$42 Rotors on RockAuto?

[Scharbag]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

If someone buys a car for $25k because they are on a tight budget and it needs new rotors and they have the choice between spending $200 for a set or $1000 for a set, they may decide that the $200 set fits their budget. Certainly for many parts, there is not a cheaper option and buyers should consider future maintenance costs when buying. But it looks like brakes are no longer one of those “no option but to spend $1000” maintenance items.

You may be very rich or simply have nothing to spend your money on but your car. I am not in either situation. I bought my car used to save money, shop carefully for parts to save money, and do all my own work to save money. And I detest “M snobs.”

I am not rich nor am I an M snob. I do not look forward to having to buy new rotors when the time comes but I understood the cost when I bought my used M3. I also do as much of my own wrenching that I can.

I am happy that we have options out there for parts. I just do not understand why brake rotor cost is such a big deal. $1000 for rotors every 5 years is $200 per year. That is less than most spend on gas a month for their DD M3. Similar to what most spend on oil changes every year for an M3.

The M3 is not cheap to own. You can save money by using jobber parts if you choose to. It is nice to have options. Just like you could choose to buy Westlake tires instead of Michelin tires, a $6 oil filter instead of Mahle or NAPA gold brake pads instead of OEM (or better).

Happy motoring.

[Inflame]

Yeah guys, chill... Just cause this is an expensive car doesn't mean maintenance needs to be expensive too. $40 rotors will be perfectly fine for street driving, just makes ownership easier on the wallet. These will probably be fine on track too with additional ducting.

[Scharbag]

Originally Posted by Inflame

Yeah guys, chill... Just cause this is an expensive car doesn't mean maintenance needs to be expensive too. $40 rotors will be perfectly fine for street driving, just makes ownership easier on the wallet. These will probably be fine on track too with additional ducting.

You are right.

Chilling now.

[roastbeef]

.

[pbonsalb]

I bet 90% of owners could not tell the difference between the $200 set of rotors and the $1000 set while driving the car.

The real test will be for people to buy and use them and see how they wear. One likely market is the toughest testers — the racers who wear out rotors in a season and are tired of spending $1000 every year. Another market is the guy who just bought the used M3 for $20-25k and needs new rotors and does not want to spend $1000. The guys who like the drilled rotors, or must have M everything or simply want to use all original parts obviously won’t be buying these.

[nrubenstein]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

I bet 90% of owners could not tell the difference between the $200 set of rotors and the $1000 set while driving the car.

The real test will be for people to buy and use them and see how they wear. One likely market is the toughest testers — the racers who wear out rotors in a season and are tired of spending $1000 every year. Another market is the guy who just bought the used M3 for $20-25k and needs new rotors and does not want to spend $1000. The guys who like the drilled rotors, or must have M everything or simply want to use all original parts obviously won’t be buying these.

The only set of rotors that I ever actually warped was a set of E46 M3 euro floating rotors (identical construction to stock E90). Out of dozens of sets.

The OE E90 rotors aren't really anything special. But they are pretty. Given the cost, I'd have to think hard about a BBK when my current set wears out.

[pbonsalb]

Someone just posted a link to a dealer on CA selling front pairs of new BMW rotors for $354. I shopped for a while for a deal and bought the front pair for $425 and the rear pair for $450 last fall — mine were nearly 10 years old with nearly 90k miles, full of rust, had uneven and wavy surfaces and the fronts were below the wear limit spec.

[SDPLV]

I might try these out. I daily my E90, and don't track. Will bed my HPS pads and see how they do day to day.

[pbonsalb]

I read a post from a racer who bought a set and they were cross drilled when they arrived even though advertised as blank.

[GeorgeA]

Yea not sure who thinks these are ideal for track use. The point of 2 piece cross drilled is to cool down the rotors and avoid warping with pad deposit. These would cook quick on the track.

[thasuperdude]

I prefer a cheap rotor, for auto-x anyway. They're a bit softer and Hawk pads bite the shit out them even without a lot of heat. Just chuck them after every season. I think I was spending about $50 an axel on my WRX. Same thing with clutches, it's a wear item, cheaper ones just wear quicker.

With that said, I've had the OEM rotors on my 2009 and they're still fine. DDing and 3 years auto-xing and they're looking about 50% spent. That's pretty remarkable. I think I have almost 50k on the car now. It's like buying gas vs up-front hybrid costs; you'll probably end up spending the same in the end.

[BOOF-M3]

Originally Posted by GeorgeA

Yea not sure who thinks these are ideal for track use. The point of 2 piece cross drilled is to cool down the rotors and avoid warping with pad deposit. These would cook quick on the track.

I'm not in the market for rotors but would these be fine for DD?

[SDPLV]

Originally Posted by BOOF-M3

I'm not in the market for rotors but would these be fine for DD?

I assume they would be. Will order them and report back.

I don't know if my OEM rotors were ever even swapped, maybe once at most.

They looked great even at 80k miles when I swapped the pads, and my M has 97k miles now.

No issues to date, just feel like they may be due for a change before I have warping/vibration and pads start getting ruined. I prefer knocking out maintenance fixes when I have some downtime.

[GeorgeA]

Originally Posted by BOOF-M3

I'm not in the market for rotors but would these be fine for DD?

They should be okay I guess if you drive it slow but I wouldn't do it on a M3.. If it was a 328 or 335, I would say go for it but why have a M3 if you're going to run inferior parts on it??

[scotty_miller]

Originally Posted by ciges

I would not recommend using cheap one piece rotors for track use because they are not cross drilled and no aluminum hub does not dissipate heat like oem ones.You will end up with warped rotors and hot spots within 10 min which will give you bad brake pulsation and steering wheel shake.

Not one hard core track junky will ever use a cross drilled rotor. 100% cosmetic bs. 35 dollar centric blanks do just fine

[pbonsalb]

Originally Posted by GeorgeA

They should be okay I guess if you drive it slow but I wouldn't do it on a M3.. If it was a 328 or 335, I would say go for it but why have a M3 if you're going to run inferior parts on it??

Why do you think you can’t go fast with these solid rotors? A 335i is easily modded to go just as fast as an M3.

They are almost certainly heavier than the 2 piece stock rotors, but other than that, I think they would be fine for the vast majority of M3 drivers. And some of the hard core ones who track their cars will probably try these because they trash expensive stock rotors. I want to read the reports from them.

[ciges]

Originally Posted by scotty_miller

Not one hard core track junky will ever use a cross drilled rotor. 100% cosmetic bs. 35 dollar centric blanks do just fine

That explains piles of oem ,big Brembo,Stoptech rotors in race track garbage,hard core track junkies are removing them and using $35 soild ones.

[pbonsalb]

If given the choice, slotted or solid is more durable. The hardcore racers often start buying the cheap consumables after trashing a few of the fancy expensive ones.

[scotty_miller]

Originally Posted by ciges

That explains piles of oem ,big Brembo,Stoptech rotors in race track garbage,hard core track junkies are removing them and using $35 soild ones.

If you don't have a bbk with an iron ring thats either solid, slotted, or hooked There's nothing wrong with cheap consumable rotors if you are using stock calipers.

[ciges]

And end up like this.

[BOOF-M3]

Originally Posted by ciges

And end up like this.

They cracked at the same time? That's like an elderly couple who have been married for 60 years and they die on the same day.

[SDPLV]

Originally Posted by GeorgeA

They should be okay I guess if you drive it slow but I wouldn't do it on a M3.. If it was a 328 or 335, I would say go for it but why have a M3 if you're going to run inferior parts on it??

How do we know they're inferior to daily drive aside from not having an OEM price tag? I'd be very surprised if I can notice any difference at all on my daily round trip commute up and down a highway and across 5-10 traffic lights.

Plus, I'm not compromising on the M3 engine. The S65 is what I am in love with on this car. Not the brake rotors. Somewhat the interior (steering wheel, M seats w/ extension & side bolsters). Not even the exterior necessarily (I actually like the F80 look better, but I'm not buying it for looks alone).