Dalancroft

Howdy folks. While being a fan of nicely engineered and built cars, I am by no means a gear head. Limited collection of tools and garage space.

Today I welcomed back my '11 Premium +, 49K miles, from a conveniently located indy shop a mile from my house and 3/4 mile from my son's school, which installed new rotors and pads (front only; the rears were @ 50%, saving me some money). OEM parts including sensors.

So the $64K question is, even after reading the manual, what is the best technique for seating my new brakes? Appreciate the finest advice and wisdom from the good people on this forum. Thanks!

q5 dave

Drive moderately for 300/400 miles to let them wear in. Do a few 60 to 30mph slow downs, but don't stomp on the brakes+avoid heavy braking.

IntheQ5

If you google around the net some brake geeks will say do some serious braking back after back. But dont come to a complete stop as it heats up one area and cause rotors to warp. I usually do that but the last time i had my brakes done i was lazy to do so and now i have this annoying squeak when i hit the brakes lightly. But the noise stop once I apply more pressure.

Anyhow, just brake harder than usual. Dont granny baby fluffy brake them.

tenspeed

The general instructions are to brake moderately a half dozen times from 45 to 10 MPH. This heats the rotors. Then do a half dozen hard stops from around 50 down to 20 MPH. This really heats the rotors and spreads the pad friction material. Allow about thirty seconds between each hard stop to equalize the heat. After that, drive normally to allow the rotors to cool down.

If you do have to stop, don't keep your foot on the brake. Hit neural or park until you can get moving. You don't want the pads cooling a section of the rotors.

Sites like Stop Tech have the same general type of instructions. Sometimes pads come with bedding instructions or it might be on the manufacturers site.

-Warped- Brake Disc and Other Myths

Dalancroft

Thanks fellas, I know the perfect road to do exactly what you've recommended! Cheers.

Dalancroft

Brakes seated and feeling good! They don't feel any different (better or worse) than the previous ones but then again I used stock parts so wouldn't expect any improvement. They were a bit spongy at first but the seating process seems to have solved that -- they have a nice bite again.