How To Bed-In Your EBC Brakes For Street Or Track Use

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EBC Brakes are now mostly self bedding – but for track use or extreme street use read below.

The Ultimax, Greenstuff, Yellowstuff, and Redstuff EBC pad grades come with a brake in coating that scrubs the rotor surface, accelerates pad seating times, and provides a strong brake effect for the first 200 kilometers of use as your pads seat themselves.

After the first 200 kilometers or so, unless you are going to drive aggressively, there is nothing more to do meaning – most drivers happily use and enjoy their brake’s excellent performance for tens of thousands of miles after this point. If that’s your way of driving nothing more needs to be explained. Just enjoy your brakes.

Fast street driving

If you drive aggressively or in a “Spirited” fashion on roads where it is safe to do so, after seating the pads to your rotors and certainly not before 500 kilometers of use, you should be prepared for the pad to emit an odour or even exhibit some smoke as the pads burn off what we call “surface volatiles”.

Many faster drivers experience this in harder braking and criticize the pad whereas in fact, this is only part of the final high-end bedding in process as the pads see rotors temps of 400-500C for the first time (not normal in everyday driving).

Once seated any brake pad made by EBC or anyone else, performs better once the pad goes through heat curing or what we call “Green Fade” which happens during its first severe use.

  1. EBC Redstuff is NOT recommended for track use and self seats during the first 200-300 kilometers of street driving. With new pads and especially when fitted with new rotors however drive cautiously for the first 500-700 kilometers during which time dust will reduce and the pads will feel better and better but if you are a driver who works the brakes hard on his vehicle read the above two paragraphs .
  2. EBC Yellowstuff – has been reformulated during 2020 to the new grade known as DM 3068 and is now a longer-lasting more powerful brake compound and for this reason, it is no longer optimum for track use. Bed in times are simply too long to be acceptable. Having said that if you LIKE Yellow and want to use it at the track be prepared for the longer bed in times detailed below.
  3. EBC Bluestuff – is the pad of choice for entry-level race use and can be street bedded, driven to the track raced and driven home. This pad has good street manners and is also ( if it matters to you where you use your car) street legal to the European R90 tests.
  4. Serious regular or exclusive Track use – look at our RP series pads which are super fast to bed in (heavily scorched in manufacture) or the new SR sintered series which require no bedding at all, just mating to new rotors on a simple 1-2 laps warm-up

EBC Yellowstuff Bed-in Procedure

  • Fast Street use Pre Bed Fade 1 – drive 100 to 200 kilometers on Public road/highway normal driving to allow the pads to mate up to the disc and establish full contact – followed by 5 stops from 120 kmh to 50 km/h at 100-meter intervals and then coasting, allowing the brakes to cool.

If using Yellowstuff on the track ….

Yellowstuff, although track-capable, is no longer recommended for track use on most cars due to its long bed in the process. BlueStuff is now our recommended entry-level race pad for all vehicles, which as a track hybrid is still great on the street and even better on track. But if you are to use Yellowstuff on the track, follow the below Fade procedures;

  • FADE 2 – After the basic street pre-bed above is performed on the road or at the track if installed there …..Perform 10 medium pressure snubs at the track from 120-40km/h leaving 300 meters between each snub (approx 0.4g decel)
  • Allow pads to cool for 15 minutes minimum after coasting to the pits allowing brakes to cool a little.
  • FADE 3 – Perform 6 high-pressure snubs from 140-40km/h with a maximum acceleration between consecutive snubs. (approx 0.8g decel, or 80% of an emergency stop)
  • Allow the brakes to fully cool for a minimum of 1 hour before the race session.
  • We advise using disc heat paint to ensure green fade is avoided, continue reading below for more details

EBC Bluestuff Bed-in Procedure

  • Perform the Street Pre Bed Fade 1 routine as above (either on the road or at the track if installed there ) followed by Fade 2 at the race track.
  • The latest Bluestuff DM3362 and Low Mu versions should only take Fade 2 and a 15 minute cooling time to be ready to race.
  • Fade 3 should not be necessary unless poor disc condition has prevented proper seating but if you have time DO perform Fade 3.

Find this complicated – we tend to agree but all organic pads no matter which brand do need some bedding in to avoid loss of brake and a lot depends on rotor condition, the slightest hollow of the rotor surface will extend the bed in times a lot. So being accurate is important.

How to check if pads have heat cured or chemically bedded – Brake bedding in causes heat and it is strongly advised to monitor this heat using heat paints  TWICE during bedding in on Blue and once only with RP series pads. What you do is, apply the heat paints on the outer edge of the rotor, run the pads for enough stops (8-10 stops ) to pass the 430C temperature ( 800 F ) which will be Fade 1, allow a few minutes for the system to cool and take a look at the heat paints to ensure they have passed the 430 C indicator, reapply new heat paints to a different cleaned area of the disc and drive again for 6-8 more hard stops which will take you past Fade 2 where temps should pass 430C (800F) again. Full cool down needed here of at least 20-30 minutes and if you CAN… overnight cool. You need to see the 430C heat paint go off TWICE to have completed Fade 2.

Fitting new discs at pad change also adds to bed in time as even if the discs are flat and smooth the pad and rotor have to “Square up” to each other and achieve 90% surface contact. As you use your pads on either a new or old disc stop every couple of laps and look for the blue-grey contact patch gradually widening across your rotor surface and don’t race until its almost a full sweep contact, any doubts pop the pads out and look at the surfaces to evaluate contact patch sweep.

Why so long to bed in any way – We can (but don’t) sell pads that are classed as soft and bed in even faster or very abrasive pads that scrub away at the rotor, cause lots of dust and give the impression of a shorter bed in time. So the balance here is to make a variety of pads according to the different driving styles and events so that users can choose what’s best for them.

Pads wearing too fast – Trackday or what the USA market call “Lapping” events just doing a few laps to enjoy your car are a tough test on brakes, Extra vehicle weight, seats, and spare wheel, etc and standard calipers make this kind of driving a tough test on brakes and you may need to consider moving up a grade. See this chart as a  guide on types of EBC compounds for different driving events

Pads still fading after bed in – it’s not JUST getting the pads flat and parallel it’s about taking them past their green fade point AFTER achieving a good contact band. for this reason, disc heat paints are very useful. Pads should be driven with caution until bedded flat and you have passed this green fade point at least twice and then allowed pads to cool so the disc is below 100C. Green fade only happens on organic pads – much less with our RP pads and not at all with our SR  pad range. There are two ways to know if you have passed the green fade point – one is the clever way with heat paints – the second way is to guess… So heat paints are the better option

Green fade points are 400 C or 650 F (Fade 1) and then the same again ( Fade 2) for the two fades required with Bluestuff and 400C/800F just the once for RP series pads RP pads. For this reason, EBC Heat paints first level indicate at a temperature of just over 400C/800 F so that once this paint changes colour, one fade cycle is done.

EBC RP-X™ and RP-1™ Race Compounds Bed-in Procedure

  • No Street Pre Bed needed or legally allowed, these are pure race track compounds – BUT only in the EU markets is anyone going to worry about this. Generally, the EBC RP pads are quite safe to use on the streets and many drivers fit them and drive to and from race tracks happily with very limited noise. RP pads don’t need to “Warm-up” and are as good as or better than most stock pads in lower-speed highway driving. Full potential comes though when you really work these pads though and that is why we class them as a race pad.
  • Single gentle lap to seat pads to rotors followed by Fade 3 as above should be all that is needed
 

EBC Sintered SR11™ and SR21™ Bed-in Procedure – in stock now for most of the range

 
  • These are a new generation of Sintered pads and do not require any chemical bedding. Pads merely need mating to the disc/rotor which again depends on rotor/disc condition but if flat or new this should take 3-5 snubs as mentioned in Fade 3 above – at the track.
  • No Street Pre Bed needed or legally allowed, these are pure race track compounds, again we have many drivers who use these on the open road with no complaints but remember in the EU legislation makes it actually illegal to use a nonapproved pad on public roads.

EBC Ultimax 2 Brake Pads

Standard Replacement OE Brake Pads

Ultimax 2 OEM Quality Pads

The new & improved EBC Ultimax 2 brake pads are a direct equivalent to OE.

  • Suitable for general public highway use in hot and cold climates.
  • EBC’s quietest pad formulation for silent braking.
  • Brake-In™ coating for accelerated pad bed in period.

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EBC Greenstuff Brake Pads

Entry Level Car/SUV Performance Brake Pads

EBC GreenStuff Brake Pads

EBC Greenstuff is a high friction Kevlar based pad compound designed to improve stopping power on lighter cars or SUVs (EBC Greenstuff Elite SUV/6000).

  • Greenstuff 2000 Series works best on lighter hatchbacks, coupes and compacts (use Redstuff pads for heavier hatchbacks, saloons and sedans).
  • Greenstuff Elite/6000 designed for light truck/ SUV and Jeep® applications.
  • Very kind on rotors giving extended rotor life.

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EBC Redstuff Brake Pads

High Performance High Mileage Brake Pads

EBC Redstuff Brake Pads TrackRecon

EBC Redstuff low dust ceramic pads are a mid-level street upgrade for significantly improved friction and fade resistance compared to OE.

  • Redstuff should be used as an upgrade from stock for heavier, higher powered hatchbacks, saloons and sedans (Not advisable on lighter hatchbacks & compacts. Instead choose Greenstuff for modest brake upgrade or Yellowstuff for a higher performance upgrade).
  • Silent, longer lasting & with less dust

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EBC HIGH PERFORMANCE STREET & TRACK RACING BRAKE PADS

EBC Yellowstuff Brake Pads

Flagship Performance Street & Track Brake Pads

YellowStuff Brake Pads

EBC Yellowstuff Street & Track brake pads were designed for high performance road use and light track use, offering maximum improvement in braking performance compared to OE.

  • Excellent cold bite coupled with high temperature fade resistance.
  • Ideal for high performance street use and occasional track use with any type of vehicle.
  • Drastically reduced stopping distances compared to OE.
  • Suitable for light track use.

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EBC Bluestuff Brake Pads

Endurance Track & Street Brake Pads

EBC BlueStuff Brake Pads TrackRecon

EBC Bluestuff endurance race and track material with highest cold friction of any EBC material.

  • Excellent wear life when operated at temperatures 0-600 C0 (1100 F0).
  • Massive cold bite makes these pads suitable for street driving, or for driving to/from the track.
  • Very easy on rotors resulting in minimal rotor wear.
  • Developed for track use however EBC BlueStuff are fully R90 approved and therefore street legal.

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EBC Racing Brake Pads

RP-1™ EBC Racing Brake Pads

RP-1™ boasts a flat friction response averaging 0.45mu and is capable of operating at temperatures of up to 7500C without brake fade. However, unlike many other track/race pad materials on the market, RP-1™ possesses a progressive/benign response characteristic that provides exception ‘feel’ during each and every braking event.

The slightly lower friction level of RP-1™ allows the brake pedal to be worked harder, which is particularly beneficial to cars that are over-servo’d from the factory (for example: Mk7 VW Golf GTI, BMW M cars, Audi RS models, etc).

On inherently over-servo’d vehicles, RP-1™ somewhat negates the effect of the over-servo’d brake system setup, resulting in a more progressive and smooth response when driven on track.

In some modern vehicles, it can sometimes feel as if all the braking happens in the first inch of pedal travel. Whilst this sharp sensation gives the impression that the car has very ‘good’ brakes to the average driver pootling down to the shops, experienced track/race drivers know that a hair-trigger brake response is undesirable, verging on totally unacceptable for smooth driving at the limit.

A modest amount of brake pedal travel is actually beneficial for performance driving and this is exactly what RP-1™ enables, encouraging the driver to find the limit under braking whilst also enabling trail-braking. RP-1™ is particularly suitable for non-ABS assisted vehicles, where a smooth response is essential to avoid locking a wheel under braking.

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RP-X™ Racing Brake Pads

Distinctly Different Response Characteristics

 

Designed for vehicles driven hard on track, RP-X™ possesses a high friction level of 0.55 between 0 – 850°C and achieves 100% brake effect from cold. This makes RP-X™ an excellent choice for sprint racing or hill climb events, where full brake performance is essential without requiring any ‘warming up’, but also makes RP-X™ well suited to any type of circuit use where a high initial bite and powerful brake response is desirable.

EBC Racing would like to emphasise that it is not a case of RP-X™ being ‘better’ than RP-1™, rather it is ‘different’ and designed to provide a distinctly different response characteristic (more aggressive bite) which some drivers may prefer. For a detailed comparison between the 2 materials, please read the following article where we aim to help you make an informed choice on which material is likely to work best for your application and individual driving style.

HIGH PERFORMANCE STREET & TRACK RACING BRAKE DISCS

EBC OE Premium Non-Grooved Brake Discs

EBC rotors are high-quality G3000 grey iron rotor with exactly the same material and specification as the rotors fitted to your car and largely from the same facilities as the manufacturers. Now R90 approved, unlike most of our competitors EBC discs are the highest quality rotors that you can buy.

EBC GD Dimple Drilled Grooved Brake Discs

The wide aperture slots in the GD Sport Rotors series have been shown to reduce brake temperatures by up to 100 degrees by drawing cooling air beneath the brake pad under load. The super silent Ultimax USR slotted series also run cooler along with the new bi-directional BSD series.

EBC USR Fine Grooved Brake Discs

Ultra Quiet Slotted Brake Rotors. The narrower multi slot design of the Ultimax USR sport rotor and the progressive angle at which the slots are machined creates a quiet running sport rotor that still has benefits of removing gas, dirt, water and debris and maintaining parallel pad wear.

EBC BSD Fine Grooved Brake Discs

BSD (Blade Sports Discs) are made from a unique material known as “discalloy” for front and rear fitments. The blade slot design is specially crafted to remove hot gases in an efficient way to help keep brake pads cooler and flatter. The multiple slots overlap to reduce the brake wind sound

EBC 2 Piece Lightweight Floating Grooved Racing Brake Discs

Fully Floating SG2F Two Piece Rotors/Discs
‘SG2F’ rotors that serve as a direct replacement for performance vehicles where 2-piece brake rotors are fitted as standard, e.g. Nissan GT-R (R35).

Where the vehicle has a 2-piece pin-drive brake rotor as original equipment, EBC’s SG2F 2-piece rotor upgrade seamlessly replaces the pin-drive rotor with a true fully-floating 2-piece rotor, whilst requiring no vehicle modifications.

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