Hi all,

I recently just got my new wheels and tires put on. Now I am in need of getting my brakes done probably this weekend. I am curious as to if I need to change my rotors. They look good to me but I hear it's good to change them when the brakes are getting done. Now I looked on tire rack, since all the other vendors were expensive, but I found this, http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/brake...odClar=Hardtop, great price and all. Plus I saw it was premium, street use, and track(which I plan on doing next summer once or twice). Then I looked up this drilled one's that I thought would be good for street use as my daily driver and track but I might be wrong. These are the drilled ones, http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/brake...odClar=Hardtop. Any input from drivers that actually know would be helpful as I can make my purchase decision.

My brake pads for everyone wondering what kind I will be buying, it is going to be Akebono or EBC Greenstuff.

Hopefully I get the right answer on the rotors, thank you very much!

-Rob

 

In general with OEM, when the pads are done, the rotors are done. You could look at turning them, depending on the thickness, but BMW doesn't recommend it, and mine didn't have the thickness left if I wanted to.

 

Drilled rotors....don't do it.
Akeebono...nice for street, but NOT A TRACK PAD UNDER ANY CIRMSTANCES!!
Slotted rotors ok....
Most folks swap pads for track day...greens might be ok for a track day if you are careful...

 

I really wanted to get drilled and slotted rotors because they look cool, but the price difference for zero performance gain is absurd.

 

Drilling them both lightens them, reducing their weight, and can shorten their life due to cracks from heat/cooling cycles......both BAD for brakes. All show, no go unless you get very $$$ drilled rotors.

 

Well, lightening them seemed like a plus for my Justa, and I'm pretty gentle on the brakes... the pads weren't new when I bought the car ~2 years ago, and I'm just now replacing front pads. However, I wasn't about to pay 2-3x as much just for a little flash behind the wheels.

I ended up ordering StopTech pads and blank Brembo rotors, which were on sale pretty cheap.

 

Lighter rotors=less mass to absorb heat....kinda like going to a small brake kit...
Very inexpensive rotors also tend to be lighter with bigger vents, and thiner cast iron in the wear areas than oem.....better aftermarket rotors are of similar heft to oem, so similar abilty to asorb heat for repeared stops.
Other issues is noise wiylth slots or drilled holes...whirr...and pad wear with some pads. Some don't mind, some do. Idea of holes or slots to to allow to pads to vent gases so they work better....but mostly just for looks.
Cheap cast iron rotors with holes drilled = cracks on track day....

 

Okay well then looks like I am going with the Centric High Carbon Plain ones. Does anyone think those are good? After reading on it, it seems legit in my book. I will be ordering that and the EBC greenstuff tomorrow! Thanks for the tips guys, I appreciate it.

 

I like the black Centric rotors and EBC Redstuff pads.

 

I have another question, someone told me today that I don't have to change my brake fluid and radiator flush. Is this true?...

 

Brake fluid absorbs water and needs to be flushed and replaced. Company's like phoenix systems sell little strips you can dunk in your brake fluid. The color it turns will tell you if you need to replace.

 

You can take this into consideration when replacing your rotors: I think brake fluid should be flushed every 2 years and the coolant flushed out every 4-5 years or so. You can also use those test strips jkapinos mentioned for the fluid.

 

Well, you don't have to change your oil, oil filter or air filter or spark plugs either, but someday your car won't run.
Someone told you wrong, agree with PelicanParts advice.

 

No what I meant, which I should have revised before I posted, is that I didn't need to change the brake Fluid when I get my brakes done. Sorry about that lol. But thanks for the notice pelican. Ill be doing the brake flush in April then. Appreciate the information guys.

 

Yes you only need to change the fluid every 2yrs. Most people that do it after the 2 years will notice a little firmer pedal feel.

As for rotors you should also check out our WMW rotors they are really cost effective, but high quality. We use them on all our in shop brake jobs. The ATE's are pretty good too.

You should also consider the EBC Redstuff pads, they are great for the street and "fun" use. Many people are afraid that they are for track use, they are NOT for track use, they are more of a fast street pad, and work great for daily drivers with less dust than the greenstuff and even better bite.

 

Thanks way! I already ordered my rotors from somewhere else but I'm ordering my EBC greenstuff from you tomorrow, I made up my mind on it Sunday. Thanks again for your help!

 

A friend and I just replaced the front and back brakes and rotors on my 2008 MCS. The stock front pads/rotors/sensor were done after 31 k miles. The back pads/rotors/sensor still had a few miles left in them but I went ahead and replaced them too.

My MCS is used for everyday street driving (no racing) and I went back and forth on this but ended up using Centric Posi-Quiet semi-metallic pads and Centric premium solid rotors. The pads and rotors were ordered from Tire Rack (good customer service and reasonable prices) and the sensors from the local Mini dealer.

Obviously it's too soon to know if I made a good choice here and whether or not I could recommend this combo, but so far so good. Today I bedded them in according to the Stop Tech procedure. Initial impressions are that the Centric pads stop the car fine and seem to be smooth enough, although they have less bite than the stock pads...something I'll have to get used to. Hopefully they will improve on the excessive dust emissions of the stock pads!

Resetting the brake warning light turned out to be a bit of a PIA. None of the procedures posted here on NAM or elsewhere on the web would work. So we ended up calling the dealer who was kind enough to walk us through the procedure. I wish I trusted my memory enough to post this procedure. It involves the same series of steps, just in a different order. I do remember this much , instead of pressing and holding the trip-o-meter first, you press the OBC first (one time). From there I get foggy.

I'd gotten an estimate of $1,400 for this brake job using stock OEM parts...which just wouldn't fit onto my credit card. Going the DIY route lowered the cost of the job to just over $400.00 and took about 3 hours.

 

I'm paying $450 out the door by pepboys. That's with letting me use my own parts I ordered. But I called two other places and one place charged $620 with their own parts and another for $520 with their own parts. I could careless for the warranty cause I don't need it. I know my parts will work great. I didn't even bother with the dealership cause they would have ripped my pockets with their OEM parts, so I upgraded and paid less for the parts and labor.

 

I didn't change the fluid. Probably would've been wise. Maybe my next project. Good luck. Hope it goes well.

 

If anyone needs brake job in Boston and willing to pay $450 PM me.

 

I'm shocked at what I see folks pay for replacement stock parts...now I understand that "big brakes" are not for everyone but...

You can do a complete front big brake kit for under $800. Add some rear hoses and new pads back there....you might get to a grand.

Not only do you 'fix the problem' but for what amounts to nearly the same, albeit a bit more in some cases, you'll end up with so much more for the money spent.