Is there really something to this? I remember hearing it said somewhere. I just replaced front and rear pads on my new 2002 GT ---also waxed it...she really runs faster now,,,LOL. Woman today at work says "you got a new car huh?" Yeah, another subaru I said. She askeds if it is brand new and she was shocked to find out it is 7 years old. she looks sweet!

Not with modern brake pads. Just go and drive, and realize the first few stops may be dicey till the pads seat themselves and the calipers adjust. Usually the first stop sets everything up.

 

 

nipper

With older pads the procedure was to get them hot to i'm guessing help cure them and bed them in, but if you look at all the procedures from OEM pads now including Subaru it seems to me they just want to make sure to get the contact aria between the pad and rotor correct and not to get the pad to hot. When i go for the first test drive after doing a brake job i do about 10-15 moderate stops with about a quarter to half mile inbetween to make sure and not overheat them, works for me, no comebacks for poor performance, or sqeel, when using subaru pads.

Yes and that seems to be roughly what subaru suggests now, many slow easy stops, and saying that modern brake pads require no 'curing' by break in. My guess from reading the stoptech.com whitepapers is most daily drivers don't get the brakes hot enough to require the like 10 stops from 100-0 to put a deposition of pad material on the rotor for cohesive friction. Daily drivers can run with adhesive friction where pad material is not on the rotor if they don't get hot enough to transfer pad material to the rotor.