Brake question for a family member..

[B-Line]

Don't have my E53 anymore and I when I did, brakes and rotors were covered..

Can someone please advise.. Just got this question from a family member.

I just got the "replace brake lining" warning light at 45,000 miles. Should I also replace the rotors? Any particular disc/rotor manufacturer you would recommend? Brembo?

[UCrewX5]

I would recommend replacing the rotors when the pads are replaced. Brembo is what I used the last time I changed mine, and I have nothing but good to say about them.

[mrbmwx5]

Originally Posted by UCrewX5

I would recommend replacing the rotors when the pads are replaced. Brembo is what I used the last time I changed mine, and I have nothing but good to say about them.

[lo_jack]

There is no need to replace the rotors unless, upon machining them flat and clean, they are below minimum thickness, which is cast into the rotor. A quick pass on the brake machine and a new set of pads, properly bedded in, will do fine. You do not want to reinstall rotors that are thinner than the minimum thickness. Any brake person can micrometer the rotor and tell you if it will be able to be machined without making them too thin. OEM rotors are pretty soft though, and wear heavily. Because of this, you might only be able to get one run on them before they are below minimum tolerance.

[JCL]

I did the rotors with each brake job on my X5, without hesitation. When working in a shop years back, I machined lots of rotors, but the BMW ones have less meat to work with from the start. While I agree with the post above re minimum thickness, it isn't the minimum thickness at the time of the brake job that you need to worry about. Given how much the rotors wear during the life of the pads, it is the minimum thickness at the end of the life of the new pads that is the concern. You can get away with just pads without turning them , as I did when I put Axxis pads in a new 535, but any other time, just buy rotors.

Nothing against Brembo, but they aren't the same design as the floating rotor design, they are just rotors stamped out in places like Mexico. I went with OEM, but Centric look good as well. I have used jobber rotors, but would pay attention to the quality of the anti-rust coating, as some are better than others. If Brembo were the same price, I would consider them, but only if I was sourcing them locally (not on the web). I wouldn't pay any more for them.

[Quicksilver]

Good question regarding rotors. What are the best ones?
Just had the front pads replaced but not the rotors.
Next time full brake job. So I'm looking for stopping power.

[lo_jack]

Originally Posted by JCL

I did the rotors with each brake job on my X5, without hesitation. When working in a shop years back, I machined lots of rotors, but the BMW ones have less meat to work with from the start. While I agree with the post above re minimum thickness, it isn't the minimum thickness at the time of the brake job that you need to worry about. Given how much the rotors wear during the life of the pads, it is the minimum thickness at the end of the life of the new pads that is the concern. You can get away with just pads without turning them , as I did when I put Axxis pads in a new 535, but any other time, just buy rotors.

Nothing against Brembo, but they aren't the same design as the floating rotor design, they are just rotors stamped out in places like Mexico. I went with OEM, but Centric look good as well. I have used jobber rotors, but would pay attention to the quality of the anti-rust coating, as some are better than others. If Brembo were the same price, I would consider them, but only if I was sourcing them locally (not on the web). I wouldn't pay any more for them.

Given how soft the OEM rotors are, I am not surprised. It is not like that with all rotors though. Yes, you don't want to hit max runout halfway through your new pads. I just didn't want to recommend new rotors with every pad change as a hard and fast rule. On many vehicles, that is a waste. Even on X5s if you are not on OEM rotors, it can be superfluous.