So it seems the conventional wisdom around here is replace rotors whenever you replace pads.
The stock cost the most. No surprise there. The surprise was that Brembo(supposedly the high end brand) costs less than Zimmerman the "budget conscious brand". Price is for each, front. Thoughts?
$ $75 Brembo: https://www.brembostoreusa.com/produ...cooper-f54-f60
$ 146 Stock: https://new.minimania.com/part/G3NMB...n3-F54-Clubman
$ 80 Zimmerman: https://new.minimania.com/part/G3NMB...n3-F54-Clubman

 

I show the F54 as being PN 09.C350.11 (at least for the S All4) - your brembo link is for the F56 PN09.C349.11
Still cheaper than Zimmerman at $74.95.

 

Thanks! Fixed the link.

 

I replace rotors every other brake job, unless your hard on them your discs should last longer than every brake job.

 

I saw your question on the other thread about why I chose the Zimmerman vs. the Brembos. I went with the Zimmerman due to cost and fact that they are an OEM supplier to BMW and are a source for the OE rotors on the Minis. Price was another reason. I am getting the Zimmerman Rotors for $111.80 per pair from ECS Tuning and EBC Redstuff Pads for $ 110.92 also from ECS Tuning. Minimania seems quite high on their prices as well as the Brembo site. I have found cheaper prices on the EBC pads and their rotors elsewhere, but would have had to rely on unreliable shipping times and unknown vendors. EBC was one stop shop for everything I wanted at a reasonable price. Yes, I could have saved $ 20-30 by shopping 3 different vendors, but not worth the aggravation. For what it's worth, I've had good luck getting EBC pads from Autoplicity, but since they didn't carry the Zimmerman, just went with ECS.

 

historical comment:

when MINI was NEW, back in the early 2000's, MINI service always called for replacing the rotors with every pad change. This was when pads and rotors were included in pre-paid maintenance btw ..... curiously many early owners found MINI to recommend pads and rotors first service call AFTER pre-paid expired. Happened to me .... dealer said I need new pads and rotors NOW!!!! Curious thing was I'd put new rotors and pads on myself just weeks before .. car was in for a warranty issue . . . . . As time went along MINI STOPPED calling for rotors every pad change and was perfectly happy to change worn pads under pre-paid but not touch rotors ... cutting costs. And of course as time went further along what was included with pre-paid dwindled . . .

What IS true is folks shouldn't 're-surface rotors anymore. In years past this was common .... 'skim' the rotors to smooth 'em when replacing pads. BUT rotors were THICKER then! You can EASILY take today's rotors below minimum thickness by trying to re-surface 'em. If in doubt just replace. I too typically go two sets of pads to a set of rotors . . .

p.s. next time when shopping you may want to include Way Motor Works .... he's got some packages with EBC red pads and various rotors including Zimmerman and has shipped to me via Priority Mail in the past at reasonable cost and time ....

 

Coming from outside the 'normal' MINI world, I have found brake rotors can be very fickle and sometimes brand names mean zero, so I will toss in my $0.02. I have certainly found that the most expensive rotors usually don't buy you much of anything and that the dirt cheap ones usually are that price for a reason. So where does that leave you...in the middle with no great direction. Even specific brands have different 'levels' of rotors, which are likely sourced from different suppliers/plants, which can drastically change the performance of the rotor. I have tended to stay with the 'middle-of-the-road' versions and all seem to have worked well enough for my needs for my previous vehicles.

For my first official brake change (@42K miles) I have chosen to go with Raybestos coated rotors (Front/Rear) and Power Stop Z23 pads. I just put a coat of caliper/rotor paint on the non-friction surfaces of the rotors and should get them installed in the next week or so...so I don't have any use to report on for these rotors. Yes, I added paint on top of the factory coating they came with, but for $8 and some painters tape, why not. I can speak to the Z23 pads, as I used them for my track day run back in 2018 and they worked great and held up well w/o fade on the track and nicely on the street. I didn't want to 'test' my OEM pads out on the track, so they were put away and pulled back into service when the Z23 pads died last fall. Go figure that 110 down to 30 in the corners wears down your pads pretty quickly?!? So for ~$250, I have a full set of brakes...including the Power Stop brand pad sensors. Much better than the $1200-1400 MINI quoted me for the same work at my last free service appt!!

I will update once I get some miles on the new hardware. YMMV.

 

I finally got my new brakes and hardware installed ~2 weeks ago and have a couple hundred miles on them, as my F54 is a daily driver. The new rotors, pads and sensors are working great! Pedal modulation is very much like stock when doing 'normal' braking and you can tell that the Z23 pad compound has additional 'bite' when you need to instituted a quicker than expected brake maneuver. This reflects my use of the front Z23 pads for a track day back in 2018...which was before Power Stop had the rear Z23 pads available. The Raybestos rotors stop true and w/o any pedal vibration. I am also pleased with the amount of dust the Z23's put out, certainly less than the OEM pads toward the end of their life!

Here are some pics of my additional coat of caliper paint on the non-wear surfaces of the rotors along with some install pics. I use the Ford Motorcraft nickel based anti-seize on all fastener threads and the Permatex Ultra Disc Brake Caliper Lube on all sliding surfaces. The lovely mid-west road salt in the winter does a great job crusting things up, so I always make sure to wire wheel/abrade the sliding surfaces before applying a thin coat of the Permatex lube.

 

I just did all the brakes on my 2017 Clubman S.

I can hardly believe I did this, but I ended up buying Duralast Gold (AutoZone) brakes all around. I originally was going to buy from ECS but the website showed $122 shipping (???)

Pretty much everything was drop-shipped from the suppliers and not straight from AutoZone.
The rotors were made by/shipped from NEOTEK. Looks like a Taiwanese company. Full black corrosion coating. Looked very nice to me when I installed it.

The Ceramic front pads did ship from AutoZone and appear to be a Roulunds product (Danish company, apparently made/makes OE brakes for Saab/Volvo).

Rear pads shipped directly from Bosch but unfortunately they were semi-metallic and not ceramic, as advertised. An error in the AutoZone catalog. I ended up ordering a
set of Akebono ceramic rears which included a rear sensor.

The front brake sensor shipped from Power Stop LLC and was a German-made part.

About 1,000 miles on them and zero complaints. I also did a brake bleed with Pentosin DOT4 LV which is in the shelves at AutoZone.

 

Appreciate all of the advice above. I decided to go with zimmerman rotors all around and EBC red stuff pads plus Goodridge stainless steel brake lines.