Brakes.

HPFirenza · Post by **HPFirenza** » Tue 04 Aug, 2015 17:19

Need new discs and pads front and rear for Jan 1999 1.9 on solid discs. Any suggestions as to what are currently the best to replace the oem units with. I have no need to upgrade to a bigger spec just the standard solids will be ok. I have read Black diamond are good, has anybody had the experience of using them and what pads would you fit.

Del · Post by **Del** » Tue 04 Aug, 2015 21:19

Like tyres you will get a range of views on the "best" discs/pads. Personally, I find that the cheaper discs rust badly and very quickly so that any edges not touched by the pads, drilled holes, grooves and hubs look rather shabby after a short while. A decent aftermarket brand like Pagid (Euro Car parts) has a coating which is removed on the pad to disc surface but which preserves the non friction surface - I think other good makes like Brembo are similar. I have not used the ones you mention and so have no knowledge on them.

Personally, I only use conventional "road use" pads which all seem to create dust to some degree on the alloys. I have been very happy with the braking performance of premium brands like Textar - recently fitted these to the front of my wife's Mini and after bedding-in, they felt much better that the OE ones I replaced. I have found that budget, aftermarket brands can sometimes squeal and seem to give off a bronze coloured dust which can be a little harder to remove from alloy wheels.

Mugs · Post by **Mugs** » Tue 04 Aug, 2015 22:30

i recently replaced mine.
i got a full set of front mintex discs and pads from ebay for the grand total of £45.
as expected, they are great quality and at a great price too.

William P · Post by **William P** » Wed 05 Aug, 2015 07:54

I have also replaced front and rear discs/pads with Mintex at about £90 delivered for both sets. The quality is excellent they bedded in quickly and give good stopping rate for a standard set up

therealdb1 · Post by **therealdb1** » Wed 05 Aug, 2015 08:37

Another vote for Mintex. Excellent value and stopping power so I have them on all 4 of my cars. They do (did last time I looked) something called Brake Box which they claim to be matched discs and pads which is what I fitted and have no complaints at the price. It takes the guesswork out of finding the right pads/discs.

Hairyscreech · Post by **Hairyscreech** » Wed 05 Aug, 2015 11:47

BMW tend to use hard discs and require softer pads, a lot of cheap pads are really hard.

I had pretty poor brakes on the Z when I first picked it up, a new set of pagid pads really solved that. Pagid used to be OEM for quite a few makes.

At £25 a pair it really makes no sense to use anything else.

therealdb1 · Post by **therealdb1** » Wed 05 Aug, 2015 15:23

Pagid were OEM for my Porker. Nuff said!
Still think Mintex are hard to beat for value and performance though.

Del · Post by **Del** » Wed 05 Aug, 2015 18:21

therealdb1 wrote:Still think Mintex are hard to beat for value and performance though.

All legitimate pads have to comply with EU safety standards and are perfectly safe to use. Mintex are however, pitched on the market as a competitively priced aftermarket brand, they are not a premium quality pad and in my experience will give off bronze coloured dust.

Zed Carer · Post by **Zed Carer** » Wed 05 Aug, 2015 22:26

Del wrote:.... I have been very happy with the braking performance of premium brands like Textar - recently fitted these to the front of my wife's Mini and after bedding-in, they felt much better that the OE ones I replaced....

Interesting as Textar are the OEM pads on our Z4 and are very good - except for the volume of brake dust!

Mike Fishwick · Post by **Mike Fishwick** » Thu 06 Aug, 2015 07:22

EBC Greenstuff are good low-dust pads, and work very well, without any problems such as glazing or juddering. They wear well too - our Golf has just had new pads and discs, replacing a set of Zimmermann (from GSF) discs and Greenstuff pads both of which had covered 120,000 miles. The pads stilll had quite a bit of life left in them, too!

Hairyscreech · Post by **Hairyscreech** » Thu 06 Aug, 2015 08:15

Greenstuff work ok but not on a light car, hard to get them up to temperature on a mini or kit car. Had them on a 1300 cooper and found I just couldn't brake enough to keep them warm.
The yellow stuff and blue stuff pads are great, used them on an S50B32 powered E36 compact.
Note - None of these 3 are really what I would call "road" pads as they all need some heat in the brakes to work properly, the blue stuff are handy from cold as they are an endurance compound designed to work ok after a lot of coasting/easy laps.

Avoid the Eicher pads, way to hard and are like squeezing wood against the disc.

Not tried the Textar as they are only a few quid less than the proven pagids, will bear them in mind.

Used mintex on Fords a lot, work fine if combined with mintex discs.

It's important to remember there are 2 ways of getting the friction, one is to use pads and discs that wear at a similar rate and produce abrasive friction by wearing together, the other which the hard BMW discs use is to transfer/embed pad material into the surface of the disc using a softer pad and essentially rub a layer of pad against the pad.
If you use hard pads on hard discs the brakes will be shite. Symptom seems to be ok gentle braking and nervous harder braking, a feeling of just not slowing down quickly enough on a hard stop.

pingu · Post by **pingu** » Fri 07 Aug, 2015 01:21

I've just parted with some cash for a full set of brake discs and pads...

These are the EBC part numbers for the M (with the best prices that I could find)...

Standard Front Discs (D979) - £97.12 from EBC Brakes Direct
Redstuff Front Pads (DP3689C) - £82.30 from Camskill
Standard Rear Discs (D1009) - £134.60 from Camskill
Redstuff Rear Pads (DP3690C) - £49.61 from EBC Brakes Direct

No shipping charges and if you use the EBC Brakes eBay pages you can get 146 Nectar Points.

Gazza · Post by **Gazza** » Fri 07 Aug, 2015 11:04

The price for the discs, is that a pair ?

I need to change all my discs and pads, with 35% discount from GSF Carparts it totals £435

Discs before discount are £166 each for the floating type.

Hairyscreech · Post by **Hairyscreech** » Fri 07 Aug, 2015 12:08

I thought that, if that price is for a pair that is astronomically good value for E36M discs.

Are they solid or floating though?

pingu · Post by **pingu** » Fri 07 Aug, 2015 12:57

Yes, it's for a pair of solid discs to OEM spec (not slotted or drilled). I want to look as standard as possible

.

A link to all the EBC brake parts on the M Roadster...

Linky

Camskill were slightly cheaper, but charged for shipping on some items. D1009 and DP3689C are free shipping from Camskill.

HPFirenza · Post by **HPFirenza** » Sun 09 Aug, 2015 21:29

Thankyou for all your replies. I will give plenty of thought to all the advice given.

zroadster.net

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