As much as this hurts to write, riding the brakes is a great way of getting a lot of heat in them. Obviously - proceed with caution (as now with the advent of dual clutch cars, braking affects how the clutch engages/disengages). But hard braking and then long periods in-between each attempt allows the brakes to cool. So for those who are HARD on the brakes, and then let up fast, you are actually taking it easy on the brakes (to an extent). For those that apply the brakes softly, and hold for a longer period of time, you build up more heat. It comes down to simple math - energy, blah, blah, blah...

When I'm done washing my faster cars, I ride the brakes a few times up and down my driveway to dry those rotors. For one of my cars, the pads and rotors get a little oxidized - there is a process of not having to dry them, though - usually, leaving the car in neutral (or park, for dual clutches/PDK) for 20secs+, and then turning the car off. It allows the pads to come away from the rotors.

 

Our blocks are very small. Around the block was only about 600 yards or less and I was only using very light pressure to avoid overheating. Been driving cars with disc brakes since September, 1964 and do know how to treat them.

 

I had not realized my post would appear as criticism... I was agreeing with you. Just trying to help out those that not understand that what is hard on brakes, is not necessarily what is hard on our bodies.

If my post was taken in any other way - my sincerest apologies! I had ZERO intention of correcting your methods. I do the same thing.

In fact, I'd suggest that you may want to try and 'overheat' those discs a little more... It is basically re-bedding the pads against the discs, getting a decent transfer layer there. If they don't heat up, this layer comes off, and squeaks start occurring more, and more.

 

Apology accepted. Scariest moment I had with disc brakes was in 1964 when I was on highway at about 70mph in rain and touched the brakes and car changed lanes! In those days the brakes were no were near the level of today's.

 

New pads, 30+ hot laps on Leipzig track (with about 20 seconds pit stop for passenger change over for every 2 laps), around 10 degree Celsius weather, the smoke was gone after above 10 laps, not a single squeak heard.