Bendix reccomends breaking in new pads/rotors with 30, 30 mph easy stops with 30 second intervals between runs. Is this what everybody does? Seems a little over kill. I'm looking for feedback for rotors/pads that are not broken in at the factory already.

 

My short answer is no.

 

I installed new pad/rotors a little while back. What I do is go out on a stretch of road (undeveloped section in my neighborhood) and do several up to 30 or so gradual stops to seat everything. How many, never counted. After, I just try to no do any hard stops for the first 500 or so miles.

I was well past 40K miles on the originals before the shaking started, had to replace them at 48K, was getting too bad. About 1300 miles on the new, loving the NAPA parts.

 

I have never done a "break in" for pads/rotors save for a short test run around the block to validate that the calipers are working as I expect them to. I too have been very happy with NAPA's premium brake parts. I only have about 6k miles on my pads & rotors, so the jury is still out on whether the shaking/pulsating comes back.

 

that does seem a bit excessive. I usually just take it on a 5 min ride around the hood to see if they are binding up and/or anything unusual. After that, driving as usual.

 

Never heard of the 30/30/30 but I've taken new brakes for a ride around the hood to "test'em" and "heat'em up" a bit then let her sit til cooled completely back down.

 

So what does the dealer do?

 

Probably install them, and that's it.

 

Now that's what I call a do do question. If you think 'bout it for a bit there pstar you might understand where I'm comin' from. In short what they tell you isn't always what they do.
I recommend you find a wrencher that knows a few things more than the average mechanic, that you can trust and treat'em nice.

 

I believe Chevymgr is a Chevy service manager so I'm interested in what they do at his location.