I had R1 rotors and hawk pads installed. I lost a significant amount of braking power and they squeaked like no other. 600 hundred miles after the correct bedding process and they still had no bite. I have since replaced the hawk pads with OEM pads. I regained a lot of the "bite" but they are still not 100% like stock brakes. Love the look of the R1s so im keeping this set up.

 

For myself, I would never install cross drilled rotors on a street car. With the drilled holes, reduced surface area and the holes tend to get micro cracks around them.

There is really no benefit of having them on a street car in my opinion.

 

Agreed- less surface area, less friction between pad and rotor. Curiously I would have expected the drilled rotors to be lighter, not heavier. I have the same experience as epilithic w/ Hawk HPS pads, too much squeal for my taste (vs OE, EBC, Axxis/PBR, Stoptech pads).

I personally just replaced my OE brakes this past weekend with "normal" rotors & Stoptech Street pads, and the initial bite is much improved even with the cold weather (40's - 50's F).

 

If you got the premium rotors its suppose to be heavier because its suppose to be made with a higher strength disc to take the heat and not warp.

 

I have to say I disagree. I have had OEM rotors and the HPS pads for about 5k miles so far. They are very quiet, produce nearly no dust and at this rate will last an extremely long time. However, the pedal feel is no longer the responsive BMW feel. The pedal is soft, stopping takes longer and more force is required to stop the vehicle.

I work in the vehicle validation department at the BMW plant in South Carolina and I can say that in my opinion (which does not reflect the opinion of the BMW group or any affiliate company) the OEM pads are significantly better than any STREET pad you will find in terms of performance. There are compromises in any pad, you can't have no dust and superb brake feel. That is why the OEM pads dust so much, BMW has determined that performance is much more important than low dust pads.

I am not dissatisfied with the Hawk HPS pads, they are quiet and its nice to not have to clean my wheels every other day!!!! However I really miss the fantastic pedal feel and performance of the stock pads and will be returning to the stock setup at my next brake change.

On a more broad note, there are reasons BMW chooses certain OEM equipment, they balance quality with long term performance. Be skeptical of aftermarket solutions, they do not have the resources the original manufacturer has to develop and evaluate parts.

 

It either looks & diminished braking power (maybe slight) vs, OEM performance that looks ok. I have done many MODs to my E60 but I will leave my breaks stock until I can get an M5 brake swap.

 

I think that is the way to go. Get some big brakes on there.

 

I have a set of M5 brakes with 30k miles with rotors, pads, calipers, brake lines if anyone interested pm me.

 

I think it's awfully hard to compete with the stock setup for brakes, particularly for the 535/545/550s. This is a pic of the current OE stock replacement rotor - it's two piece, with aluminum hats, something you're not getting except with a BBK from a third party vendor, and something that I don't think was on my car from the factory (at least I don't recall them being so configured).

They look great behind the wheels. I recently did a brake job with these and StopTech pads. If I had it to do over again I'd keep it entirely stock, or choose a different third party pad. Initial bite doesn't seem up to snuff, and the ultimate performance is certainly adequate, but not ridiculously good and smooth like the stock setup.