Brake Change help!

[Luca]

Bought ebc red stuff pads along with oem sensor. Car has 58000 kms. Do i need to change rotors as well? Been getting mixed responses. Any good quality, cheap rotor options? Sources?

[A_Squared]

Really depends on the condition of your rotors. Are there and grooves/ridges on them? Do you feel a lip at the edge of the rotor? I went ahead and did a complete brake job at 60k. Changed rotors, pads, and did a fluid flush and bleed. I used centric blank rotors with ebc red stuff. Can't complain as I've never had any problems. Car is my DD. Centric blanks are fairly inexpensive but you should get their "premium" ones that have the hats treated already. I tried painting them and they aren't holding up that well. Might have to re paint them.

[Diver]

My car is in warranty and has about 13,000 mile on it. The rotors, one especially, have grooves on them. I show this to a shop foreman at the dealer and he said BMW is refusing to replace rotors under warranty because the grooves do not affect braking performance. He said try again with more miles because if it gets worse they might fix it. This is total BS.

What should I do next?

[Luca]

Originally Posted by Diver

My car is in warranty and has about 13,000 mile on it. The rotors, one especially, have grooves on them. I show this to a shop foreman at the dealer and he said BMW is refusing to replace rotors under warranty because the grooves do not affect braking performance. He said try again with more miles because if it gets worse they might fix it. This is total BS.

What should I do next?

Just because your rotor has that lip on the end, doesnt mean its worn out... It depends on if its warped or reached the minimum thickness, im just wondering how long the rotors usually last as im trying to save $350 on a pair.

[MightyMouseTech]

If you are changing brake compounds, you will at least have to have them machined, if not replaced.

[FactorX81]

these rotors should go through two sets of pads especially if the first set is oem.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by Luca

Just because your rotor has that lip on the end, doesnt mean its worn out... It depends on if its warped or reached the minimum thickness, im just wondering how long the rotors usually last as im trying to save $350 on a pair.

Just buy new BMW rotors. The aftermarket ones are not very good - they will warp out in no time. $350 is pretty cheap. Over here in Germany two 135i rotors sell for $570(just two rotors with 19% sales tax).

Originally Posted by FactorX81

these rotors should go through two sets of pads especially if the first set is oem.

I only got about 45K kms on my rotors/pads. Yes, teh rears might go two pads for one rotor life cycle - but not the front brakes.


Dackel

[Diver]

Originally Posted by Luca

Just because your rotor has that lip on the end, doesnt mean its worn out... It depends on if its warped or reached the minimum thickness, im just wondering how long the rotors usually last as im trying to save $350 on a pair.

It is worse than a lip with lots of random scoring, but not warped and I doubt that it is at minimum thickness.

[Kgolf31]

To tell if you need to replace the rotors just mic them.

Don't turn them...just don't

[FactorX81]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

Just buy new BMW rotors. The aftermarket ones are not very good - they will warp out in no time. $350 is pretty cheap. Over here in Germany two 135i rotors sell for $570(just two rotors with 19% sales tax).




I only got about 45K kms on my rotors/pads. Yes, teh rears might go two pads for one rotor life cycle - but not the front brakes.


Dackel

Maybe due to being in Germany but that seems very short and will probably be atypical for the average US driver. OEM pads are very soft and shouldn't kill the rotors that quickly. The best way to tell whether they should be replaced is to measure them.