Carbon Ceramic Brake Refresh | FerrariChat

Carbon Ceramic Brake Refresh

Discussion in 'California/Portofino/Roma' started by Bill Phillips, Jul 2, 2021.

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  1. Bill Phillips

    Bill Phillips Formula Junior

    Nov 4, 2019
    480
    New Orleans
    Full Name:
    Bill
    My 2013 Cali-30 with carbon ceramic brakes has 19,000 miles and in the almost two years and 5,000 miles I’ve owned it I’ve always felt that the brakes just don’t have much stopping power, certainly not as much as they should. The discs are in good condition and the front pads have 8 mm remaining, or about 75%. The fluid has been checked during annual inspections and the pedal is not mushy, there just isn’t as much bite as I would expect. I suspect that they were never bedded in properly and that a glaze has built up over the years.

    What I’m wondering is, can I refresh them by using either steel wool or fine sandpaper on the rotors to remove any glazing, and then re-bedding them properly? This process is common on iron rotors, but I don’t know if it’s ok on carbon ceramic.
     
  2. Il Co-Pilota

    Il Co-Pilota F1 Veteran

    May 29, 2019
    6,023
    Hopefully some place nice.
    Full Name:
    A.B
    If you want to clean the rotors, you can do so. Wash with normal auto shampoo without any waxes etc. Then after a good rinse, wipe them with Isoprolyl alcohol. This is what both Brembo and Surface Transforms has advised me to do.

    If you think your pads are glazed, give them a quick once over with a 400 grit paper to get them a "key". You can do this while cleaning the discs.

    After that, give them a real bedding in.

    You can also simply try bedding them properly. As they are glazed, no matter if you clean or not, you need a proper bedding in. Here's how Pagid recommends it for the T4300 compound as well as the RSC1 compound.

    Do 10 stops from 160 kph to 100 kph. This is just to get heat into the system. If you key the pads or bed new pads, this is also to seat the pads. No more than 25% brake should be applied, and accelleration between stops should be moderate.

    Then you do at least 7 stops from 180 kph to 100 kph. These should be as hard as possible, but no ABS. Accelleration between should be full throttle. This is what gasses out the pads and get the actual glazing off. If you don't smell the brakes, you are not doing it hard enough. You need to get them glowing red hot in 7 or so stops.

    Then you run the car for a few minutes at 100 kph. This is just to cool the discs and initiate the curing.

    Then you do 5 stops like the first soft stops.

    After this you go home as quickly as possible, and with as gentle braking as possible. Here you let the car sit for 24 hours.

    Sent from my SM-G930F using FerrariChat.com mobile app
     
    695 likes this.
  3. Bill Phillips

    Bill Phillips Formula Junior

    Nov 4, 2019
    480
    New Orleans
    Full Name:
    Bill
    Perfect, thanks.
     

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