[DigitalNav]

Just curious,

Those of you who drive "sporty" how long do your brakes last?

Are there places to get cheaper brakes than the dealer prices?

I enjoy hooning the car once in a while and dont wanna get screwed with brakes eating my wallet.

[B58BULLY]

Havent bought them for my f10 yet but ive run brakeperformance.com drilled/slotted and ceramic pads on my past three cars two different generation acura tl type s and my 5k infitniti fx35 set up last me at least 2yrs on each car other than replacing ceramic pads at about 18 months theyre a bit loud but i always have music on so dont bother me but will be doing this swap to f10 as well soon

[Bbb34]

Originally Posted by DigitalNav

Those of you who drive "sporty" how long do your brakes last?

"Spirited" driver, manual transmission (in theory breaking a bit less because of manual downshifts).

Replaced rear pads and rotors at around 55K km, front at 75K km.
Of course, crazy harsh winters where I live don't help extend brake life, might be slightly better for you in California.

[Bmw doubles]

I'm about to replace my fronts and I drive a manual, but never use down shifting to slow the car as a transmission is more expensive to fix then replacing pads. My OEM fronts lasted 29k. I'll be replacing them again with OEM and I've seen the OEM pads as low as 100 buck. Should replace the sensors too. There's an aftermarket kit for 300 bucks that includes rotors, pads and sensors from ECS Tuning.
https://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-F10-53...its/ES2837264/

[PJinCA]

^^^ Very good suggestion. For replacing parts like brakes, I would never recommend the dealer, they will rip you off. Replacing the rotors and pads at the dealer will run at least $1400, which is ridiculous. Replacing the rotors and pads shouldn't take longer than 2 hrs - and I am being generous, because I use copious amounts of copper grease on the wheel hub (to prevent the rotor from rusting to the hub), on the pins (to keep them moving freely), and on the backs of the pads (to reduce/eliminate squealing). If you take your time and clean and grease everything properly, 2 hrs is plenty of time. The dealer will not do this, when I had rotors and pads replaced under the maintenance warranty they started squealing like a stuck pig in less that 2 days. I had to take them apart again and grease them up - I found the dealer had used none.

[lsturbointeg]

Do you guys stick to what the car's computer is telling you in miles when to change them or are you guys changing them when you feel like it? In all my other vehicles I only change the brakes when I hear the squeak indicator but because the BMW actually has a mileage indicator that's all new to me. So far I have yet forked out any money as I'm still under the maintenance warranty

[Trian]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

Do you guys stick to what the car's computer is telling you in miles when to change them or are you guys changing them when you feel like it?

The car's computer is not that accurate in the beginning. It winds itself down based upon mileage and then stalls there until the brakes actually do become nearly done in.

My front brakes stayed at 5,000 miles for about 10,000 miles. I know they were still good as I had my indy check them during oil changes.

Me experiences are fronts brakes last about 50,000 miles but rears have gone in about 15,000-20,000.

[lsturbointeg]

Odd that your rears wear out way faster than the fronts when the fronts usually do most of the work

[Trian]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

Odd that your rears wear out way faster than the fronts when the fronts usually do most of the work

I wondered why my rears are used so much faster than the front, but all I know is when the brakes are done and the gauge reset, that the front is set at 50,000 miles and the rears at 25,000. This is just rear wheel drive so is that the difference?

[Bbb34]

Originally Posted by Trian

I wondered why my rears are used so much faster than the front, but all I know is when the brakes are done and the gauge reset, that the front is set at 50,000 miles and the rears at 25,000. This is just rear wheel drive so is that the difference?

Has nothing to do with rear wheel drive.
Most modern cars will wear their rear brakes faster.

Daily use of hand brake, auto hold, several electronic nannies that are "silently" applying the brakes when cars are pushed to the limit, brake bias (so that car doesn't dive when braking) as well as size of the brakes themselves are the reasons that are mentioned in various forums. I'm not mechanic, so I cannot say for sure, but most people I know change rear at almost twice the rate they change front brakes these days. Also, rear pads and rotors are cheaper to replace, cannot say for sure if they are the same size as front on F10, never bothered to check.

[PJinCA]

The rear brakes do a lot of work, yes, and they are also much smaller than the front pads (rotors are smaller as well). Still, they should last longer than half as much as the fronts. Again, I am going back to my E60 days, since I've had my F10 a total of 2 months now - I used to change all 4 pad sets at the same time. Like lsturbointeg said: the fronts do the majority of the braking in most situations, and they have more weight on them at all times, which is why they are larger.

[Bbb34]

Originally Posted by Bmw doubles

I'm about to replace my fronts and I drive a manual, but never use down shifting to slow the car as a transmission is more expensive to fix then replacing pads.

Right, I wasn't implying I'm doing so to save the brakes, just that in theory, brakes are less used with manual transmission.

Originally Posted by PJinCA

Still, they should last longer than half as much as the fronts.

And they do, at least they did for me, on F10 and my past 3 cars, where rears also went first, I'd estimate something like roughly 3/2 ratio.

[lsturbointeg]

Good info guys