OK, so some of you may know I'm replacing the wife's daily driver/family car 2012 Altima with a nice clean 2007 X3 we found with low miles. So, I took the X3 in last week for the state safety and emissions inspections and the stealer's free "world class inspection" (that no doubt earns them lots of work).
One thing that showed up in the inspection that I'd neglected to even look at was brakes. The rear pads apparently measured 4-7mm and the fronts 4mm. Front and rear pad and rotor replacement was recommended at just under $1200.
I was a little surprised it would need rotors since it only has 43,000 miles on it. So, I checked it when I got back to the house and sure enough, there's a pretty healthy lip on the rotor. So, then I walked around and compared it to all my other vehicles...
- '07 X3, ~43k miles, rotor has a pretty healthy lip
- '04 ZHP, ~43k miles, rotor has a pretty healthy lip
- '07 Hummer H3, ~62k miles, swapping out original front pads next weekend, rotor has a very minor lip
- '12 Nissan Altima, ~61k miles, brakes in good shape, rotor has almost no lip
I did the second set of pads and new rotors on my wife's old Maxima at about 80k miles. I realize it totally depends on how a car was driven and where, and I realize the BMW's probably have a sportier, more aggressive pad. But, assuming a mix of typical city and highway driving and that you're not tracking your car, what kind of service do most people get out of a set of rotors on their cars? Assuming roughly 40k miles per set of pads, can you get a rotor though two sets of pads on a normal street-driven car?
On the upside, it looks like ECS sells a nice kit with Meyle coated rotors and Akebono pads for about $425, so I'll likely do that when the time comes. Seems like a good Saturday afternoon project for late January when it's cold and snowy outside.
Just curious what others' experiences were with the OE rotors and pads.
Thanks!
Cheers,
SC