I'm planning on doing my brakes myself and was looking at these 'Wearever' rotors at Advance Auto Parts. They are not OEM, but I don't think BMW makes their own rotors anyways. I don't race so..... thoughts?

I can get the fronts for $31 + tax each and the rears for $51 + tax each. Total of $164 + tax for all 4 rotors (and they have a '2 year warranty')..

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...p2HomeClicked=

I was also thinking about getting Axxis Deluxe+ pads instead of OEM.

Thoughts and opinions welcomed.

 

Well I'm not sure about the rotors, but I have the axxis deluxe pads and they are great. Good stopping power and no dust.

 

What does that 2 year warranty cover exactly?
Any defect at all and the manufacturer replaces them?

I'm not sure its a risk I'm willing to take...
Who knows. All rotors are the same...

R1 concepts premium rotors and Hawk HPS pads all the way!

 

Napa/Autozone/Oreilly Rotors are usually made in China w/ cheaper material.
It does the job but if warped then you end up redoing it again.
Of course you can claim warranty but you need to redo.

Don't fall for lifetime warranty. The price is usually double the regular warranty (prepaying the second rotors)

I'd use Centric rotors:
http://www.centricparts.com/INDEX2.HTML

Centric is Stoptech brakes and Power Slot

Centric Brake Rotors:
Unless you are a hardcore track junkies, basic brake rotors is good enough. Slotted/Crossdrilled are just "cosmetic"
Front: 121.34070 - $40
Rear: 121.34074 - $30

StopTech Street Performance Brake Pads:
Front: 309.09180 - $70
Rear: 309.06830 - $40

Get them all from:
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php

StopTech Street Performance brake pads are StopTech's newest formulation, offering an unusual combination of good bite, low noise, and extremely wide temperature range, making them ideal as "dual use" street to medium track pads. These are the standard pads included with StopTech big brakes and are now available for many OEM applications. Preferred high performance street pads.

It's similar to Axxis Ultimate but less "initial" bite vs ultimate but same higher braking bite and WAY LESS DUST than Ultimate.

BTW, I used Hawk HPS on my other car before. It was okay.

This Stoptech pads seems to be in between HPS and HP+ but CHEAPER

 

if interested we carry some quality aftermarket rotors that are OEM-sized direct replacements and have set up a number of members with them along with aftermarket pads

 

I like those rotor prices, but 80 bucks for shipping? Ouch.

 

Damn.. I didn't realize it's $80 to ship to FL
Must be the weight on the rotors

Advance Auto Parts it is then

FYI: I used Napa Rotors on my Saab 92X (WRX) before and have been really happy w/ them.
I guess if you DIY on your own then you can claim warranty if the rotors warped

 

It's looking like:

$194.74 OTD for the Advance Auto Parts Wearever brand rotors with "2 YEAR REPLACEMENT IF DEFECTIVE" warranty

vs.

$216.63 OTD for the Centric set with unknown warranty


Hmmmm........

 

What do you mean by in between the HPS and HP+? In terms of braking power or dust?

 

Interesting conversation over on slickdeals.net regarding "Chinese" rotors:

Quote from jon_laura5
"You should go to a parts store and literally pick up both and compare the weight.
You'll generally find the cheaper ones are less dense and made in China. The more expensive ones are still made in this country but are far heavier."

Completely wrong.

First, for many car models you'll only find Chinese rotors. The traditional brands are just names on the box -- the often sell exactly the same Chinese made parts as each other.

Rotors will weigh pretty much the same, independent of who makes them. They need to match the OE thickness, diameter and venting. There won't be much difference in the density either -- brake rotors use an alloy that mostly iron, with some copper and a carefully limited carbide grain size.

Years ago it used to be common to encounter poor quality rotors when you bought the cheap version. That's much less of an issue now. The cheap-but-good Chinese rotors made in massive factories have squeezed out the small-scale gravity cast parts that had uneven density and abysmal mold quality. You could practically picture the third-world backyard casting pit that those parts came from.

The only bad rotor I've bought in the past decade wasn't Chinese made -- it was from ATE.


Chinese rotors are not thinner..they have to be a certain thickness that allows for machining to a Minimum thickness and then there is a discard spec. With that being said the number one cause of rotors warping is uneven and over tightening of the lug nuts when the wheel is attached. ( people drive the lug nuts on with a impact wrench) This causes uneven stress on the rotor and as soon as you get them hot while breaking that relieves the stress which causes the warped rotor and break pulsation.
To avoid this...lightly tighten all the lug nuts in a star pattern, then finish tightening to the correct torque spec. using a torque wrench...if you over tighten.....back the lug nut off and re-torque.