E39 540i / M5 Brake Options

[DarthMaul]

Well, it's about time for me to replace my brakes (rotors and pads) and i would like to know of my options.

I currently have the M5 brakes installed (rotors, pads, calipers) and want to know if it's even cost effective to replace these parts with another set of M5 parts

I've resurfaced the rotors once and I doubt they will live through another process. Each front rotor runs about $260 - $275 to replace.

I've been scouring eBay for used replacements and it looks like an entire brake setup runs about $400 - $500.

I'm thinking of a big brake kit but those will run minimum of $1500 right? Do they make aftermarket performance rotors in the same size as the M5 rotors which i can just swap in or are they all larger diameter (and incompatible with the M5 calipers)?

Thanks in advance!

[John 540i6]

Well, judging on your cars in your sig. i dont know which car you are talking about. Supercharged 540 could probably use a bigger brake because you will be able to reach speeds way faster than the NA 540.

If i were you id just replace the rotors with a basic brembo blank replacement and some upgraded brake pads. Screw cross drilled- screw slotted. Yes they look way cool but for a street brake disc they arent as good a basic blank disc. X drilled or slotted rotors actually reduce the amount of rotor that the pad can bite into giving you less friction to slow the car down.

You have to remember that bigger brakes arent always better. You want properly sized and nothing bigger.

You need to figure out exactly what kind of driving you do. If you take your car to a road course more than 1 time every 2 months then by all means go ahead and buy your big brake kit with 15 inch rotors and what not. It would be very benificial to you.

If you drive your car on the street like most of us do, then you would be wise to keep your stock m5 brake disc size, get a decent pad that wont fade as quickly as stock and then think about stainless lines and switching to a brake fluid with a higher boiling point. You can get the rotors cryo'ed which makes the metal harder and it will last a good amount of time longer than a normal rotor would.

The bigger rotor actually hinders your slower speed braking distances. There is more mass/rolling resistance to slow down. My old 93 mr2 stopped from 60mph in 106 feet. An enzo stops from 60 in 109 feet. The enzo has carbon/carbon 15+" brake rotors. The enzo would kill the mr2 in a braking contest from 150mph to 0. If you plan to stop from 60-100mph to 0 more than 160-0 then keep your stock rotor size.

Brakes work best at a certain temperature. If you have a huge rotor/pad combo, you are going to need a lot more heat in them for them to work effectively. In normal city street driving, the big brake kit takes a much longer time to get up to temperature than the stock sized brake disc would (expecially in the wet) My buddies 500hp STi with race brakes will not stop worth a shit in the wet on the street. It scared the hell out of me the first few times i drove it.

You always want your car to accelerate fast but brake even faster.

sorry if that is unclear- i just have a lot to say about brakes and it all kinda comes out as one big blob of info....

[Lscman]

......You can get the rotors cryo'ed which makes the metal harder and it will last a good amount of time longer than a normal rotor would.fo....

John,

The cryo process extends rotor life by 3% to 5% for a 50% to 100% increase in rotor cost. In rare cases, it will give you a 10% increase in rotor life, but this is not typical. Three non-cryo rotors will far outlast two cryo units for similar cost. Cryo is a big $ loser for street, autocross, open track and HPDE use.

Cryo rotors are almost mandatory for professional & endurance racing because it gives you better performance & lap times near race-end. When competitors in a given class are running max legal hardware defined by the rulebook, brake lifecycle gains of 3-5% are HUGE.

[John 540i6]

hmm didnt realize it was so expensive...

[DarthMaul]

John 540i6> thanks for the great info.

i might try to look for some brembo blanks that fit the stock m5 setup as well.

yeah, i don't particularly like slotted or cross drilled...but i would take slotted (which are on there now) over cross drilled any day.

i had some bad experiences with some setups on my e36 m3 a while back. i remember getting some nice euro floating rotors but then combined them with ebc green stuffs which proceeded to warp the damn things after a few weeks. i got the rotors turned then went to some pbr pads which worked a lot better.

i'll check out some alternatives. i see turner motorsport has a special on the euro floating rotors for $499 / pair

[nightkrawler]

i just did a complete brake job on my 540 last weekend, cost me $385 for front and rear bmw oe rotors and pads, but thats my employee price on parts, though when i had my m3 my cost on oe front rotors was slightly higher than a set of brembo blanks from great lakes auto parts(try google for the #) they have very good prices. though you can get pads that are less dusty, nothing bites like the bmw stock jurid pads.. she stops on a dime now.

[DarthMaul]

if only i could get an employee price on the stocker M5 rotors!!! =)

[Phat Ham]

great lakes auto parts(try google for the #) they have very good prices. great lakes/performance parts store is a forum sponsor. When I did pads and rotors on my 540 last summer they had special pricing in the group buy/supporting vendors forum. You might want to check if they still have that. FWIW, I got brembo blanks and Axxiss ultimate pads on all four corners for under $300.

[nightkrawler]

if only i could get an employee price on the stocker M5 rotors!!! =)

get a job at a bmw dealership, lol. pay sux but the 10% over cost on parts is great! lol...

i would not go with an aftermarket pad because of the massive amounts of people who bring their cars in due to brake noise which in turn is coming from the pads cause they dont fit tightly in the caliper/guide rail and rattle. bmw pads are jurid and stop great, as i said i love the new stock setup.

[DarthMaul]

great advice! i'll try to find jurid and some stock rotors.

unless...someone has a BBK for sale cheap =)

[gtx510]

I always thought OEM BMW pads were made by Pagid. Like VW. How do the Jurid's compare?
Pagid's often get griped about for the obscene amounts of brake dust that they put off. And for squeaking. And for not stopping that well....
Sound like Jurid's?


Mommy's '01 530i got ATE (or as it Zimmerman? get the Germany, not Brazilian ones) rotors and Akebono ceramic pads. I think we did all 4 corners, pads/rotors/sensors for around $400 in parts but I got a great deal.
Ceramic pads are kinda new on the market. They stop great and put off almost no dust compared to a BMW pad, and they're quiet. Hawk and PBR/Axxis (used to be Rebco) both have a ceramic lines now.


goto importrp.com for pads and Brembo rotors
rotors are about $100 each and pads are $50-120 for a set (axle).

[umermariner]

I also need to get my front routers replaced. The only reason is that the steering shakes when breaking. My mechanic says changing only the front routers is fine. Is it ok or is it essential to replace the pads with the routers too? Also, I know about front disc and rear drum brakes that you may replace them separately (front and back). In four wheel disc, should we do the whole brake system together, or doing it separate (front and back) is fine?
Thanks.