Had to change some front brake pads and

[Bill R.]

rotors today on a 2004 m3 convertible with SMG..... 23k miles and the front rotors are gone. Cheapest i could find them was from Pat at BMA for just under 200.00 each...youch. Brake pads werent too bad at 74.00 for the set.

[632 Regal]

try autohausaz? they have been good to me lately

[winfred]

i just looked them up and yea those are pricey, no name brand listed on either of the ones i show, the "competition package" rotors are even more but at least they list a brand on them, ate

[Tiger]

Strange... Rockauto has them for $63 a piece plus shipping.

[Bill R.]

inccorrect for the centric rotors. My local centric supplier doesn't have a listing in the catalog at all for the 2004 m3 convertible smg, The listing at rockauto just struck me as too good to be true. Everybody body else was up around the price that bmw sold them for, that includes world pac as well..

Pat did say that they have come down in price, they used to be considerably higher.




Strange... Rockauto has them for $63 a piece plus shipping.

[Rick L]

Not sure about the Centric rotors but their brake pads suck! I pickup a pair for 2006 Mercedes ML350. I noticed a clunking noise when I reverse direction and apply brakes. Since the car was under factory warranty, I took it to the dealer. They told me it was do to the brake pads as it was shifting around the calipers. I replaced the pad with factory and everything is good now. I looked at the two pads side by side (Centric and Mercedes) and the quality of the metal plate was dramatic. I will never buy Centric again after seeing the quality difference.


inccorrect for the centric rotors. My local centric supplier doesn't have a listing in the catalog at all for the 2004 m3 convertible smg, The listing at rockauto just struck me as too good to be true. Everybody body else was up around the price that bmw sold them for, that includes world pac as well..

Pat did say that they have come down in price, they used to be considerably higher.

[Tiger]

Don't ever go cheap on brake pads... it is not worth it. You would think you are saving alot of money but actually cheap brake pads eat rotors like you would never believe. Even factory MB pads are not good... why do you think they say you need complete brake job every 30,000 or so miles with rotors?

I find the Ceramic pads to be pretty good so far... Akebono is my choice now. I have PBR Ultimate Ceramic on my car now... but a bit dusty (grey dust). My friend with Akebono has zero dust.

Tried and true in my experience is Axxis MetalMaster... incredible long lasting and great braking performance. I have not worn down the pads before I change it... it really does last that long. I have used this pad for over 10 years or so. My cross drilled rotors lasted 8 years before I had to change it out.... Metal Master has incredible grab when hot... but iffy when cold... only one or two brake stop to warm it up.

[Ferret]

Don't ever go cheap on brake pads... it is not worth it.

I learned my lesson about cheap brakes with my first E34 - the pads went on and came off the same week after I nearly put the damn car straight into a wall...

There are a lot of bits to a car that I'm indifferent about whether you use cheap or expensive parts, and I used to be like that with smaller cars and their brakes too - but with something like an E34 it's worth just gritting you teeth and getting it over with when you've gotta change them.