Brakes. Buy from dealer? What else to replace?
 

Brakes. Buy from dealer? What else to replace?

At 50k, I'm going to replace my pads and rotors.
I don't want racing crap for basic street driving.

What are my options besides dealer prices?
$85 for a rotor is more than I've ever paid for any car ever.

Besides the pads and rotors,
are there any little parts and extras I should also buy?

Dave down the street should be able to hook you up.

Napa, AutoZone, rockauto, same calipers as an Impreza/wrx iirc, probably lots of dirt cheap options.

Centric blanks are like $40 each on Amazon, can probably get decent OEM like pads there too, TRD or stoptech pads would be my choice for a street car.

Flush the brake fluid.

Edit: I can't kill my stock rotors, track days, autox, over 80k miles and still not near the wear limits, surprised yours are done already unless commuting in LA, those MFers are tough on brakes.

Why do you want to replace the pads and rotors? Did a shop tell you that they are worn down? Honestly, a blank face rotors and normal pads should be perfect. Get something with a low dust compound.

While you're at it, pay for someone to replace your brake fluid. Please, too many people drive around with rotten watered down brake fluid.

What you want is a liter (2 bottles) of Motul DOT 5.1 (street fluid), Centric/Stoptech Premium Rotors (they're like $33 each on RockAuto), and some high performance street pads like Carbotech 1521, Stoptech Sports, or EBC Red Stuff.


As someone else already mentioned, if you are needing to replace stock rotors you should be flushing (not just topping off) your brake fluid, it takes about 700ml to fully flush the system, I usually go through the whole liter though. Brake fluid is designed to be replaced completely (flushed) every 2 years at minimum, as it is hygroscopic (water absorbing) and it's wet performance is much lower than its dry performance. This is to prevent water causing rust in your braking system, but is obviously something that needs maintenance.



It's worth a little bit to get the Centric Premiums because they're coated in a corrosion resistance layer and made out of a different alloy which resists pitting better, so that they will survive longer and not just rust out straight away. Rust on rotors is normal, but you don't want them pitted where the friction surface is unable to be utilized fully.


You're looking at the following as a good starting point:


Rotors:


CENTRIC 12047021 Front Rotor (35.79) x2

CENTRIC 12047031 Rear Rotor (30.79) x2


Subtotal: $133.16



Pads:


CENTRIC 10515390 Posi-Quiet Front Pad Kit (30.79)

CENTRIC 10511240 Posi-Quiet Rear Pad Kit (27.99)


Subtotal: $58.78 for a basic option


Or as an example


EBC Redstuff Front Pad Kit (97.61)
EBC Redstuff Rear Pad Kit (72.23)


Subtotal: $169.84


Fluid:


Motul DOT 5.1 500ml (8.37) x2


or


ATE Type200 DOT 4 1L (15.19)


Subtotal: ~$16


So you're in around $320 total in parts to replace your entire braking system, except for the lines and calipers, with decent quality stuff. You can do all of the labor yourself, it's not that hard, but it's around 2 hours an axle for book time, so if you go somewhere expect to pay $360-$500 for labor.


That's basically all you need to know. Don't neglect your brakes, they're a critical safety component and I see way too many ragged out shitboxes rolling around my city as it is.

Also, given your post history, you might want to consider leasing a BMW with a service contract. You might be happier.

Holy shit, I think that's the first time I've seen a book time I can beat, and I don't have any power tools aside from a handheld impact to zip the lugs off and a mityvac brake bleeder.

50k miles.

The rotors are grooved.
There is a lip on the edge.

Both these would reduce contact surface if I only replaced the pads.

I've already flushed the brake fluid with ATE
Brakes still not as hard as I prefer.

Thanks for first giving actual info before going into troll mode. Funny stuff.

I've owned several BMWs that I've done tons of maintenance on. E39, e46, etc.


While not a pro, I probably have more DIY experience and more tools than the average body kit ricer on this forum.

So premium centric and stoptech are considered legit? They're not some cheap Chinese eBay AutoZone garbage? I mostly own German cars, so these other brands are new to me. Zimmerman, sebro, etc.

100% legit.

Well, you're in California. Try beating the book time on it when you're doing rotor replacements in the upper Midwest. That shit is rusted on so badly sometimes it comes off in two pieces because you had to smack it so hard with a sledge that it cracks.



Can you explain what you mean by "not as hard as I prefer"? Generally speaking, pedal stiffness/travel is unaffected by rotor/pad wear or selection, it's entirely dependent on quality of bleed, biasing, master cylinder piston to caliper piston ratio, and pedal/master cylinder flex. My experience is that a MityVac is great for flushing to speed things up but it doesn't perfectly bleed, and nothing beats the outcome of the 2-person method. Usually I need 2 cycles of the bleeder after a MityVac to get things 100%.



I wasn't trying to troll, I was being 100% serious. BMWs are very nice driving vehicles and if you lease with a service contract every single thing on the car is 100% covered during the lease period. BMW dealerships (except for the one in Austin :/ ) are typically very good about service, have nice facilities, and it's a way to completely eliminate frustrations or hidden costs involved in car ownership/maintenance.


There are plenty of ricers and fuccbois in this community, but there are also a lot of serious people. Most of the people who've responded to this thread fall into the latter category, and I doubt you have more experience wrenching than many of the people who are more regular on the forums, myself included. You see it as trolling, but it should be a signal that you're doing something absurd and should "check yourself before you wreck yourself". At the end of the day its your car and your money, but sometimes its better to listen to advice than to learn the hard way.



Yes, Centric / StopTech is the same company now, and they are very high quality braking products. The majority of people who do high performance driving (track, 86cup, autocross) with this platform on stock brakes use Centric / StopTech rotor blanks. There are other high quality options like DBA rotors as well, but they have a higher cost and diminishing returns especially for primarily street driving.


As you can see on RockAuto, there are other less expensive brands available and most of them would probably be fine, but like you, I don't trust their metallurgy. Centric Premiums are the gold standard for rotor replacements.

I don't use mityVac. I always bleed brakes manually with a helper. Open bleeder, pedal down (but not all the way), close bleeder, pedal up. Repeat 10x.

I don't buy new cars and never get service at dealership. I have specialist Indy's that I use for stuff that is above my level. Simple stuff like brakes, I do myself.

I don't track my BRZ. I have another car for track days, so stock equiv. brakes are fine

So what's the word on centric vs dealer OEM? Why choose one over the other?

I can typically do all four corners in about an hour. 2 hours per axle leaves LOTS of time for breaks and snacks.



Forget counting, watch for bubbles.



It was already answered... but centric is perfectly fine, even great for track use. They're cheaper than the dealer and just as good. Why some people get from the dealer is simply because they don't know any better.