Breaking in Car Brakes: 5 Things You Should Know

If you drive a car or truck, you likely know that brakes for cars need to be replaced periodically. When you do this, you may notice that the brakes aren’t that amazing right away. Like many other products, brakes can benefit from a good breaking-in. The following are five things you should know about this process.

1) New Brakes Arent Great at Braking

When you first install new pads and rotors, they are surprisingly bad at braking. This is because brakes rely on friction to work. They are both very smooth and the pads are hard. So, they will not get a lot of grip on each other. This changes quickly once the brakes are used. However, depending on how they are broken in, the brakes may develop problems early. Following the right process will avoid this.

2) That Rotor Needs To Get Dirty

Rotors that come out of the box look pristine and clean. Surprisingly, this is actually bad for braking. Conversely, a used rotor appears to have a glaze on it. This is material from the brake pads that has been transferred on due to the pads melting while in use. This glaze actually improves the braking performance. It is especially effective if the glaze is nice and even. You can achieve this by breaking the brakes in.

3) Its Easy

The good news is that breaking in brakes is easy. Even the fanciest performance brake kits can be broken in with the same procedure. These are the steps:

  1. Find an empty section of road where you can safely come to a stop.
  2. Speed up to 35 miles per hour then moderately1 brake and reduce your speed below 5 miles per hour.
  3. Repeat this process a couple of times until the braking performance starts to feel better.
  4. Do the same by accelerating to 55 miles per hour then braking. Remember not to brake too hard.
  5. Repeat this several more times.
  6. Drive for a few miles with minimal braking to let the brakes cool.

4) It’s Not Always Necessary

Many manufacturers work hard to avoid the need to braking in brakes (and the problems that come from not doing it). So, you may not need to do this process in some cases. Additionally, the service center that installed your brakes may do it for you. If you install your own brakes, expect to break them in. If you didn’t, ask whether it will be necessary.

5) For Performance Brakes, It’s Very Necessary

Top-end brakes need this more than others. There are some high-end brakes that are designed to require no breaking in. However, if you are putting on track brakes, you are going to need to do this. In fact, many performance brakes even need to be warmed up every time they will be used.

How to tell if the Brakes have been successfully broken In?

A car’s brakes are the single most critical feature – and they don’t work indefinitely. Failure to keep the brakes will permanently damage your vehicle or unsafe conditions if they fail when you’re driving.

However, it can be challenging to say when your brakes need to be serviced, mainly if you drive an older used vehicle. But Ride Time is here to help you understand what’s going on. We’ve compiled a rundown of the top 5 indicators that your car’s brakes need repair – or are failing. 

After the break-in point is over, you can check the rotors visually. The transition coating on your rotor should be visible, and it would be a different color from the rest of the rotor. If the transfer coat is even around the rotor’s diameter, it was correctly applied, and the brake pads should be clean of any undetectable wear inconsistencies.

When the brake pads are worn off unevenly, you can experience vibration and tremble. Unfortunately, it’s too late for your braking system until you notice this. You won’t hear or sense the vibration or vibrating until the brakes are far down their lifespan, after the time to break them down properly has gone.

The brake pads can wear unevenly if the brakes aren’t properly broken in but to an undetectable degree. The high and low spots on your irregular brake pad will get more extreme as you usually drive. The brake pads’ rough wear onto the rotor is too drastic to repair without resurfacing or removing your rotors and having new brake pads until it reaches the point that you can feel the trembling and vibrating.

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Don’t take a chance by driving on brakes that are worn out. You could do significant damage to your vehicle or even cause an accident that could have been prevented if your brakes had been properly maintained.

With the right breaking-in procedure, you will be ready to protect your brakes’ longevity. replacing your brakes could be part of a well-earned upgrade process. Nerf bars for trucks are another great option. Find the right vehicle parts for your needs today.

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