METHOD FOR OPERATING A VEHICLE BRAKE SYSTEM, AND BRAKE SYSTEM

A method for operating a vehicle brake system, wherein the brake system has at least one friction brake and at least one regenerative brake. A defined switching pattern is specified for switching between a self-cleaning operating mode for cleaning the friction brake and a normal operating mode of the brake system. The method includes determining information describing the state of the at least one friction brake, determining the state of the at least one friction brake from the information, determining whether the state satisfies a specific switching criterion, and, if the self-cleaning operating mode is to be activated according to the switching pattern and the state of the friction brake does not satisfy the switching criterion, suppressing activation of the self-cleaning operating mode and maintaining the normal operating mode.