Y34 aftermarket brake rotors, any opinions?

[akliquid]

Hello to all.This is my first thread, but I have been enjoying this resource for a while now. Thanks for all the great info everyone.I have an 04 M45, but I have also had an 03 M45. Long story I will tell another day. But I just love this car.I have dreams of Chip Foose Overhaulin' my M45. My wife thinks I'm nuts, but good to know there are quite a few other M45 nuts out there.

Went in for a service today, actually my battery died, and wouldn't start. Was told I need new rear pads and rotors. On both my M45's, I have had warped rotors with steering wheel shake at higher speeds. I feel the OEM rotors are just not that good.

Wondering if anyone has replaced their rotors with aftermarkets with any success? The two I am looking at right now are EBC and Disc Italia.

EBC carries them for the Y34 M45 but for some reason, most online vendors only have gold zinc coated front, and black zinc coated rear.

DISC ITALIA rotors are also available for the M45, but there is absolutely no info on this brand on the entire internet except for BRAKEWORLD who sells them. They look really nice though.

Any opinion is greatly appreciated.

[lfj2025]

I got mine from Jason Burtman and have been very happy. I have both front & rear cross drilled & slotted.

[Q45tech]

Unfortunately without expensive metallurgical and xray testing impossible to know which of the 8 different grades [cost] the gray cast iron is.

We have suppliers that vary from $27, $55, $78, $108 and $122 {wholesale] for the same plain rotors that look nearly identical and will kinda fit.

Centric makes a black hat ultra premium plain rotor that PERFORMS nearly equivalent to oem.

All bets are off when you buy drilled or slotted since these machining steps cost more than the basic plain rotor alone while providing dubious improvements at best.

Ultra High Quality Plain is KING on the street.

[troubleowens]

I know this my be late but I put the EBC dimpled and slotted rotors all the way around. I also used the red stuff pads in the front and ferodo pads in the rear (could not find the red stuff pads for rear). The new set up works far better than OEM. Much shorter stopping distance and a little better feel. The car brakes more confidently. Draw back....noise, noise, noise.

[Q45tech]

How, where did you scientifically measure that after market pads and same diameter rotors decreased panic stopping distances compared to new oem components.

Very unlikely that this would be the case..............every scientific study has show at best equality and usually worse performance especially in single 60 to zero stops.

After market pads can be very bad in cold weather since to improve hot they shift the friction curve upward assumming racers will preheat pads in a few warm up laps before needing brakes.

Even Big Brake kits costing multi thousands have a difficult time improving on street single stop performance due to higher rotating mass.

Stopping distance is primarily tires and ABS software break points* [what 0.0G engagement] and cycle time.

* ABS software matches oem new tires and a certain maximum deceleration.

You can easily make a oem system worse, hard to make it better in average street conditions.

[Mark Linkous]

Well, if you are really nuts, the Brembo system for the F50 Q is applicable. I could not imagine there being a higher performance solution. System is well into the thousands though. The braking system OEM is quite good. The stopping distances reported in the rags proved them to be exceptional 60-0 in 117 feet. (MT) With our cars being sometimes deceptively quick, the sight of the po-po can cause that rotor warping rapid slowdown that is so brutal. Glad the hear from a fellow 04'er, there are exceptionally few of us.Welcome backMark

[infinitiandbeyond]

Brake Rotors??? The very best thing you can do is install CRYOGENICALLY TREATED rotors!! They will last forever and if you go to this web link, you can find out all about Custom Cryogenics and the rotors for your car are listed for $124.00 ea. for front and $111.00 for rear.

http://www.frozenrotors.com/se...dex=8

Cryogenic treatment of many types of metal objects allow them to be more resilient, last much longer and in the case of brake rotors, it makes them virtually WARP RESISTENT. Not to mention that your brake pads will also last a much longer.

I've had many friends who have used them on their race cars.

You can also cryogenically treat a gun RIFLE BARREL and it shoots much more accurately.

[akliquid]

Had a brake job done this past weekend. Bought black zinc coated, slotted and dimpled rotors from brakeperformance.com. Direct replacement to OEM rotors. Decided to go with OEM pads, and had the fluid replaced. Pedal feel and stopping power relays much better feeling of confidence. No more steering shake. I have nothing to compare to so I can't say if this is better than OEM, might not be much different compared to if I had replaced with new OEM rotors. But slotted and dimpled do look a little more "tough" than OEM. Brake Performance also offers lifetime warranty against warping and cracking. Happy with this set-up so far.


Modified by akliquid at 1:53 AM 9/28/2007

[cremecreme]

I went with the EBAY brand drilled and slotted rotors..i think irotor.com or someone....but the braking is equal to OEM according to my buttmeter....but i know about all the talk about the Drilled and Slotted being so bad, but they do look good and i got a warranty

[bob1st]

I have an 2004 M45 and experienced the same problem purchased Nappa Auto rotors and pads and no more issues. No more shaking, smooth stopping power and for a great price. Go ahead spend the big bucks it may not make a hill of beans of a difference. Easiest brakes to change in the world. Floating rotors. Once you remove the calipers the rotors slide off like butter.

[infinitiandbeyond]

DO YOURSELF A FAVOR!!! Go to http://www.frozenrotors.com and get the best and LONGEST LASTING STEEL ROTORS YOU CAN BUY!!!!

PPPEEERRRIIIOOODDD!!!

You are wasting your money buying a rotor that is not CRYOGENICALLY TREATED!!!!

Rotors with coatings DO NOT LAST!

[DRIPS]

Has anyone actually bought the frozen rotors? is it worth the extra cost? its double the price. I really need to figure out which are the best options. I am in need of front brake rotors and am leaning towards slotted.

[Double E]

EBC slotted & dimpled with red stuff are going on in the next couple of weeks. I had that setup on my old I30t. I know about the woosh noise.

What break-in method did you use?

I had also put the steel braided lines up front on the I30t. How much were those lines for the 03'-'04 M?

[DRIPS]

I am about to purchase the same setup (EBC slotted and dimpled with red stuff pads)-- what woosh noise? Are these going to be noisy compared to what I would call silent stock brakes??

[Double E]

Yep...they make a distinctive noise. It's just a "woosh" noise that you will always hear with windows down and at low speed <20mph.

I understand the difference is in how air is moved along the rotor and caliper. Of course all disk brakes have some "drag" and the slots & dimples particular to a performance-designed rotor make the air & movement not as streamlined as with stock rotors.

It isn't an "alerting" noise and you'll quickly get used to it given the braking performance improvement based on my experience in an old I30t.

I cannot say if it goes away with use or if I just got used to it, but is it a factor of the aggressive design.

[DRIPS]

Oh ok. Thats nothing. I was thinking it just made that awful squeeling noise like when the brakes are near being shot.