Sedan Chat Thread
05-04-2015, 03:21 PM
#6676
For a typical performance brake system using street-performance pads, a series of ten partial braking events, from 60mph down to 10mph, will typically raise the temperature of the brake components sufficiently to be considered one bed-in set. Each of the ten partial braking events should achieve moderate-to-high deceleration (about 80 to 90% of the deceleration required to lock up the brakes and/or to engage the ABS), and they should be made one after the other, without allowing the brakes to cool in between.
Depending on the make-up of the pad material, the brake friction will seem to gain slightly in performance, and will then lose or fade somewhat by around the fifth stop (also about the time that a friction smell will be detectable in the passenger compartment). This does not indicate that the brakes are bedded-in. This phenomenon is known as a green fade, as it is characteristic of immature or ‘green' pads, in which the resins still need to be driven out of the pad material, at the point where the pads meet the rotors. In this circumstance, the upper temperature limit of the friction material will not yet have been reached.
As when bedding-in any set of brakes, care should be taken regarding the longer stopping distance necessary with incompletely bedded pads. This first set of stops in the bed-in process is only complete when all ten stops have been performed - not before.
The system should then be allowed to cool, by driving the vehicle at the highest safe speed for the circumstances, without bringing it to a complete stop with the brakes still applied. After cooling the vehicle, a second set of ten partial braking events should be performed, followed by another cooling exercise. In some situations, a third set is beneficial, but two are normally sufficient.
05-04-2015, 08:20 PM
#6677
I bedded them per StopTechs instructions below, but I did not get any smoke
For a typical performance brake system using street-performance pads, a series of ten partial braking events, from 60mph down to 10mph, will typically raise the temperature of the brake components sufficiently to be considered one bed-in set. Each of the ten partial braking events should achieve moderate-to-high deceleration (about 80 to 90% of the deceleration required to lock up the brakes and/or to engage the ABS), and they should be made one after the other, without allowing the brakes to cool in between.
Depending on the make-up of the pad material, the brake friction will seem to gain slightly in performance, and will then lose or fade somewhat by around the fifth stop (also about the time that a friction smell will be detectable in the passenger compartment). This does not indicate that the brakes are bedded-in. This phenomenon is known as a green fade, as it is characteristic of immature or ‘green' pads, in which the resins still need to be driven out of the pad material, at the point where the pads meet the rotors. In this circumstance, the upper temperature limit of the friction material will not yet have been reached.
As when bedding-in any set of brakes, care should be taken regarding the longer stopping distance necessary with incompletely bedded pads. This first set of stops in the bed-in process is only complete when all ten stops have been performed - not before.
The system should then be allowed to cool, by driving the vehicle at the highest safe speed for the circumstances, without bringing it to a complete stop with the brakes still applied. After cooling the vehicle, a second set of ten partial braking events should be performed, followed by another cooling exercise. In some situations, a third set is beneficial, but two are normally sufficient.
For a typical performance brake system using street-performance pads, a series of ten partial braking events, from 60mph down to 10mph, will typically raise the temperature of the brake components sufficiently to be considered one bed-in set. Each of the ten partial braking events should achieve moderate-to-high deceleration (about 80 to 90% of the deceleration required to lock up the brakes and/or to engage the ABS), and they should be made one after the other, without allowing the brakes to cool in between.
Depending on the make-up of the pad material, the brake friction will seem to gain slightly in performance, and will then lose or fade somewhat by around the fifth stop (also about the time that a friction smell will be detectable in the passenger compartment). This does not indicate that the brakes are bedded-in. This phenomenon is known as a green fade, as it is characteristic of immature or ‘green' pads, in which the resins still need to be driven out of the pad material, at the point where the pads meet the rotors. In this circumstance, the upper temperature limit of the friction material will not yet have been reached.
As when bedding-in any set of brakes, care should be taken regarding the longer stopping distance necessary with incompletely bedded pads. This first set of stops in the bed-in process is only complete when all ten stops have been performed - not before.
The system should then be allowed to cool, by driving the vehicle at the highest safe speed for the circumstances, without bringing it to a complete stop with the brakes still applied. After cooling the vehicle, a second set of ten partial braking events should be performed, followed by another cooling exercise. In some situations, a third set is beneficial, but two are normally sufficient.
Edit: Akebono's website states "enhanced initial effectiveness (no break-in required)"
Last edited by nishfish871; 05-04-2015 at 08:25 PM.
05-04-2015, 09:28 PM
#6678
I'll stick to pads that clearly require it, lol
.
Glad you didn't catch on fire, bedding brakes can get intense.
I had a Sheriff follow me to my driveway and I just coasted up, put on my e-brake and explained why I was driving like a lunatic, and didn't want to come to a complete stop. Luckily he was a gearhead and understood, and I had all my brake-job stuff on the garage floor so my story held up
05-04-2015, 10:49 PM
#6679
Well just got back from bedding pads part 2, still squeaking but now sounds are when rolling as well and not just applying brakes 
think I'm going to have to just pull the pads out again, re lube and go from there to see if I can pin point the problem
think I'm going to have to just pull the pads out again, re lube and go from there to see if I can pin point the problem
05-06-2015, 12:23 AM
#6682
Premier Member
iTrader: (7)
Yeah, some pads don't require aggressive bed-ins, at least according to their literature.
I'll stick to pads that clearly require it, lol
.
Glad you didn't catch on fire, bedding brakes can get intense.
I had a Sheriff follow me to my driveway and I just coasted up, put on my e-brake and explained why I was driving like a lunatic, and didn't want to come to a complete stop. Luckily he was a gearhead and understood, and I had all my brake-job stuff on the garage floor so my story held up
I'll stick to pads that clearly require it, lol
.
Glad you didn't catch on fire, bedding brakes can get intense.
I had a Sheriff follow me to my driveway and I just coasted up, put on my e-brake and explained why I was driving like a lunatic, and didn't want to come to a complete stop. Luckily he was a gearhead and understood, and I had all my brake-job stuff on the garage floor so my story held up
05-06-2015, 12:55 AM
#6683
So I said I would do a small DIY and chronicle the refinishing of my headlights. And Brad, this does take out any surface irregularities and minor pits. The result is smooth as glass. You'll be amazed at the results I think. I know I was. 
This was my very first foray into an automotive refinishing job of any kind or with wet sanding. I was curious as to why wet sanding is the preferred way to go on this, so I tried a little bit of dry sanding. The sandpaper is so fine that without the water, the material you're removing glazes up and clogs the sandpaper with specs of glazed material, which makes it ineffective. With a good amount of water, that's not a problem.
I took before and afters so you guys can see the process and what the outcome was. I followed Gio37's DIY here on the forum as a basis for how to go about this and as a guide and went a little higher on the sandpaper grit, to 3000. Thank you and credit to Gio37 for a fantastic DIY! The link can be viewed here: https://www.myg37.com/forums/d-i-y-i...storation.html
So here's the before photos. As you can see, my headlights were pretty skerfy, no thanks to oxidation and me letting a guy with a backpack "fix them" in an Autozone parking lot last year, AGAINST my better judgement. They came out terrible. He only spent about 15 minutes on them and then sprayed clear coat on them after sanding. I was about having a coronary (definitely fit to be tied) and ready to strangle the guy. The right was worse than the left.
Right:
Left:
As you can see, I've already masked the headlights off with standard 3M blue tape.
I used the following items, all of which I picked up off of Amazon.
1000 Grit 3M Wet or Dry sandpaper (came with 1000, 1500, 2000, and 2500 grit sandpaper)
3000 Grit 3M Trizact Performance Sandpaper
3M 39010 Polish and Protector
SE CBC300B Cone-Shape Cloth Buffing Wheel
An air-pressurized, hand-pump, push button garden sprayer
I already had the garden sprayer so I don't have a link to it. You can use any spray bottle to put water plus some dish soap in it, but the push button sprayer made it easier.
So you start out with 1000 grit and start sanding away and keep going until you have a uniform, opaque haze across the entire surface of the headlight. Depending on how bad your lights are, you might even go down to an 800 grit as this stage takes a while. With the 1000 grit, I spent about an hour on each headlight to ensure I removed all of the imperfections. You're only removing a few microns of material total.
The 1000 grit takes the longest to do out of all the grits because you have to keep sanding until you take off the entire layer of skerf. I would say half of your total time will be spent on the 1000 grit stage. You don't want to see any clear areas or borderline orange peel amongst the haze as depicted here and circled in red:
I've skipped some of the intermediary grits because well, you get the idea. With each stage, wipe the area frequently with a dry cloth and let it dry. This allows you to tell that you've achieved a uniform opacity with each stage.
Keep going through all the grits and while the water is on the headlight, as you go higher with the grades, the lens becomes clearer. The opaque white gradually gives way to translucency and you move through the grits. The images depicted below are of 2500 grit, both wet and dry.
2500 Wet:
2500 Dry:
Here is 3000 grit and as you can see, it's still not perfectly clear, but the polishing stage will fix that. You could probably get away with 2500 grit as the final grit but the higher you go, the easier it makes your polishing stage go.
3000 Dry:
The following photo shows the polishing stage. Only a little bit of the 3M headlight polish is necessary on the polishing wheel. I applied only a little bit to the buffing wheel for each headlight and that's all that you'll need. The buffing wheel just attaches to a standard 3/8" drill. On this stage, you keep polishing everywhere until the finish is perfect.
Polishing:
Final product left side:
Final product right side:
I hope you guys have enjoyed the post and can see what is possible if you're willing to do it yourself and put some elbow grease into it. All told, I spent about 2.5 - 3 hours per headlight because mine were bad and I wanted them done right. I'm quite pleased with the outcome of the job and hey, I can see that my car has cool headlights again!
This was my very first foray into an automotive refinishing job of any kind or with wet sanding. I was curious as to why wet sanding is the preferred way to go on this, so I tried a little bit of dry sanding. The sandpaper is so fine that without the water, the material you're removing glazes up and clogs the sandpaper with specs of glazed material, which makes it ineffective. With a good amount of water, that's not a problem.
I took before and afters so you guys can see the process and what the outcome was. I followed Gio37's DIY here on the forum as a basis for how to go about this and as a guide and went a little higher on the sandpaper grit, to 3000. Thank you and credit to Gio37 for a fantastic DIY! The link can be viewed here: https://www.myg37.com/forums/d-i-y-i...storation.html
So here's the before photos. As you can see, my headlights were pretty skerfy, no thanks to oxidation and me letting a guy with a backpack "fix them" in an Autozone parking lot last year, AGAINST my better judgement. They came out terrible. He only spent about 15 minutes on them and then sprayed clear coat on them after sanding. I was about having a coronary (definitely fit to be tied) and ready to strangle the guy. The right was worse than the left.
Right:
Left:
As you can see, I've already masked the headlights off with standard 3M blue tape.
I used the following items, all of which I picked up off of Amazon.
1000 Grit 3M Wet or Dry sandpaper (came with 1000, 1500, 2000, and 2500 grit sandpaper)
3000 Grit 3M Trizact Performance Sandpaper
3M 39010 Polish and Protector
SE CBC300B Cone-Shape Cloth Buffing Wheel
An air-pressurized, hand-pump, push button garden sprayer
I already had the garden sprayer so I don't have a link to it. You can use any spray bottle to put water plus some dish soap in it, but the push button sprayer made it easier.
So you start out with 1000 grit and start sanding away and keep going until you have a uniform, opaque haze across the entire surface of the headlight. Depending on how bad your lights are, you might even go down to an 800 grit as this stage takes a while. With the 1000 grit, I spent about an hour on each headlight to ensure I removed all of the imperfections. You're only removing a few microns of material total.
The 1000 grit takes the longest to do out of all the grits because you have to keep sanding until you take off the entire layer of skerf. I would say half of your total time will be spent on the 1000 grit stage. You don't want to see any clear areas or borderline orange peel amongst the haze as depicted here and circled in red:
I've skipped some of the intermediary grits because well, you get the idea. With each stage, wipe the area frequently with a dry cloth and let it dry. This allows you to tell that you've achieved a uniform opacity with each stage.
Keep going through all the grits and while the water is on the headlight, as you go higher with the grades, the lens becomes clearer. The opaque white gradually gives way to translucency and you move through the grits. The images depicted below are of 2500 grit, both wet and dry.
2500 Wet:
2500 Dry:
Here is 3000 grit and as you can see, it's still not perfectly clear, but the polishing stage will fix that. You could probably get away with 2500 grit as the final grit but the higher you go, the easier it makes your polishing stage go.
3000 Dry:
The following photo shows the polishing stage. Only a little bit of the 3M headlight polish is necessary on the polishing wheel. I applied only a little bit to the buffing wheel for each headlight and that's all that you'll need. The buffing wheel just attaches to a standard 3/8" drill. On this stage, you keep polishing everywhere until the finish is perfect.
Polishing:
Final product left side:
Final product right side:
I hope you guys have enjoyed the post and can see what is possible if you're willing to do it yourself and put some elbow grease into it. All told, I spent about 2.5 - 3 hours per headlight because mine were bad and I wanted them done right. I'm quite pleased with the outcome of the job and hey, I can see that my car has cool headlights again!
Last edited by twin_snails; 05-06-2015 at 02:08 AM.
The following 4 users liked this post by twin_snails:
05-06-2015, 01:08 AM
#6684
Nice job! This deserves it's own thread, not buried in the Chat. Post a DIY thread when you can, it'll be a valuable resource.
Are you going to coat them w/ Blue Magic now to keep them fresh?
I've been meaning to get around to doing mine so this may be just the kick start I needed, plus I can use my Porter Cable for the buffing
Thanks!
Are you going to coat them w/ Blue Magic now to keep them fresh?
I've been meaning to get around to doing mine so this may be just the kick start I needed, plus I can use my Porter Cable for the buffing
Thanks!
05-06-2015, 01:45 AM
#6685
Thanks Brad! Ok, I'll post a DIY thread. I didn't want to duplicate the efforts of the other thread but I will link to it.
After reading some reviews on Amazon of the Blue Magic sealer, many have said it's simply silicone with a lamp oil kind of smell to it. The original plan was to cover them in clear bra material so I'm probably going to end up having them professionally done to prevent a recurrance. I don't care to mess with stuff like tint or clear bra because I'd mess it up and probably get frustrated with the process. Knowing-- the wisdom of when to defer to a pro for best results.
I was really getting to the point where I wasn't enjoying my car because the headlights were so bad.
Definitely, the Porter Cable will make quick work of the polishing. I've been wanting to pick up one of those for polishing/wax detail and I think that just got moved up on the list.
No problem!
Ok, here's a link to the DIY: https://www.myg37.com/forums/d-i-y-i...ml#post3904204
Looking forward to seeing how yours turn out Brad!
After reading some reviews on Amazon of the Blue Magic sealer, many have said it's simply silicone with a lamp oil kind of smell to it. The original plan was to cover them in clear bra material so I'm probably going to end up having them professionally done to prevent a recurrance. I don't care to mess with stuff like tint or clear bra because I'd mess it up and probably get frustrated with the process. Knowing-- the wisdom of when to defer to a pro for best results.
I was really getting to the point where I wasn't enjoying my car because the headlights were so bad.
Definitely, the Porter Cable will make quick work of the polishing. I've been wanting to pick up one of those for polishing/wax detail and I think that just got moved up on the list.
No problem!
Ok, here's a link to the DIY: https://www.myg37.com/forums/d-i-y-i...ml#post3904204
Looking forward to seeing how yours turn out Brad!
Last edited by twin_snails; 05-06-2015 at 02:23 AM.
The following users liked this post:
blnewt (05-06-2015)
05-06-2015, 08:01 AM
#6686
Administrator
iTrader: (9)
That's pretty impressive, twin_snails. I hope you're feeling proud of that work for some time to come. And I hope it lasts... so many times you hear about lens refinishing projects where they fade right away. But it reads like you've got that covered, too.
Do you park outdoors? I can't understand why a 2010 G would be so bad only five years later.
Do you park outdoors? I can't understand why a 2010 G would be so bad only five years later.
05-06-2015, 08:05 AM
#6687
Registered User
How difficult is it to install a Stillen gen 3 intake air system? This question has probably been asked a million times on here, that's what sucks about being a noobie on a message board. But i'm a first time G owner and am anxious to get to work on her. This installation will probably be my first one i put on her unless someone talks me out and thinks i can get a bigger bang for my buck (don't want to get a gear just yet). Which BTW i'm all open too... 
I have a little car knowledge and have tinkered with Mustangs for over 10 years but never with a G before, which i just purchased yesterday (2013 G37 sedan) and am ready to get to work on it. My main concern was about getting the air intake tubes by the radiator. Do you have to cut a whole to make it bigger for the tubes to fit through to wrap around to the front of the radiator? I haven't had a chance to really look under the hood yet to see all what i would be facing to get'er done.
Any thing else i will need to do for this install other than purchase and start bolting on? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Loving my G so far. Free flow exhaust will be my next purchase and then i'll do some research on what gear ratio to go with.
Looking forward to browsing around the forums and checking out all the cool stuff. Already seen some pretty amazing, good looking rides on here. Very nice....
I have a little car knowledge and have tinkered with Mustangs for over 10 years but never with a G before, which i just purchased yesterday (2013 G37 sedan) and am ready to get to work on it. My main concern was about getting the air intake tubes by the radiator. Do you have to cut a whole to make it bigger for the tubes to fit through to wrap around to the front of the radiator? I haven't had a chance to really look under the hood yet to see all what i would be facing to get'er done.
Any thing else i will need to do for this install other than purchase and start bolting on? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Loving my G so far. Free flow exhaust will be my next purchase and then i'll do some research on what gear ratio to go with.
Looking forward to browsing around the forums and checking out all the cool stuff. Already seen some pretty amazing, good looking rides on here. Very nice....
05-06-2015, 08:51 AM
#6688
How difficult is it to install a Stillen gen 3 intake air system? This question has probably been asked a million times on here, that's what sucks about being a noobie on a message board. But i'm a first time G owner and am anxious to get to work on her. This installation will probably be my first one i put on her unless someone talks me out and thinks i can get a bigger bang for my buck (don't want to get a gear just yet). Which BTW i'm all open too...
I have a little car knowledge and have tinkered with Mustangs for over 10 years but never with a G before, which i just purchased yesterday (2013 G37 sedan) and am ready to get to work on it. My main concern was about getting the air intake tubes by the radiator. Do you have to cut a whole to make it bigger for the tubes to fit through to wrap around to the front of the radiator? I haven't had a chance to really look under the hood yet to see all what i would be facing to get'er done.
Any thing else i will need to do for this install other than purchase and start bolting on? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Loving my G so far. Free flow exhaust will be my next purchase and then i'll do some research on what gear ratio to go with.
Looking forward to browsing around the forums and checking out all the cool stuff. Already seen some pretty amazing, good looking rides on here. Very nice....
I have a little car knowledge and have tinkered with Mustangs for over 10 years but never with a G before, which i just purchased yesterday (2013 G37 sedan) and am ready to get to work on it. My main concern was about getting the air intake tubes by the radiator. Do you have to cut a whole to make it bigger for the tubes to fit through to wrap around to the front of the radiator? I haven't had a chance to really look under the hood yet to see all what i would be facing to get'er done.
Any thing else i will need to do for this install other than purchase and start bolting on? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Loving my G so far. Free flow exhaust will be my next purchase and then i'll do some research on what gear ratio to go with.
Looking forward to browsing around the forums and checking out all the cool stuff. Already seen some pretty amazing, good looking rides on here. Very nice....
05-06-2015, 09:01 AM
#6689
Welcome to the site Columbia skinny, glad you found us. Sounds like you've got a good plan for your upcoming build.
Those Gen3s are a good setup, might also give a look at the Takeda CAI, seems to be a bit easier to install, but YMMV.
Enjoy your new ride, and the site!
Those Gen3s are a good setup, might also give a look at the Takeda CAI, seems to be a bit easier to install, but YMMV.
Enjoy your new ride, and the site!
05-06-2015, 12:03 PM
#6690
Registered User
IMO one of if not the best CAI system for our cars, installation is very straight forward if you take the bumper off while working and you are correct about having to enlarge the holes. Nothing a dremel cant take care of. There is a DIY on bumper removal, the CAI was actually the 1st mod I did on my G as well and thought it was a great way to get to know your new car.