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[Kieran]

After replacing the pads and dics on my Senator, how do i go about bedding in the brakes prior to an MOT.
The reason i am asking is because i need to bed in the brakes before an MOT for it not to fail on brake performance.The car has got no MOT or Tax but is insured. To get the Tax as you already know requires an MOT.The car is sure to fail on brake performance until i have bedded in the brakes how can this be done?
Am i allowed to run the brakes in prior to a MOT or does it have to be booked into an MOT station and try and bed the brakes in on the way there (would be difficult as the MOT station is less than 2 miles away).
Any ideas please as i am confused as the correct way of going about this whilst staying on the correct side of the law.

Kieran

[Broomies Mate]

No reason why your brakes would fail with new discs and pads.  The brake efficiency for an MOT is extremely low.  They just have to brake relatively evenly per axle set.

[tidla]

who said you had to go in a straight line?

(drive round the block dabbing the brake as you drive)

(with a good view to the rear)

[Kieran]

who said you had to go in a straight line?

Closest MOT station near you i thought and you have to be on your way there, not via the country roads.
Also bedding in requires different speeds than braking to do the job properly. As the garage is so close i would be lucky to acheive that.

[hotel21]

Take the scenic(ish) route and apply brakes often and moderately, with cooling time between. 

As said, the actual efficiencies are relatively low when on a rolling road.  provided there is no imbalance or disc distortion, should be fine.   

[hotel21]

who said you had to go in a straight line?

Closest MOT station near you i thought and you have to be on your way there, not via the country roads.

Not so.  It is not a good idea, however, to purchase your new steed in, say, Cornwall, and book it for a test in your home town of Aberdeen......    Thats really stretching the bounds of legality, I suggest.

[Broomies Mate]

You need to take a direct route to the pre-booked MOT station.  However, there isn't a copper in the country who would shaft you for getting petrol, fags and a paper whilst you are on your way there...... You NEED petrol to get to the MOT station, you need fags because the half hour wait is stressful and you need a paper to check the Classifieds for a new car when you get the red ticket 

[Del Boy]

A bad but quick way to do it, is pull the handbrake up as you drive along for a few seconds or so, I've done it in the past smoking like a gooden they were 

A better way to do it, is drive the long way around to the MOT station brake moderately every now and again, keep dabbing every now and again, but give the brakes time to cool down a bit too 

It shouldn't really be an issue though, I've had, for example my Ford Scorpio pass the MOT with new brakes on the back which it originally failed on, it's only a couple of miles if that to the test station too.

[hotel21]

A bad but quick way to do it, is pull the handbrake up as you drive along for a few seconds or so, I've done it in the past smoking like a gooden they were 

A better way to do it, is drive the long way around to the MOT station brake moderately every now and again, keep dabbing every now and again, but give the braks time to cool down a bit too 

Remember the handbrake shoes and the rear brake pads are two completely different and seperate entities, working independantly of each other..... 

Would agree with the scenic route, however, as long as its not via your grannies house hundreds of miles away....   

[Kevin Wood]

You don't want to get them smoking on brand new pads either. Just enough gentle braking to get them working with some degree of efficiency. Get a few hundred gentle miles on them before you start heating them up.

I would be surprised if it fails but I believe you can ask for a road test under certain circumstances.

Kevin

[Andy B]

After replacing the pads and dics on my Senator, how do i go about bedding in the brakes .....

new discs & pads are virtually bedded in straight from the box. The faces of both the disc & pad are flat ..... how much bedding in do you need?            

[Broomies Mate]

You don't want to get them smoking on brand new pads either. Just enough gentle braking to get them working with some degree of efficiency. Get a few hundred gentle miles on them before you start heating them up.

I would be surprised if it fails but I believe you can ask for a road test under certain circumstances.

Kevin

I wont question your awesome, seldom wrong info, but I doubt you'll find an MOT tester nowadays who knows how to 'road-test' a car, let alone agree to do it immediately after it has failed a roller brake test. 



Anyways, OP....... If you drive the 2 miles, and you stop in a straight line when you come to a junction, you'll pass the MOT brake test.  It's a farse to be honest.  The efficiencies required are below what I believe to be a 'safe' level.

[Kevin Wood]

After replacing the pads and dics on my Senator, how do i go about bedding in the brakes .....

new discs & pads are virtually bedded in straight from the box. The faces of both the disc & pad are flat ..... how much bedding in do you need?            

I have had disks that are pretty coarsely machined before - the ones I put on the Westfield took 2 or 3k miles before the fronts were working properly. Doesn't help that it's too light to work the brakes hard unless you're being a hooligan I suppose.

Kevin

[Broomies Mate]

After replacing the pads and dics on my Senator, how do i go about bedding in the brakes .....

new discs & pads are virtually bedded in straight from the box. The faces of both the disc & pad are flat ..... how much bedding in do you need?            

Aye!  Changed front discs and pads on mine a week ago and replaced fluid.  Tested the 'pedal' twice on the way down my cul-de-sac, and by the time I got to the end (150metres) the brakes felt better than they did before I changed them.

[tidla]

they need bedding in.

if you do a full disc and pad change all round the brakes are especially rubbish so much so that even after a good smoking (residual protection oils) i still feel it best to whack a sticker on the dash advising of poor performance.

next time you see the motor the brakes are spot on again.