Brake pad replacement choices

sars

sars

Awesome
 East Yorkshire
Site Supporter
After Nickm paid £326.00 to have his rear pads and sensors replaced, which I thought was a little steep and knowing that mine will require replacement shortly I decided to investigate alternative pricing from an indie.

For the indie to replace front or rear pad sets, with OEM's they are asking £147.00 front £149.00 for rears
For the indie to replace with aftermarket pads £70.00 per set

This is obviously considerably cheaper than BMW, the question is should I stick with the OEM's or perhaps change out to EBC reds for which I have heard good things here. Not sure I would be happy with the cheap aftermarket ones they are offering.

And also replacing with non OEM pads are there issues with warranty?
 
Originals seem a good bet at that price. I found someone after the effect who would do them, but they could not do the reset on the car diagnostic, and BMW charge £25 plus vat or the reset. Indy in West London charges £200 inclusive, without the reset
 
If you really want to spend your weekends cleaning the brake dust off your wheels left behind by the OEM's, then they are a good choice. If you want to spend less time cleaning and less money for the pads, then look to the aftermarket. I found Akebono Euro pads to be a superior substitute for OEM's and they were $70 less for the parts. No brake squeal, no dust and very good performance for hard street use.
 
EBC Reds aren't amazing, especially if you drive the car in winter. They don't have much friction when cold, and on the E85 certainly, they don't fit well; so rattle :(

Once warmed up though they are fantastic and have great feel - its just keeping them there that's hard!. Ive had a set on my fronts for about 30k and not even 50% worn. I'm not a brake-heavy person though but by anyone's standards that's good endurance! :) Also worth noting, they don't emit much brake dust either as opposed to the Mintex 1144's i had before.
 
Got Pagid RS29's on the ///M and they work very well... can squeel in stop-start traffic if not "used" for a while
 
Nickm said:
Originals seem a good bet at that price. I found someone after the effect who would do them, but they could not do the reset on the car diagnostic, and BMW charge £25 plus vat or the reset. Indy in West London charges £200 inclusive, without the reset
Click to expand...

Knowing how BMW value engineer their cars to the extreme, I am not sure that the OEM ones are that good, admittedly I have nothing to compare them against so its just me being cynical.

Wondermike said:
Did you get a price from BMW as well, it should be cheaper up North hopefully.
Click to expand...

The going rate is about £270.00 without sensors for the rears
 
I put EBC Green Stuffs on mine last July, I know they haven't been mentioned yet, but they were awful. With a little gusto they gave up very quickly. I had fresh fluid put in when the pads went on, think the issue may have been there I have the brakes bled again. The pads quickly became useless on the Scotland meet. With the MOT, in December, I had them cleaned in a last ditch attempt, but still rubbish. Yes, the pads were run in properly and again after having the pads cleaned up.

The Green Stuffs gave up completely at Bedford and had to be changed. I wanted to go with Mintex, but their specs weren't correct, wrong pads supplied. Hissy fit by me. Pads returned. Fed up and after some research on what they had available, I bought ATE pads from Euro Car Parts as a stop gap while I sorted something better, was thinking Axxis from the US. Turns out the ATE pads are actually pretty good, better than the original BMW pads IMO and vastly better than the EBC rubbish. In addition to my usual shenanigans the pads have done a meet and a track day and performed far better than expected.

As I don't think I'll be tracking the Z4 that much now, I may stick with ATE.
 
bigshurv said:
What are the ATE ones like for brake dust?
Click to expand...

I've not thought them to be too bad - I'm not expecting them to be as low as the Green Stuffs, but I think they are far better than the standard pads, from what I can remember. Other may have different experiences - I've bought the EBCs on the back of others' feedback, but they've put me off completely.
 
PawnSacrifice said:
bigshurv said:
What are the ATE ones like for brake dust?
Click to expand...

I've not thought them to be too bad - I'm not expecting them to be as low as the Green Stuffs, but I think they are far better than the standard pads, from what I can remember. Other may have different experiences - I've bought the EBCs on the back of others' feedback, but they've put me off completely.
Click to expand...
I going off my greenstuffs too - pretty grabby when I I don't want them to be, and they squeal :(
 
I was happy with Axxis ULT pads on mine. A slight upgrade in stopping power when hot, similar to stock when cold and similar dusting. They did feel weird though for the first 1-2 thousand miles even though i bedded them in as per instructions...
 
ga41 said:
TINO said:
:? why not change yourself around £70 pice of cake :driving:
Click to expand...

Or that, should take around 30-45min per corner if you're doing it for the first time.
Click to expand...

Done mine last week. Brembo's all 'round for £65 and 2 new sensers off Ebay for £6 each.
Took me 3-4 hours. 2 of the wheels were a pig to get off and one of the caliper bolts proved a bit of a problem though.
30-45 minutes a corner would be about right if you hit no snags.


---
- Sent from my iPad 2 using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom