[X20A]

Hey guys!

Topic says it all, I have a couple of questions regarding the break-in period for the car and brake bedding.

I remember reading a thread here not too long ago about breaking-in the car, I haven't been able to find that thread again through searching, but I remember someone saying that varying the speed of the car was very important and that we shouldn't cruise at a single speed.

Is it really so much the constant speed that's the problem, or is it the engine revving at a constant rpm the bad part? How should I be driving it?

With regards to brake bedding, it's pretty hard to find open road like this to do it, unless it's on the 407 toll route we have that crosses the northern part of Toronto, and I'd have to do it pretty much in the middle of the night.

How much more effective would the brakes be after I bed them? It seems like an extremely tedious process, and especially with our stupid 'racing' and 'stunt driving' laws, bedding the brakes on the freeway could spell a 7-day license suspension and 7-week impounding of the car if the cops pull me over and consider the bedding in of the brakes as 'stunt driving', since you're doing 60-10mph stops on the freeway, and doing it eight times or so.

So would the trade off of bedding the brakes be worth it? How many more miles am I going to get out of the rotors and pads? And is the stopping performance really going to improve substantially? It's not like the brakes on the IS F are weak, all the reviews I've read on the car, everyone praises the brakes and how amazing they are. So how much more amazing could it get?

Sorry for the long-winded post, I don't have an F yet, but I'm just really curious on these two topics!

Thanks!

- Dixon

 

[Dean]

Do a search as this topic as been dicussed numerous >

times previously.

There is the "drive it like you stole it" group all the way to the very conservitive side too all well represented in these prior posts. Your quesitons have been well addressed there.

 

[BigMikeISF]

What's going on Dixon?

Drive the car like you would normally drive it during the break in period. I honestly forgot the whole "no constant RPM" thing in the manual and just drove it like I normally would. I would venture to say a lot of people follow this rule so you have nothing to really worry about.

With regards to brake bedding, it doesn't have to be 60-10 MPH runs, it can be 70-40 hard, 60-35 hard, etc. If you don't have any open road, then when your pulling up to stop lights that are red, wait a little longer and push on the brakes harder. Your just trying to generate enough heat and friction to burn off the film that has built up This page might be helpful with regards to brake bedding.

http://www.lexusf.com/forums/showthread.php?t=671&highlight=bed

 

[Flipside909]

631 miles or 1,000 km per the Lexus owners manual. No jackrabbit starts and no long constant RPM...meaning Cruise control will have to wait. Brake bedding is very important with any new brakes either oem or big brakes.

 

[omarab12]

I have read a little about brake bedding and it surprises me a little bit as in all the owner's manuals it is said to not use the brakes strongly in the break in period... im confused

 

[X20A]

Thanks for the input guys! So after reading those other threads, as Fig points out in one of them, even if you bed the brakes, if you're not using them to full potential, there's really no point, since film will still end up being deposited on the the rotors and you'll have to bed them again.

So now it seems to me that all bedding really is is just to get rid of the film that collects on the rotors so that it prevents squeaking, which a few hard stops can remedy in most cases.

Ok, that's great then, as long as I drive normally, no hard acceleration, no jackrabbit starts, and not sitting at a constant rpm I'll be good!

Thank you thank you

 

[krell]

Driving "normally" for me includes using cruise control -- which I did during the break in period. If I did not use it, I would have half a dozen speeding tickets by now!!!

I did not bed my brakes either, but I do hard stops routinely because I drive like a crazy person on my way home from work!