What brakes/rotors do you use on your BMW?

[az3579]

To all who plan on tracking their car:

I currently have slotted front rotors and OEM pads. Do. Not. Get. The. OEM. Pads. For. Track. Driving.
My brakes are completely toast after Friday's track day. I have to almost floor it for my brakes to take effect, and I don't have much OEM pad left. I used to be able to get about 3 days out of my pads and then some street driving before they were kaput. This last track day ate over half of my available pad, and they faded like crazy. The pads were fading halfway through each session and got progressively worse.

The rotors are fine. I'm not sure if I heated up the brake fluid or not; I won't find out until I bleed it again as soon as I can. I used Motul RBF600, which was supposed to withstand a lot of heat. It was not hot that day; the temperature was perfectly comfortable, so there isn't really any reason for my brakes to have gotten the way they were (wasn't this bad last time).


If I were to do it again, I would get some more resistant pads, such as Hawk HPS's, as I've had good experience with these. I would leave the slotted rotors to help cool the face, and would extend my brake ducts to better reach air to my rotors. Stainless steel lines are an absolute must to firm up that brake pedal; I could not heel-and-toe down the main straight because the pedal went sooo soft throughout the day, and still couldn't do it even during the first session. Fluid was flushed right before the event.

Shopping list:
Stainless brake lines
Hawk HPS pads (I hear HP+ is too noisy during regular use)

I've gotten multiple comments by the junkies that regularly go to the track that the slotted rotors are the ones to get. The lack of there being "holes" in the rotor make them ideal, and they have an edge over OEM blanks in the sense that they have the slots to help the gases dissipate (In the E30 I have experienced this and agree). They also say that the cross-drilled rotors are prone to cracking, so unless they were manufactured with the holes (part of the process), they are prone to cracking regardless of the brand if they were drilled after the manufacturing process.



Just a few notes after my amazing track day on Friday. I was told by the other ZHP owner in my run group that whenever I got on the brakes, a cloud of brake dust came out from my front wheels... the brakes were soooooooo black by the end of the day!

[therealm3]

I'll throw in my 2 cents. Personally I think Brakes are really hard thing to get advice from others about. Pad compound completely determines how the car stops and reacts in different situations and people like different things. I liken it to asking who is the best looking woman, or what's the best hamburger joint? Anyhow, back to brakes. I have owned a lot of different BMWs over the years and done quite a bit of on track driving as well as other high performance events and here are the conclusions I have come to:

Brake rotors: For some reason the BMW OE rotors have been better in my experience than the OEM equivalents like Brembo, ATE, Zimmerman, etc. I know they cost more, but they last longer and are more resistant to warping. plus they are coated so the hats wont rust as easily. Obviously, floating rotors or true racing set ups are much better but it seems like the thread is geared more towards stock replacement stuff.

Pads: For a true street car that gets driven hard every once in awhile its tough to beat the OE pads. They stop great and have awesome initial bite. Down side is they suck on the track and will fade quickly after a few hard stops. Ceramic pads are nice cause they don't' dust but do give up a bit of performance to the OE in initial bite. A step up and still very street-able is the Hawk HPS. It will actually dust less than OE under normal driving and has a higher torque than OE so stopping power goes up a bit. They do give up a little initial bite to OE though. They can be used on track, but beware, they wont' last long and do fade as your skills go up (C student or better). from there the HP+ is a good pad to go with cause it bites harder, has a better thermal range than HPS, and is more resistant to fading. Downside is the dust a lot and can be quite noisy on a street car. I did run these on the street on my E30 M3 as it was not a daily driver and I wanted the better stopping power for track days. Now even with stainless lines, brass bushings, and big brake ducting kit on my E30, the HP+'s would still feel soft from time to time on tracks that were hard on braking. I was borderline needing some true race pads, but skipped as the car wasn't going racing and I needed some street performance. (can't have no brakes for the first couple of stops till the rotors build heat.)

I have mostly been a Hawk pad kind of person after having mixed results with Mintex, Pagid, and EBC. Lately I have heard good things about Cool Carbon pads for combo street and track pad and may give them a shot next time around. Also the new PFC compounds are supposed to be pretty good too. Hopefully this helps a little and doesn't' muddy the water more for you.

[kayger12]

I liken it to asking who is the best looking woman, or what's the best hamburger joint?

That's easy: Brooklyn Decker and In-N-Out Burger.