Best brake pads/rotors

[Dado 540]

What brand brake pads and rotors do Max members wide with? Im due to change rear rotors and pads, my current set up is the oem rotors and TRW pads.

[Gamite]

Pads:

Hawk HPS gave me the best combination of dustless to performance. (these seem to be very popular with the max crowd)
Pagid's were one of the most dusty pads I've ever used, but phenomenal bite.
PBR Deluxe were the cleanest, but I found them to be too soft.

Rotors:

Zimmermann, worst rotors I've ever used. Warped within months.
Brembo drilled, seemed to be very soft, wore through them quickly.

EBC dimpled rotors, had the best experience with these. Cadmium (sp?) dipped in a nice gold colour, don't rust, they were not drilled, just dimpled. Seemed to last for a very long time. In fact, they're still on my E34.

I've also heard good things about - but never tried:

Brembo blanks (OEM Equivalents)
ATE Power Discs.

[Dado 540]

Gamite what about the rotors?

[Gamite]

added

[mudmojo]

Ferodo DS2500 are the only aftermarket pads I've tried. They are quite ferocious on big Brembos and, from what I can see so far, do not dust too much.

Never tried aftermarket rotors and though lots of unsprung weight loss can be realized, I've always thought it to be too $$$.

[BigD]

Rotors don't matter, get the cheapest one you can find.

Anything from the Hawk street line will not disappoint you. The company has been quietly dominating elite racing and innovating since forever (until they defied the rule, the idea of a high torque pad and rotor friendliness was completely mutually exclusive). They're not cheap but you will not regret them.

[tig]

also had the hawk hps pads on my 328 they performed amazing but the brake dust was unbearable for me they way i drive the wheels would be covered in brake dust every 3 days

switched to pbr deluxe get no brake dust on wheels watsoever but i noticed a huge difference in braking performace compared to the hawk pads i was a little worried at first because the braking on the car really sucked but after about 5000km it got a little better, also got a set of brembo drilled rotors which could also have contributed to the poor braking. Next time I will probably just stick to blank rotors the brembo cross drilled are not the greatest. only had one season on them they are already starting to rust out quite a bit around the edges

[Dado 540]

What concerns me, is the hardening process of the cheap rotors. Premature warping.

Where do you guys purchase the Hawk products?

[BigD]

Rotors are just lumps of cast iron. If they're to spec, they're all the same. Those cross drilled and crap on the other hand, if it's not done right, you're asking for a cracked rotor (not to mention it does jack shit as far as any braking benefit goes).

The best price for Hawk pads I've found is on Tirerack.

[MLue1]

OEM rotors and Akebono Euro Ceramic pads purchased from Autoparts way.

I agee with BigD to some extent the rotors are pretty much the same unless of course you go the cheap Chinese rotors then you may see the inconsistencies in the casting processes.

Brake pads are some what subjective as everyone has different driving styles, even if the pads perform great for one person others may find the same pads grabby or not enough... . Eventually most people adjust to what they have.

The best way to get the best out of the pads and rotors is to make sure you bed-in the brake pads and roters properly; the pads/rotors will perform better and last longer. Some manufacturers will provide instructions to bed-in the brakes others don't.

[328i Cab]

Originally Posted by BigD

Rotors are just lumps of cast iron. If they're to spec, they're all the same.

Different rotors are different prices for a reason. Cheaper rotors don't go through the same heat treating processes and the metal isn't as pure as some of the higher end rotors.

The cheaper ones are more likely to warp/pit and have different vibration properties under braking and with with impacts from the road.

I guess I did learn something in school afterall!

All of that being said, depending on which car it is, sometimes it is worth putting better grade rotors, other times it isn't. So they aren't all the same, but I do agree the price difference doesn't usually justify the difference (making this post pretty much useless )