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2010 2011 BMW 5 Series Forum F10 BMW 5-Series (F10) Forums General 5-Series Sedan and Wagon (F10 / F11) Forum rotors and pads share your experience...
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      11-22-2018, 10:35 AM   #23
Surly73
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I'm curious --

Is anyone aware of any different OEM specs used in different areas of the world? I, for instance, had grown accustomed to German car voluminous brake dust over the years. My F10 has almost none - straight from the factory. The rears came due during the dealer service/warranty period and were replaced - same thing. The change was dramatic compared to my experience with E46, E39, E90 and Porsche.

I also feel like the initial bite on my F10 isn't as good as the past cars either, but I'm using factory parts. Just curious if they do different things in different regions. I've recently discovered that Toyota does...
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      02-07-2019, 12:17 PM   #24
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I installed these myself january 2017 as a temporary replacement but 2 years and 18-22k miles later, i love them. Better than the oem i had imo. Its about time to replace the pads now and ill probably go with some hawks. The pads that came with them were decent.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Front-eLine...sbD:rk:19:pf:0
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      02-07-2019, 06:05 PM   #25
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those are for a 535. Not a 550
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      02-08-2019, 02:37 PM   #26
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xxpanipuri View Post
ended up sticking up to OEM pads/rotors for my rear brakes...(fronts are still good)

i've used aftermarket pads in my last bmw and always had minimal brake dust but increased noise and less initial bite...thanks for everyone's input.
I'm happy with the OEMs because there is no brake dust. However, since my fronts warped, and my Indy uses Akebono I went with those. No more warping but the damn brake dust is back!!
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      02-13-2019, 03:42 PM   #27
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Just did R1 Concepts Carbon Geomet Rotors drilled and slotted and Optimum OEp pads, it was a great price and feels better than stock to me, more confidence inspiring.
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      02-15-2019, 12:25 PM   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JDMSteven View Post
Just did R1 Concepts Carbon Geomet Rotors drilled and slotted and Optimum OEp pads, it was a great price and feels better than stock to me, more confidence inspiring.
i believe i have the same, i like them.
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      02-15-2019, 04:39 PM   #29
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Originally Posted by thakid22 View Post
Be aware that modern BMW vehicles are equipped with very grippy brake pads.
The initial bite they offer is superb. Tap the brake a little and they grab with immediacy and authority.

Most aftermarket pads have a hard time retaining all of the initial bite of the OEM bmw pads.

Aftermarket pads may offer:
Less dust
Linear feel
Less Fade
Longer Pad life
Increased Rotor Life

But beware any aftermarket pad that says they have initial bite equal to the OEM pads. Most simply just DO NOT. This includes some of the popular pads from HAwk, Ebc, Powerstop, Stoptech, etc.
The Textar ePads do not bite as well either.

Some people don’t like the “grabby” OEM pad feel. Aftermarket pads will dull this quite effectively. But if you value the traditional BMW, ultra responsive pedal feel and response you will be best served by OEM pads.

Also note that BMW pads on one axle and aftermarket pads on the other (front/rear) will change your brake bias too. And that bias, will again vary, as the pad temperatures change. Again, some may not notice, but it’s there.


Your profile says you have a 550i...
To get OEM BMW performance, get OEM pads.
If you want an upgraded pad, you can order M5 rear brake pads for a bit more bite and fade resistance, but with more dust.
The M5 rear pads are a direct fit for the 550i rear. No other parts are needed.

Here, be mindful that M5 front pads don’t fit (without other parts), so you will have stock fronts and M5 rears. This will increase rear bias a bit. I mention the bias because the DSC, ELSD, Traction Control, and Corner Brake Control systems all “expect” and are calibrated for a pad of stock characteristics. Changing the pads slightly effects these systems.

I thought I could live with aftermarket pads, to get less brake dust.
But the reduction in pedal response and initial bite, muted the brakes to an unBMW like state in my opinion. Now I use stock pads, but would love to have an aftermarket pad with OEM bite with the benefits of a high performance pad.

One more thing, if the replacement pad you are looking at is a Ceramic pad, it will almost definitely have a more muted brake feel and response compared to OEM.

I hope this info helps you select a good pad for your particular needs.
You are kind of stating the obvious. The pads you have listed are harder pads, hence less dust, hence less initial bite. This is common knowledge.

I HATED the brake dust in our Mini Cooper S and switched to Hawk Pads and aftermarket rotors (Can't remember what they were now) the sec car needed new brakes.

Yes, I lost the initial bite and had to adjust my braking right after the brake job but now 5 years later, I can not tell how car used to brake. Wheels stay clean for an extended period of time and no regrets.

Now on the 535, I am very surprised by how little brake dust this car has.

I would have no problem replacing the pads with OEMs..... According to i-drive it will need front brakes in 2k miles which will be covered under its maint warranty. (2016s still had brakes included)
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      02-15-2019, 10:02 PM   #30
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The front rotors on my 14 535 have been warped for 10k mi. High speed braking would cause the steering wheel to wiggle. My dealer wouldn't make it a warranty issue and even if I had the maintenance plan they were only half worn so no dice. So I broke down last week and had a local indy replace them. He strongly recommended OEM parts although he'd install whatever I wanted, so I went with OEM. I'm happy I did because they are excellent. High speed braking is now smooth as silk and the bite is excellent and easy to modulate. Also OEMs have never made dust for me. My 2c
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      02-16-2019, 07:25 AM   #31
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The thing I've noticed is that the original BMW rotors appear to be two piece. The little circles around the hat area seem to show that multiple pieces of metal are used. Whether they are different types of metal I don't know. I have seen online parts descriptions calling the genuine option "two piece".

Although I'm no high-performance braking expert, I know that this kind of assembly usually provides some thermal isolation between the disc. This reduces the heat going into the wheel bearings and changes the way the hottest parts are free to expand and contract without being bound to the hat and wheel bolts.

At any rate - for decades I've been an "OE brakes" kind of guy. Due to ridiculous price points I would not go to the dealer for parts. But I would get Brembo, Balo or Zimmerman discs matches with Textar, Jurid or Pagid pads. All of those are supposed to be OES (Original equipment suppliers) and what comes in the dealer box would be one of those for 3-10x the price.

On all of the pictures I've seen representing the usual OES brake rotors I see no evidence of the circles on the hat area, meaning that the construction may be different in a significant way.

My F10 has only needed rear brakes and it happened during the extended maintenance interval so the dealer did it. I have never held a genuine BMW rotor in my hands to look at whether the externally visible construction of the hat area actually has any meaning internally. Does anyone have concrete information?

I have also had front shaking for a while which the dealer wouldn't address as warranty/service and even though only half worn I am getting tempted to do front brakes to clear up the vibration (hoping it isn't a hub/bearing problem that should have been fixed by warranty).

I wish that BMW designed the 5 with the braking feel of the 3. The 5s have ALWAYS had less responsive, long pedal, non-sporty brakes compared to the 3 and that's not a compound "problem". That's design. Aside from that, I am happy with the braking power and profile of the factory parts. I've already commented before how whatever BMW used as factory F10 pads are dust free compared to all the other German cars I've had so I'm happy there too.

I'm just hung up on whether the genuine discs/rotors are actually different than OEM, or if there's a particular OEM which has accurately duplicated the same construction. If factory is two piece and all the OEMs are one - I'll be going with factory rotors.
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      02-22-2019, 09:22 AM   #32
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So - a note I found on ECS regarding rotors:

Quote:
HELLA Pagid High Carbon Brake Rotors are manufactured to exceed original equipment specifications to be superior to most OE-style and performance rotors on the market. High carbon content means a denser rotor, for longer rotor life with less propensity to warping, along with better heat transfer for a cooler brake system, which is key in eliminating brake fade (and silent braking operation). These rotors feature a 2-piece fixed design with an aluminum hat for weight savings and improved cooling - just as BMW intended.
This is an OE disc from Pagid which seems to preserve "two piece" like the original. If the hats on the genuine BMW discs are aluminum then that is a notable difference in construction compared to most of the OEM/OES options out there.

The notes from the Zimmermans on the same site:

Quote:
Want to restore your stopping power? Replace those old rotors. 1-piece construction.
One piece options seem to be priced at around 50-60% of the price of two piece options.

I will be going two piece. It's not about the brand, it's about the product specification and construction.

Found a PDF from Pagid on 2 piece construction: https://www.hella-pagid.com/hellapag...hicle_3.17.pdf

It has a section that says more or less what I was saying about thermal stress issues
Quote:
When subjected to a high level of thermal load, such brake discs are susceptible to deviations like variations in thickness, axial misalignment and in shielding.

In these cases two-piece brake discs, also called composite brake discs, offer distinct advantages. Thanks to the diverse materials and special binding processes used in their manufacturing, these discs allow a decoupling of the heatflow to the wheel hub

Last edited by Surly73; 02-22-2019 at 09:28 AM..
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      02-22-2019, 11:16 PM   #33
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Coming from someone who has personally tried a number of aftermarket brake pads and have done some research let me first clear a few things up OEM pads are not manufactured by BMW. So if you buy pads in a BMW labeled box, you probably paid $50+ more than you needed to.

BMW uses manufacturers like Pagid and Textar to name a couple as OE suppliers. A lot of people go aftermarket for the simple fact that brake dust, especially on earlier models, is pretty bad. As mentioned, a majority of these pads do not have the initial bite that you would get from the factory, but at least your wheels aren’t black after a trip to the grocery store.

After going through a number of different pads I ended up coming across the Textar ePad and I will say this is as close to the factory bite I’ve felt with cold brakes. To top things off this pad also offers a great deal of less brake dust as well. In comparison to a loaner I had just about a year ago the feeling was exactly the same and based on my research BMW started using different compounds not long after the F10 was introduced.

With that in mind, if you are looking for a well rounded brake pad and are willing to give up the least amount of initial bite on cold brakes, I would check out the Textar ePad. This is the only pad I use now.
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      02-24-2019, 10:32 AM   #34
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Agree with 100% with socale39 regarding brake pads. Aside from initial bite and dust, there seems little reason to spend huge amounts of money on friction material. Likewise for rotors that are little more than a machined disk of steel. It boils down to pretty much rotors with a coating that minimize rust or cheaper ones without coating. The OE rotors on a 5 series are a little different being of two-piece construction (steel disk and aluminum hub). However, replacement, even OE ones, seem to be one-piece (all steel). Once again, these are consumable items that don't seem to matter if they are from a BMW dealer or Rock Auto. High-end rotors are also available with milled slots and/or holes, but it's doubtful that the average driver would ever tell the difference.
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      02-24-2019, 03:53 PM   #35
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TEF View Post
Likewise for rotors that are little more than a machined disk of steel. It boils down to pretty much rotors with a coating that minimize rust or cheaper ones without coating. The OE rotors on a 5 series are a little different being of two-piece construction (steel disk and aluminum hub). However, replacement, even OE ones, seem to be one-piece (all steel).
I posted just a couple of articles above this, with links to genuine BMW two-piece, and PAGID two-piece.

Yes, lots of the traditional OE brands (Zimmerman, Brembo, Balo) do appear to be one piece. Hence - I won't be going with those, since two-piece is the proper construction. I/we have enough problems keeping the front brakes running true - no need to add more thermal distortion than necessary.
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      02-28-2019, 06:27 PM   #36
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I was looking at the bigger rotor upgrade for my 550i. Using 2015 alpina b7 disk and pads (and caliper carrier). I was going to get Zimmerman rotors from eEuropart for $116 ea but they show one piece rotor in pic. Ebay seller shows same Zimmermann part number (2 for $197 shipped) but pic is 2 piece rotors. I communicated with both sellers and eEuroparts said Zimmermann sold both 1 and 2 piece rotors in this application. The one piece rotor part number ended in -20 and the 2 piece ended in -32 (different left and right side rotors). So you can get Zimmermann 2 piece if you have the right part number (just hard to find in US.) I found 2 piece ATE (OES) rotors in this application for $177ea which is about $50 less each than oem.

I have used low cost meyle rotors on my e46 330 and e90 335 with good success. I like the akebono ceramic pads for those cars too. Lower dust that was tan vs. black. Never worried about initial bite. Just heat them up. Just takes two or three stops leaving my subdivision...

Last edited by Luky; 02-28-2019 at 06:33 PM..
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      02-28-2019, 07:14 PM   #37
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Luky View Post
So you can get Zimmermann 2 piece if you have the right part number (just hard to find in US.) I found 2 piece ATE (OES) rotors in this application for $177ea which is about $50 less each than oem.
Great info to note! Plus you need to dig deeper than just the pictures like you did.
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      02-28-2019, 11:13 PM   #38
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Just looked up the 2016 550i zimmerman catalog on line.

Zimmerman P/N's for 374 x 36mm rotors (German 550i brakes)
one piece front left 150.2912.20
one piece front right 150.2913.20
two piece front left 150.2912.32
two piece front right 150.2913.32

Zimmerman P/N's for 348 x 36mm rotors (US 550i and 535i I believe)
one piece front left 150.3478.20
one piece front right 150.3479.20
two piece front left 150.3478.32
two piece front right 150.3479.32

front left one piece drilled 150.3478.52
front right one piece drilled 150.3479.52
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      03-03-2019, 09:18 AM   #39
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I think I am going to need rotors on the front as the shaking gets bad when I apply the brakes. Who stocks the two-piece rotors for 535i? I looked up the part numbers 150.3478.32, and 150.3479.32 but can't seem to find any online retailers that stock them.
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      03-03-2019, 11:39 AM   #40
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harris69 View Post
I think I am going to need rotors on the front as the shaking gets bad when I apply the brakes. Who stocks the two-piece rotors for 535i? I looked up the part numbers 150.3478.32, and 150.3479.32 but can't seem to find any online retailers that stock them.
Yeah, the FCP Euro guy responded they show the P/N but don't show any availability. Probably need to call the places that sell Zimmerman and see if they can order them. All the sites I saw showing them in stock were UK or European.
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      03-03-2019, 11:42 AM   #41
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Luky View Post
Yeah, the FCP Euro guy responded they show the P/N but don't show any availability. Probably need to call the places that sell Zimmerman and see if they can order them. All the sites I saw showing them in stock were UK or European.
ECS Tuning stocks the Pagid ones...
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      03-03-2019, 09:47 PM   #42
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harris69 View Post
I think I am going to need rotors on the front as the shaking gets bad when I apply the brakes. Who stocks the two-piece rotors for 535i? I looked up the part numbers 150.3478.32, and 150.3479.32 but can't seem to find any online retailers that stock them.
ECS has Pagid and BMW two piece.
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      03-04-2019, 05:36 AM   #43
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Surly73 View Post
ECS has Pagid and BMW two piece.
At $149.99 a piece, do you think they are worth spending the extra cash?
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      03-04-2019, 06:57 AM   #44
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harris69 View Post
At $149.99 a piece, do you think they are worth spending the extra cash?
My personal opinion? I've said in a couple of threads that when I do my F10 brakes I will absolutely be sticking with the two piece design. I'll see what OE brands of those are available to me when the time comes.

If I was ordering right now (personally), I would probably be getting the Pagids from ECS.
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