Breaking in your rotors and pads, otherwise known as “bedding”, is a vital step to fully completing your new brake install. Bedding is the process of establishing a wear pattern between the brake pad and the rotor. The purpose of bedding your brakes is to ensure maximum efficiency, performance, and most importantly lifespan. If not done properly or at all, there is a laundry list of things that could go wrong; warping rotors, uneven pad wear, squealing, glazing the pads, and burning the pad face into the rotors. All of this can be prevented by following the steps below.

How To Properly Bed Your Brakes

**During this whole time it is important to NEVER press your brakes at a complete stop. Leave enough room to coast from 5mph.**

Step 1:

Start with moderate braking from 45mph to 10mph to warm up your rotors and pads. It is very important to NEVER come to a complete stop. If you need to stop, leave plenty of room to coast to a stop from 5mph. This will apply throughout the whole process.

• • Slowly warming up your brakes will allow for everything to come to temperature at the same time.
  • Repeat this step 4-5 times to ensure your brakes are warmed up.

Step 2:

Once the brakes are fully warmed up, slow down to 10mph from 65mph using hard braking. Do NOT press the brakes hard enough to engage ABS or lock the wheels up.

• • Repeat this step 3-4 times to properly wear through the break-in surface of the pads.

Step 3:

Let your brakes cool down for 45-60 minutes. Letting the brakes fully cool down will allow the pads to take shape and cure.

• • During this time, it is still recommended to not press the brakes at a complete stop as the pad face could burn into the rotor.
  • Once fully cooled off, you can enjoy your properly bedded brakes!

There are many ways to bed your brakes properly. It is common to find multiple different variations of this process. While the procedures may vary from website to website, the concept stays the same. The consensus is to season the new rotors by using moderate braking for 50 miles. After this has been completed the brakes must be slowly brought up to temperature by increasing the initial braking speed. Then, once the brakes have been fully warmed up, the heavy braking can commence to properly bed the pads to your rotors.

View Our Guide Specifically For The Agency Power Big Brake Kit Here