SickofMyVWAlready

The '05 GT will be my first V8. I was just wondering how you guys plan on breaking in your new auto. Will you beat on it a bit right out of the gate? Or will you baby it for the first 5k?

adrenalin

As with all my other stangs I will baby it until 1,000 miles and then see what abuse it will handle while under warranty.

CatmanJJ

I say light the tires up right when you pull out of the dealer.

t69r00p69

It's very tempting to get on it as soon as you sit in it, but I say at least semi-baby it. Take a few laps around a freeway loop and after 1500 miles or so, give it all heck. That's when you start learning your new car and how to race it, not just merely driving it.

RockSinger73

I am a believer in a proper break-in period to ensure maximum component life.

Galaxie

exactly... don't beat on it from day 1, .. unless you leased it and plan on giving in back in 2 years.

I will keep this car a long time, so what I will do is take real good care of it the first 1500-2000 miles, proper procedure, etc. Besides, this will be my first V8 daily driver, so I want to get used to the power. After that, bombs away.

mat0045

I know some cars come with a "breaker oil" that has to be changed after the first 500 miles or so the car is driven. Is this still standard practice?

(P.S. - Who will be using traditional oil and who will be using synthetic?)

GhostTX

Amen...treat your car right if you want to keep it awhile.

If you have thin piece of wire and bend it back and forth repeated, quickly, folding over on itself it will break fairly quickly. If you take the same wire and gently arc it and only ever so often fold it over on itself it will last a very long time.

428CJ

If I'm correct, you don't break the car in by babying it. In fact I've heard, the cars that are run real hard in the break in period, they in fact last longer than the cars that are babyied.

With that in mind, you can't run it too hard either...For instance, no burn outs, and no top end speed, keep it under 90...I think the correct thing to do as soon as you get it, is take it up to 35 or 45MPH, and then floor it till it gets up to about 60 or 65MPH, and the repeat the process about 10 times.

I've also heard you don't want to keep the car at the same speed...try to drive at different speeds and keep away from the cruise control a bit....

I dunno if this is right though.

adrenalin

I have heard of the " drive at different speeds and don't use cruise control for the first 1,000 miles" rule before. Not sure if that really matters. I definately will not be doing any burnouts or high speed driving, nor do I think I ever would. After you find out what it costs to replace the tires you just smoked away the luxury wears off quickly.

As far as oil, I do plan on keeping this car for a while and may switch it over to synthetic. I would not use any so called "teflon based" additives. I use to work in a shop that saw several vehicles that had problems due to residue buildup from those type of products, but hey, I am not a chemist.

CatmanJJ

Yup...these cars come pretty much "broken in" from the factory. At least the latest 4v and 2v 4.6s did. Keep in mind u want to vary the speed, vary the rpms, the harder you run it the stronger it will be and it will only get stronger after a few thousand miles. I'm not saying to do burnouts and donuts all over the place but keep in mind these Pony cars are born to run not putt around like some some mild mannered sport luxo sedan.

MeanStang

i plan on leaving my new stang in a high crime area with the windows open and letting an unscrupulous criminal break it in for me.

nah just drive it easy for 500-1000 miles.. this means normal driving.. no nascar stunts

kevinb120

break it in with harder then average driving. For the first 500 miles or so, the only thing to really avoid is long constant-rpm driving. The computer will not let you hurt the car.

hdwrench

I was with my dad when he test drove a brand new 94 ZR-1 which he later bought. As we pulled up to the first red light on the service road a Ferrari Testarossa pulled up... If I was driving the race would have been on. I guess he was probably wiser by not racing it when it was brand new. It was still fun to drive later.

WarningSLO

That is because you are stressing the metal beyond its yield point; that is, causing it to have permanent deformations each time you bend it. Frames are designed to never ever reach points of yielding stress, so from a structural point of view, give it heck as soon as you want to. Mechanically, i got nothing...

Sorry, Structural Engineering major side of me kicking in.

steve19970

I think I'll just wear them until the blisters go away and it stops pinching... oh wait, break in my Mustang?

LOL my mustang will get enough breaking in...I'll still be a newb manual driver by then! (Though I'm going to practice beforehand...)

burningman

I'll probably just go on a long hiney drive to the beach

steve19970

go to fort myers...siesta key...very nice beach (I grew up in Ruskin, if you know where that is)

burningman

Siesta key..I saw that place on the travel channel..it looked awesome!

kevinb120

:bang: what did I say before? Thats the ONLY thing that is a true no-no on break in.