the pads, and therefore allow the correct "bonding" between the pad material, and the disc itself. I have never before seen a bedding in procedure like this. But as for your setup, you would do well to contact EBC and they will surely tell you all about it. If not them, then someone on here will know all about them

Jonty

Thanks for the replies guys. I've since dropped EBC an email asking for their feedback/advice.

Having driven the car since, the brakes/pads are fine with no reduction in performance, although this would be normal/gentle performance still as opposed to hard every time.

Regarding lifetime, I hope they last a bit longer than 3,000 miles but if not then fine. I was quite happy to experiment with the Red Stuffs given varying experiences by SNers, so we shall just have to wait and see.

Will post what EBC suggest.

Cheers,

Jonty.

Jonty

Bob Sketchley from EBC has kindly offered me the following advice;

"You need to take it easy on the pedal for 400-500 miles and then gradually increase pedal pressure. After approx 1000 miles they will fully bedded in. Please try to avoid emergency stops in the early days."

Plenty of bedding-in miles to go then.

Jonts.

warrenm2

Some pads also have a protective layer that needs to be burnt off - not sure if the EBCs are in this category. Other thing to watch for is have you got a small leak of fluid anywhere?

Apple

The "protective" layer you're thinking of is more likely to be a bedding in "fix" whereby there's a high friction layer of material on the face of the pad to grind in the surface of the disc and ensure quicker mating of the pad / disc. This layer would wear away and leave you with the normal friction material on a "conditioned" disc.

For the light braking and then not much performance when you stamp on them, it may be due to the way the pads have bedded themselves in chemically. If you brake lightly and heat up the pads (but not overheat) you can exude the resins / binders in the friction material out onto the surface of the pad. This is also on the disc as a "transfer layer." When you came to anchor on, the brakes had to burn away this layer before you got some "bite" from the friction producing materials in the pad hence the smoke you saw. Once you reveal the grippy stuff, you get normal braking performance back.

Up to a point, pads will condition themselves to how you drive. Driving Miss Daisy as above or conversely, if you're heavy on the brakes, the resin etc will be burnt off quickly and you'll be left with a slightly higher friction surface that helps you stop. Unfortunately, you're left with a "gritty" suface with not much glue to hold it together so it get's broken off the surface easily and brings you back to "normal" material. If you really cane the pads, they burn out a lot of resin and have high wear rates so don't last too long.

If you cook them a bit and then the next time you use them in a normal stop and they feel sharp - this is known as a "recovery stop" and the sharpness is due to the relativley high friction surface layer...

Apple

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

My red stuff pads have done over 6000miles (with ebc disks), and have around 50% wear left on them. Do find though that this set up causes 'juddering' when braking from high speed. i.e. 90mph+

Jonty

Thanks for the recent responses guys.

I had checked for leaking brake fluid (given the calipers had been moved around when I changed the discs and pads) but couldn't find any... so I suspect Apple's spot-on when he refers to the chemical goings-on during pad usage.

Something else that's dawned on me since is that the brakes were probably relatively cold given a stint along the M4 so when I wanted them, I also had to warm them up as well as ask them to slow me down using under-powered pedal pressure on my part.

No problems experienced since and just waiting for the 1K to be reached.

Cheers,

Jonty.

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

Does anyone know if cleaning the disks with brake cleaner and emary cloth would fix this problem? It only happens from 70mph+, and the steering wheels vibrates quite hard.

Psychosootie

Ihave just fitted the ebc disc's and pads to my 99 classic so that's top info. was just going to gice them 200 miles, cheers

Jonty

Hi Chris. If you're getting steering wheel judder when braking then I don't think brake cleaner or emery cloth is going to work -- especially if the judder is quite severe.

Normally warped discs will cause steering wheel vibration -- I've had this myself on another car and it was especially noticeable when the brakes had been warmed up... not too bad when they were cold. It could also be caused if the hubs and mounting points of the discs weren't clean when the discs were put on, effectively stopping the discs from being mounted 'flat'. Another reason could be the hubs (or hub) themselves, especially if one's had a knock and the discs aren't rotating with precision.

Time for a closer look perhaps..?

Jonts.