I'm looking at brakes...

[idej_z4]

...and was wondering what people thought of these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Z4-E86-Z4-3-0si-06-08-Front-Rear-Brake-Discs-Pads-/290622450010?hash=item43aa72a95a:g:xjkAAMXQWuRQ-T5S

They're drilled and lightweight and at a good price for a full set...or am I being too cheap?

 

[Ed Doe]

I'm sure they'd be fine but I'd not want to get on track with them. Bear in mind the pads are OE equivalent not uprated.

 

[bmwaddict]

I have them fitted, just the discs, as do a few guys on here, are absolutely fine, just paint the centres before fitting as they surface rust pretty quickly. I'd buy other pads if you intend in "spirited driving". Try the Mtec website.

 

[idej_z4]

I have them fitted, just the discs, as do a few guys on here, are absolutely fine, just paint the centres before fitting as they surface rust pretty quickly. I'd buy other pads if you intend in "spirited driving". Try the Mtec website.

Thanks for the info. I've been looking at some EBC brake pads...loads to choose from.

 

[Ed Doe]

I've had OE brembo pads fitted for the last year or so - done about 15k and a couple of trackdays and they've dealt with the abuse pretty impressively to be honest! I'll be upgrading before my next trackday though, I guess my point being don't be drawn into upgrading for the sake of it

 

[bmwaddict]

I have red stuff on my sport, good from cold and much less brake dust than oem, not too pricey either but wouldn't take them on track. Don't bother with green unless you drive like a grandma.
Going to fit blue stuff ndx to the M.

 

[idej_z4]

I have red stuff on my sport, good from cold and much less brake dust than oem, not too pricey either but wouldn't take them on track. Don't bother with green unless you drive like a grandma.
Going to fit blue stuff ndx to the M.

Thanks! I saw that you've upgraded to the ///M - not jealous at all. :wink:

 

[bmwaddict]

Cheers, couldn't resist any longer. Been on the cards for a while. Love the new sig pic

 

[Ducklakeview]

+1 also for the MTec discs.

However, they are cheaper if you order from them direct, don't forget they will have factored in Ebay & Paypal costs.

A quick look, and using code "new10" gets you the same discs, pads, free brake grease and delivery for only £179.81 all in...



Mike

 

[idej_z4]

+1 also for the MTec discs.

However, they are cheaper if you order from them direct, don't forget they will have factored in Ebay & Paypal costs.

A quick look, and using code "new10" gets you the same discs, pads, free brake grease and delivery for only £179.81 all in...

2017-05-04_09-49-22.jpg

Mike

Nice one Mike! Much appreciated!

 

[kis]

They also sell quite a few well spec'd pads too. Cheapest I've seen is to buy the lot from them direct. eBay tends to be a tad bit more ££ across the board.

 

[SonnyA85]

i've read that drilled discs are crap (prone to cracking) and grooved makes a whining noise.

best just to buy decent pads and fluid and leave discs as is.

wonder what you guys think about that? i drove a new passat estate (hire car) and it had the best brakes i've ever tested. i'm thinking that my pads must be crap and/or have air bubbles in my fluid as i bought decent stuff. pads are the ones from previous owner and probably cheapest on the market.

 

[mmm-five]

i've read that drilled discs are crap (prone to cracking) and grooved makes a whining noise.

I've had standard drilled discs on the Z4MC for over 140,000 miles, and have never cracked one, despite a few hundred Ring laps and a few thousand miles of UK track days.

it's probably not the drilled/grooved part that's contributing to the cracks/noise, but the quality of the disc.

wonder what you guys think about that? i drove a new passat estate (hire car) and it had the best brakes i've ever tested. i'm thinking that my pads must be crap and/or have air bubbles in my fluid as i bought decent stuff. pads are the ones from previous owner and probably cheapest on the market.

Probably just over-assisted braked. Even the Vauxhall Viva 1.0L I had as a hire car seemed to have 'better' brakes than the Z4MC, but it was only the very high pedal that made it feel that way, and it was a case of 'all or nothing' compared to the quite progressive feel of the Zed's brakes.

 

[ESP]

i've read that drilled discs are crap (prone to cracking) and grooved makes a whining noise.

best just to buy decent pads and fluid and leave discs as is.

wonder what you guys think about that? i drove a new passat estate (hire car) and it had the best brakes i've ever tested. i'm thinking that my pads must be crap and/or have air bubbles in my fluid as i bought decent stuff. pads are the ones from previous owner and probably cheapest on the market.

I hear this a lot. Yes there might be case if it i dont dismiss, but loads of performance Mercs and BMW come with drilled from the factory, there must be years of R&D behind why regardless of what people write online. Im running Brembo drilled disks on my Z4 and previously for 60 000 miles on my MR2 Turbo, never had a single issue.

The MR2 did loads of track days and never had any issues, but 99.9% of us will be driving around doing general driving which road brakes are made to more than handle.

 

[ESP]

REMEMBER you can have thee best, biggest, most expensive brakes in the whole world,
but if you tires are not up to the job your going to have issues.
ULTIMATELY Brakes slow and stop a wheel spinning through friction, but its tires that are in contact with the road, they need to be good to not lose traction to help a car stop quickly.


If someone wants to suggest 'Brake fade and over heating' your driving like a dick and shouldn't be on the road! :thumbsdown:

 

[SonnyA85]

i've read that drilled discs are crap (prone to cracking) and grooved makes a whining noise.

best just to buy decent pads and fluid and leave discs as is.

wonder what you guys think about that? i drove a new passat estate (hire car) and it had the best brakes i've ever tested. i'm thinking that my pads must be crap and/or have air bubbles in my fluid as i bought decent stuff. pads are the ones from previous owner and probably cheapest on the market.

I hear this a lot. Yes there might be case if it i dont dismiss, but loads of performance Mercs and BMW come with drilled from the factory, there must be years of R&D behind why regardless of what people write online. Im running Brembo drilled disks on my Z4 and previously for 60 000 miles on my MR2 Turbo, never had a single issue.

The MR2 did loads of track days and never had any issues, but 99.9% of us will be driving around doing general driving which road brakes are made to more than handle.

well they obviously do cool faster as long as their is direct airflow going over the discs. that is the theory behind drilled. the holes allow better airflow therefore they cool faster. somepeople mod their cars and have intakes that are pointed at the discs using small pipes. it's all about getting air to where it's needed then maximising the airflow.

i think the people complaining must have been using cheap drilled discs that haven't been done by a reputable professional company.

grooves also work in the sense their is less direct contact and for that split second it doesn't allow heat to build up as much. however they can cause whining noises.

if my discs ever need replacing in future i'm tempted to go drilled. will obviously get some decent pads and fluid to match them too.

tyres as stated above is just common sense for any car enthusiast. my wife used to buy £30 budgets / part worns. she now has a set of eagle F1's on her car thanks to me which were around £100 a corner. so what she used to spend on 3 tyres before now only gets her 1. However I did notice her part worns only used to past around 3-6 months before needing replaced again. i think i've had the eagle f1's on her car for 18 months now and they still have enough tread for another 18 months easy. so decent tyres actually work out cheaper in the long run, so long as your not buying super soft tyres.

 

[Steve84N]

You're misunderstood as to the reasons for holes and/or grooves as it's not heat. Strictly speaking such discs are less able to deal with heat as there's less mass to absorb it, although it's negligible. Aside from any ducting and the external surfaces the cooling is done by the the gap in the middle. More expensive discs have curved vanes inside but most are just straight.

Holes reduce mass slightly and allow gas build up to release that's produced when the pads get very hot. This is hardly an issue anymore as pads are much better. Grooves clear the pad surface on an ongoing basis and also allow gases to escape. They tend to wear out pads faster but are the best for performance which is why you see a lot more racing cars with grooves compared to holes. F1 discs have neither so you really don't need anything but plain discs...

 

[ESP]

You're misunderstood as to the reasons for holes and/or grooves as it's not heat. Strictly speaking such discs are less able to deal with heat as there's less mass to absorb it, although it's negligible. Aside from any ducting and the external surfaces the cooling is done by the the gap in the middle. More expensive discs have curved vanes inside but most are just straight.

Holes reduce mass slightly and allow gas build up to release that's produced when the pads get very hot. This is hardly an issue anymore as pads are much better. Grooves clear the pad surface on an ongoing basis and also allow gases to escape. They tend to wear out pads faster but are the best for performance which is why you see a lot more racing cars with grooves compared to holes. F1 discs have neither so you really don't need anything but plain discs...

The grooves will actually help reduce heat, but that a secondary factor, but either way under normal to circumstance over heating breaks should never be a issues in normal road cars even when driven hard on the road (not track). Basic solid disks with no adapted venting will still cool Extremely quickly from the time the pad is released, maybe not to touch and handle but from the highs they reach on actual breaking. Heat will only be a issue if extreme repetitive braking happens in very quick secession (basically characteristics of illegal driving) for example on a track day, because (regardless of disks types) if you haven't had your brake fluid changed regularly as recommend, it degrades drastically, and will quickly over heat and loosing performance until fully cooled. If you keep on-top of Brake fluid service intervals you should be more than ok.

Also referring to F1 cars as a point of reference is pointless as they use carbon fibre composite brake discs, and

• a F1 car weights around 700kg

• whilst a E85 weighs over 1500kg

Standard factory disks on which ever model should be (and are regards to Z4's) MORE than capable of the job in hand, like anything they have to be maintained and replaced at the right intivals.
That said i run Drilled disks, A. for vanity reasons and B. its good enough for BMW M-division its good enough for me.