Who has Akebono Euro Ceramic pads? Do your rotors look like this?

[Landerholm]

About 5k miles ago I had Ake. Euro Ceramic pads and Zimmerman Z Coat rotors put on my car. They have always had these weird pin-point sized spots.... Sort of spots with tails. Are Zimmerman rotors junk? I have never really been thrilled with the amount of bite vs. factory on this setup, thinking of swapping over to Brembo rotors.... I have no idea if the spots are indicative of poorer performance but I've never seen anything like this. They have been bedded in 3 times - always had the spots.

Thoughts?

[newton22]

Yes I have that combo. Yes my rotors look like that. Yes I think Akebonos are crap contrary to what people say about them.

[Landerholm]

Then I wonder if its the rotors or the pads that leave all the little spots then... Akebonos are ridiculously well reviewed, everyone on TireRack enters 10/10. They are dead quiet and stop the car fine and with 0 dust, and they are pretty resistant to fade. But most are saying they bite as good as factory.... I want that koolaid.

[CLKFAN]

ceramic pads will always give you less stopping power, that's the give and take if you want less brake dust on your wheels

[bimmerfiver]

NOTE TO JASONFIVER...

THIS is what I told ya!

People, I will say it a thousand times over and over and over...Zimmerman Z-Coat MATED with Akebono Euro is NOT NOT NOT a good set-up.

The sh*t inside the metal or on the metal of the rotor creates some crazy-arse chemical blend with the Akebono CERAMIC and you wind up with WADS of 'gum' spewed all over and NO it doesn't go away after 500 miles or even 1K miles AND it only gets worse AND your brake pedal will get softer and softer AND your brakes will LESSEN in terms of STOPPING POWER.

OP, I wrote about this last March/April 2010.

Nobody believes or listens. Thanks for posting pics. And NO, not EVERYBODY on Tirerack raves about them....there are many rants too.

I do not care how one is told to bed-in their Akebonos + Zimmerman Z Coats....the two DO NOT work well together.

Yes I have that combo. Yes my rotors look like that. Yes I think Akebonos are crap contrary to what people say about them.

The OP and other will have to simply find out the hard way. I wish people would believe:

http://www.80stees.com/products/Want...es-T-shirt.asp

Zimmerman Z-Coat + Akebono Euro = sucks and it's not my fault for pointing out the facts the two do not mesh well. I believe. Akebono's leave a smear of sh*t behind OR the Zimmerman Z-Coat exude and eek out sh*t...either way I don't care I just know they DON'T work well. I went nuts with this for months, taking photos, re-bedding, re-bleeding, re-bedding, re-bleeding...and when I finally removed the Akebonos they had ounces of BUBBLEGUM smeared on the pad faces.

I hate them. They gave me gray hair for a dumb, silly reason. I even paid BMW dealer $275.00 to bend me over and bleed my brakes. I finally removed the combo, installed BALO ROTORS with JURID PADS...set it and forget it.

[Jungerishere]

LOL... Akebono Euro Ceramic pads are hard on rotors and bite is no where near factory oem.

But most are saying they bite as good as factory.... I want that koolaid.

[allamer35]

I have this setup and will be taking it off early and going with a oem rotor with axxis ultimates. Initially the bite wasnt as great and it hasnt gotten any better. I had a good long talk with mmm635 and he helped me with a lot of questions I had. Axxis Ultimates seem to be a good alternative to the oem pads because of thier reportedly great bite and lower dust than oem. For those who want the akebonos for lower dust...its not that serious, at least for me, I wash the car almost weekly or biweekly

[Jungerishere]

I have Axxis Ultimates in my E46 M3. Bite is decent but still not as good as oem. One thing I don't like about Axxis Utlimate is that they squeak and squeal alot when hot. I'm going to try Cool Carbon next.

I have this setup and will be taking it off early and going with a oem rotor with axxis ultimates. Initially the bite wasnt as great and it hasnt gotten any better. I had a good long talk with mmm635 and he helped me with a lot of questions I had. Axxis Ultimates seem to be a good alternative to the oem pads because of thier reportedly great bite and lower dust than oem. For those who want the akebonos for lower dust...its not that serious, at least for me, I wash the car almost weekly or biweekly

[allamer35]

I have Axxis Ultimates in my E46 M3. Bite is decent but still not as good as oem. One thing I don't like about Axxis Utlimate is that they squeak and squeal alot when hot. I'm going to try Cool Carbon next.

Whats cool carbon?

edit: I just looked them up. Heard any first hand reviews of them?

[AutoRotate]

bimmerfiver has certainly had his share of caffeine for today!

OEM pads and rotors on any model of BMW will be better than most aftermarket setups, but they leave lots of brake dust. I swapped my M Roadster to Zimmerman rotors and PBR pads and they worked great, but maybe 90% as well as the OEM. I don't think the rotors have much to do with it, but the pads will change the feel entirely.

Get yourself some new pads!

[Graham E39 528i]

I have the Akebonos, but I haven't put a lot of miles on them. They seem fine so far. The reason I put them on is solely because of the dust. The OEM pad dust is a unacceptable to me, the wheels are very soiled after one 20 mile trip. That means I would have to clean my wheels before every trip, and I don't have the time or inclination.

If the Akebonos are hard on rotors, so what? A set of brand new Balo rotors for my car is $112. That's less than the price of a set of OEM mats!

[gjVah]

I have Brembo cross drilled rotors with Akebono ceramic pads and I love the combo. My rotors do NOT look like that. I say it's the rotor/pad combo like bimmerfiver said. The pads are very soft, quiet and exhibit no dust. They also bite well...

(coming from Dealer Rotors and Ate pads).

[16valex]

I have them Ake on all my cars love them.

[allamer35]

From research Ive found that zimmermans are cast with holes and not drilled after production. Is it possible for x-drilled rotors to be resurfaced before being mated with new pads?

Hey Givah how long have you had your setup?

[Orxan4ik]

Akebono Euro pad is ceramic therefore has a lower cold bite but higher fade resistance than an OE compound pad. Having some streaks on your rotors DOESNT change this fact, I've had em on both Balo and Brembos with both Axiss Deluxe and Akebono Euro. That's how the ceramic pads work depositing themselvs on the rotor so you get a dust free pad. They are in fact harsher on rotors than OE compound tho, so keep that in mind.

These brake pad threads are nothing but a confusion to n00bs, thank god I didn't sign up yesterday - very hard nowadays to find straight answers, most worry about 2 many things that aren't important

I worry about brakes when they don't perform as advertised (ceramic pads ARE advertised not to work great when cold) Streaks never bother me and after I switched to Jurids they clear up in 10 stops anyway - so it's not the rotors either.

When I go AutoCrossing I put low dust ceramic pads back on because when warm THEY GRABBBBB and resist fade BETTER than Jurids

[Jungerishere]

Don’t get me wrong; I don’t dislike Akebono Euro Ceramic pads. They are decent pads (almost no brake dust, quiet, and smooth). I currently have them in my 525i and installed the same in my parent’s Audi A6. I also had them in my E46 M3 but was very disappointed with stopping power. I didn’t want to compromise performance like this on the M car so I switch to Axxis ULT within 2k miles on them. Axxis ULT does produce slightly more dust but nothing like oem. My parent’s Audi has 25k miles with Akebono Euro Ceramic pads + Brembo rotors combo. Rotors look all chewed up but the brake pads still have 60% life left. In my 525i, I must have put over 35k miles. Exactly the same thing... Rotors are all chewed up but plenty of brake pad left. So I totally disagree that these are soft pads. If clean wheels and silence braking are at top of your list from brake pads then Akebono Euro Ceramic pads is right choice for you. If I can find braking performance of the oem with little dust and quiet braking of Akebono Euros then I’m sold!

[Landerholm]

Jung, did your rotors ever resemble mine on any of the cars you had the Ake. Ceramics on? The specs are obviously caused by slight variations in depositing so I wondered about that.

Bimmerfiver, I read about your entire saga before I ever purchased my Zimmerman rotors. I also reviewed your photo, many posts deep in this thread:
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1420693
I can't tell much from the photo but the rotors have a dull appearance.

I definitely do not have bubble gum in my brakes, that was not one of the concerns. I can scrape on my rotors with my thumbnail and there is definitely nothing gooey!

Some interesting replies here. I still believe Zimmerman makes some of the best blanks available... Just wanted to make sure theres nothing odd going on here. I'm seeing more people reporting poor performance when cold (it was 31F on my way home).

[bmwhiteman]

I have akebonos and love them. it takes over 100 miles to start seeing dust. They bite amazingly. My car brakes faster than my friends 350z im on stock rotors but will go to brembo blanks most likely. I like the look of massive surface area on a rotor

[Graham E39 528i]

That gooeyness on Bimmerfiver's rotors. I have it on good authority, he rinsed those Zimmermanns with Bushmills 1608 before the install. Bushmills is good whiskey, but its not an approved method to clean brake rotors. Acetone is MUCH BETTA.......

[Landerholm]

Bimmerfiver had something weird going on! If he had stated that he switched his Ake pads from zimmerman to Brembo and it made things better then he could blame Zimmerman rotors but rotors simply dont "exude" any goo like he alleges. Hoping more folks will chime in here that is really a weird experience with the pads. (Or rotors I guess.)

[Bonswa]

I have Brembo cross drilled rotors with Akebono ceramic pads and I love the combo. My rotors do NOT look like that. I say it's the rotor/pad combo like bimmerfiver said. The pads are very soft, quiet and exhibit no dust. They also bite well...

(coming from Dealer Rotors and Ate pads).

gjVah and I have the exact same setup. My rotor's still look spotless. I switched from OEM to this setup about 25,000 miles ago. Stopping power is close to OEM, but not quite. VERY QUIET. NO DUST. Very good looking i might add.

I love my Zimmerman X-drilled and Akebono Euro's.

[Jason5driver]

Interesting....

Did someone mention my name...?

I think there is something weird with the Cadium from the Zimmerman rotors and the Akebono Euro pads.

People need to mention whether they have the coated Zimmermans or non-coated Zimmerman rotors...

I like this thread!:
The Front Brake Chronicles: BALO, TEXTAR, Purple goop and Jelly Donuts ( 1 2)
bimmerfiver

[Landerholm]

I would like to hear more from people who have the Z Coat Zimmerman rotors with Akebono Euro Ceramic pads.

Is anyone suggesting that if I switch rotors to Brembo I will find better initial bite?

This is all about bite I'll reiterate that the brakes don't squeal and have incredible power and are almost immune to fade.... But the bite is a bit soft.

Jason5 and bimmerfiver went on to slightly higher dust (and higher noise) solutions. I want to hear more from people still running Euro Ceramics.... The pads are interesting in that they really do seem to constantly put down a layer of pad on the rotor that is ever changing, as someone else mentioned. They are nothing like non-ceramic pads which leave the rotor looking like a mirror.

[E30NEIN]

This must be the setup on my new car.
I've never seen a rotor "scarred" up like this before, it's exactly what is depicted and described.

I'm getting pretty gnarly squealing as well, so I have been wanting to change the pads out at least... the rotors seem new.

Planning on getting some EBC redstuff. Does anyone have experience with these?

[leeuga11]

I got Zimmerman drilled rotors w axxis ultimate pads. Stopping power is good, but the squeal when warm is driving me nuts!