Wife's car at dealer for scheduled maint.

[gt3racerich]

This is our first BMW. A 325 wagon with the sport package(2004). My wife drives 100(hwy) miles a day for work. The dealer has been doing scheduled maint. as that came with the car. At 43,000 miles the check brake indicator came on. Again, the car has all highway miles so I was suprised to have to do pads as it is probably the equivilant of about 10,000 miles of normal driving.When the dealer looked at the car they said it also needed rotors! Even though everything was covered I was shocked that a car that is very well taken care of would need rotors at that mileage. My question is, do these cars need rotors that often, or did the dealer make more work for themselves becouse they get paid for all the warrenty work they do? Thanks for any info, Rich

[Jeron]

I doubt it "needed" rotors. Every mechanic likes to replace pads and rotors at the same time because it eliminates any possibility of related problems.

The rotors would probably be at or below the min spec at the end of the second set of pads. A good rule of thumb is to replace rotors with every other set of pads. Or buy a micrometer for $35 and measure them yourself to know if they need replacing.

[bmwtech]

I AM A BMW TECH. IT IS NOT UNCOMMON FOR BMW TO NEED BRAKES AT 20K MILES. THE ROTORS AT THIS POINT WOULD BE BELOW THE MIN. SPEC STAMPED ON THE ROTOR. BMW USES BRAKE PRODUCTS THE ARE PERFORMANCE MINDED, NOT FOR LONGEVITY. THE REASON FOR THIS IS THE FACT THAT THE PEOPLE WHO BUY OUR CARS ARE SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN THE WORLD! SAFETY IS NUMBER ONE. IF YOU DON'T REPLACE
THE ROTORS YOU ARE RISKING THE CHANCE OF THE CAR COMING BACK FOR A VIBRATION WHEN BRAKING. ANOTHER CONCERN IS THAT IF YOU JUST "PAD SLAP" THE CAR, THE NEW PADS HAVE AN UNMACHINED SURFACE TO BREAK INTO. INTERN CAUSING NOISE COMPLAINTS AND POOR PERFORMANCE. HIGH PERFORMANCE BRAKE PARTS ARE MADE OF SOFTER MATERIAL THAT PRODUCE A LOT OF BRAKE DUST AND WEAR FAST, BUT ARE THE BEST PERFORMERS. ALL OF THIS IS TO KEEP YOU SAFE WHILE ENJOYING YOUR ULTIMATE DRIVING MACHINE!

[gt3racerich]

Thanks for the info guys. About how much do the rotors go for? When it is off warranty I will be maintaining it myself.
Rich

[KNS]

You will find Rotors from $45 to $50 and up each (buy in pairs of course). You can get them right here from Pelican or from the dealer. Very easy to do pads and rotors on the E46.

[Jeron]

Originally posted by bmwtech
I AM A BMW TECH. IT IS NOT UNCOMMON FOR BMW TO NEED BRAKES AT 20K MILES. THE ROTORS AT THIS POINT WOULD BE BELOW THE MIN. SPEC STAMPED ON THE ROTOR. BMW USES BRAKE PRODUCTS THE ARE PERFORMANCE MINDED, NOT FOR LONGEVITY. THE REASON FOR THIS IS THE FACT THAT THE PEOPLE WHO BUY OUR CARS ARE SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN THE WORLD! SAFETY IS NUMBER ONE. IF YOU DON'T REPLACE
THE ROTORS YOU ARE RISKING THE CHANCE OF THE CAR COMING BACK FOR A VIBRATION WHEN BRAKING. ANOTHER CONCERN IS THAT IF YOU JUST "PAD SLAP" THE CAR, THE NEW PADS HAVE AN UNMACHINED SURFACE TO BREAK INTO. INTERN CAUSING NOISE COMPLAINTS AND POOR PERFORMANCE. HIGH PERFORMANCE BRAKE PARTS ARE MADE OF SOFTER MATERIAL THAT PRODUCE A LOT OF BRAKE DUST AND WEAR FAST, BUT ARE THE BEST PERFORMERS. ALL OF THIS IS TO KEEP YOU SAFE WHILE ENJOYING YOUR ULTIMATE DRIVING MACHINE!

Although it is POSSIBLE for rotors to go below min spec with one set of pads it is very unlikely with the soft pads OEM BMW pads. Rotors that are below min spec are not a catastrophic safety issue. BMW min spec on rotors is conservative.

BMW OEM brake pads are soft because soft pads tend to make less noise so BMW fields less "my brakes make noise" calls. Ford does the same on may vehicles. The Explorer in particular. Jurid and Pagid pads generate a LOT of dust but that does mean they are HIGH PERFORMANCE. Choosing a high quality pad designed for adhesive braking will give you better performance, about 20% of the dust and it will be just as gentle on the rotors.

Coining the term "Pad Slap" is preposterous.

Don't confuse noise with poor performance.