3.0 Brakes and Rotors, Every Day Driving

S

stal023

Member
 South Carolina
I'm in the states and I can hear my rear brakes so it is time for rotors and pads in the rear and I will change out pads in the front. Lots of choices out there. This is just a daily car, no racing. I've just looked on rock auto
  • 1
Do you go for ceramic, low metallic semi-metallic pads?
  • 2
Rotors, seems like I can just kind of pick whatever. Have read slotted is noisy, so I don't think I want that.
  • 3
Does brand actually matter? Read spend the money on the pads but I am not out there racing or doing anything crazy.

Thank so much.
 
I'm interested in comments, because I am also considering a brake refresh. I will be daily driving, and I want it to drive and stop like a Z4, but I won't be doing track days.

My car had new pads on all corners when I bought it, and the braking is good, but the rear rotors have lipping and the front rotors are not OE nor 'coated' - so the non-contact parts of the front rotors are unappealingly rusty. The pads are similar enough to the BMW / Textar semi-metallics to generate LOTS of brake dust.

I too am likely to shop through RockAuto here in the US. My tentative parts list is Akebono ceramic pads, ATE coated rotors, and Pagid brake wear sensors. ATE rotors are middle of the price range. The pad choice is a compromise between wanting the best stopping power and needing to clean my wheels after driving a forty mile round trip. I have had Akebono's on an Acura TSX, a BMW 325xi, and a SAAB 9-5 - and they all stopped pretty well. More recently, I installed a set of new Textar pads on my BMW 128i convertible - they worked well, but left my wheels black at the end of most every drive. I'm willing to apply slightly more brake pedal as a trade off to keeping wheels clean for more than half a day.

All that said, I'm anxious to hear other comments.
 
Well, I went with brembo ceramic all around and pagid coated rear rotors. I will let you know what I think of the combo.
 
Textar e-pads ftw.
Been using them for years. Low dust, low wear, top stopping power. Absolutely nothing to complain about.
Daily driver rotors don't need to be anything special/expensive. Just buy from a reputable manufacturer and not those Chung Fang Dung 'we no warpy disc maker for pleasure of make nice driving' rotors. :lol:
 
Hi Chris_D,

In the US, I have found multiple sellers for Textar ePad rear pad sets to cross-match to my RealOEM number for BMW rear pads. But I can't seem to find an ePad front pad set that the vendor thinks belongs on my car. The RealOEM part numbers for brake pads differ for 3.0Si versus 3.0i - but is that a pad material difference only ? Are the pads themselves physically sized the same between 3.0i and 3.0Si ? I can do some more searching, but since you have the experience . . . In other words, I'd like to try your ePad suggestion, but will front pads sized for a 3.0i fit stock 3.0Si front calipers ??
 
Z4Mariner said:
Hi Chris_D,

In the US, I have found multiple sellers for Textar ePad rear pad sets to cross-match to my RealOEM number for BMW rear pads. But I can't seem to find an ePad front pad set that the vendor thinks belongs on my car. The RealOEM part numbers for brake pads differ for 3.0Si versus 3.0i - but is that a pad material difference only ? Are the pads themselves physically sized the same between 3.0i and 3.0Si ? I can do some more searching, but since you have the experience . . . In other words, I'd like to try your ePad suggestion, but will front pads sized for a 3.0i fit stock 3.0Si front calipers ??
Click to expand...
I'm off to bed but I'll have a butcher's on autodoc tomorrow for you.

Oh, hang on a minute; being an Amurrcun from Amurrca you're going to need a translation from Cockney rhyming slang lol:

Butcher's = butcher's hook = look.

And now I'm really off up the apples and pairs (stairs) to Uncle Ned (bed), for a bit of Bo Peep (sleep).

:lol:
 
Thanks for the translation :D

And I was able to get real part numbers on Textar's website (2318381 Front; 2193481 Rear for 3.0Si). With that info, I found one vendor who listed them, BUT they showed out-of-stock. I'll call them tomorrow and see what the deal is. I appreciate your input. After being pointed at the ePad option, I found an X5 owner's review of the ePads with good initial impressions on stopping power and low dust - and that poster followed up some time later to confirm that the pads were still performing in a superior manner. Promising !
 
Good to hear. :thumbsup:

I have my 2nd set of epads in 6 years and 52k miles going on the front soon. Plenty of meat left on the rears.
I replaced all the pads and the rear discs since the zed has been in my ownership and frankly, 1 set on the front and 52k miles is pretty good going!

However, my driving style is pretty gentlle. I'm never stamping on the brakes and always coasting to red lights, much to the frustration and fury of Dutch drivers who seem to think it is a moral duty to blast up to any/all red lights and then jam on the brakes!
If I had a Euro for everytime some impatient twod has over/undertaken me just to get to a red light first...
:roll:
 
Chris_D said:
Dutch drivers who seem to think it is a moral duty to blast up to any/all red lights and then jam on the brakes!
Click to expand...

I can assure i used to be one of these Dutch people. months ago when i got my zed haha. but thats purely because i just got it so, i was having a bit of fun. now its just a gently daily driver to work and back. the crazy factor of owning one of these has died down
 
Follow-Up:

Chris, thanks for the Textar ePad recommendation! Textar ePads are installed along with ATE coated rotors, and the brakes have been bled with fresh DOT 4 fluid. Once the brakes bedded and scraped off the protective coating, the initial 'bite' of these pads now seems to equal the OE-type semi-metallics I replaced, which makes me very happy! I finally found a seller on eBay here in the US who had the front pads in stock.

Here are my part numbers for my sport suspension & brakes coupe: Fr 2318381, Rr 2193481

PS - the ATE rotors are made in China. Quality standards are probably more important than country of origin, and these are working well.
 
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