Cool Carbon Brake Pads

[TiAgX5]

Originally Posted by bcredliner

.....As you well know, the potential advantage of slotted/drilled rotors would be when dragging the brakes for an extended period of time as I might have to do on the downhill side of mountain road or multiple hard braking that I would have fun doing on a high speed winding road. In either situation solid rotors would hold more heat and cause brake fade sooner....

It helps when towing at highway speeds too. A few yrs ago the wife and I were traveling to the TX home from the FL home with a 6200 trailer behind the loaded X, every 15 mins or so I would have to tell her to slow down because the GPS was showing over 90 MPH, pulled out the HP 11C, ran the kinetic energy formula and came up with almost 5 million joules! That's more energy then 2 sticks of dynamite if memory serves me correctly. The thought of transferring all that kinetic energy into thermal energy via rotors/pads made my butthole pucker.

[Russianblue]

HP 12c. Ruined me for every other calculator ever made. Fell in love with it as a kid when my dad showed me the DAYS formula and i could figure out how many days old i was!

[TiAgX5]

Originally Posted by Russianblue

HP 12c. Ruined me for every other calculator ever made. Fell in love with it as a kid when my dad showed me the DAYS formula and i could figure out how many days old i was!

Started using HPs in the early '80s while in college. All I use now are HP and Curta (the swiss watch of calculators, pure mechanical porn).

[srmmmm]

Might sound silly, but I had drilled rotors on a Mazda MPV. That vehicle had heavy front brake bias and seemed to warp rotors all the time. Cross drilling eliminated the heat warpage, but easily knocked the brake pad life down 30%. Still though, pads were a lot cheaper than rotors, and not having your foot bounce on the brake pedal was nice.

2002 X5 3.0 242,000 miles
2004 325i 107,000 miles

[TiAgX5]

Originally Posted by srmmmm

Might sound silly, but I had drilled rotors on a Mazda MPV. That vehicle had heavy front brake bias and seemed to warp rotors all the time. Cross drilling eliminated the heat warpage, but easily knocked the brake pad life down 30%. Still though, pads were a lot cheaper than rotors, and not having your foot bounce on the brake pedal was nice.

2002 X5 3.0 242,000 miles
2004 325i 107,000 miles

I'm fine with the shorter pad life, the Cool Carbon pads on my E46 outlasted the OE pads.

[StephenVA]

After reading all the posts about Cool Carbon and seeing the feedback from users, I am in.
· Cold braking bite
· Repeated brake power
· Modulation ability
· Rotor/noise friendly
· Low Dust
One problem though. I cannot find any application listing for my 2005 X5 4.8is. The only application guide I can find and view is on Bavarian Auto BMW Parts and BMW Accessories | Bavarian Autosport is for the rears on this application. On the Cool Carbon website the application guide is from 2009 and there are NO X5 listed at all.
Any suggestions out there?

[TiAgX5]

I would call BavAuto for details on your application. The 15% discount and free shipping ends Nov 1st.

[TiAgX5]

Here's the bedding info from Cool Carbon........

Cool Carbon Performance Brake Pads

I would not recommend the first "several hundred mile" bedding process. If you were to have a situation needing hard braking to a stop and/or ABS activation, the result will be uneven pad transfer on the rotors. Rotor resurfacing would be required.

Accelerated bedding is the way to go.

Be aware that light/moderate street usage will require a pad material transfer cycle every few thousand miles.

[TiAgX5]

Rotors arrived today, L/R directional.....

[bcredliner]

I think a discussion about pad stopping performance, fade and longevity should at least include the rotors and what improvements you have experienced.

As an example, if your concern is brake fade because of heavy towing, your goal may be a combination that someone has experienced less brake fade such as TiAGX5 posted.

Another example, I currently have crossed drilled and slotted rotors on the front only. I wanted the look, less dust and didn't want to lose stopping distance. I did only the front as they provide the greater percentage of stopping power. I chose Baer Decela slotted and drilled rotors and EBC red stuff pads. I am not positive stopping power increased but I feel confident it has not decreased. I had previous experience with EBC pads with non crossed drilled/slotted rotors on both ends that I really liked. The stopping power improved and there was far less brake dust. This week I will be installing the Baer/EBC on the rear and see what happens. I think the end result will be better than what I currently have.

I would be very interested in a combination of a drilled/slotted rotor and pads that improve what I have. If there is a downside to this combination, I think the stopping distance is better but it seems it is weighted to the backend of the stop. My logic is a combination that didn't do that would be even better.