New Brakes?

[Mck444]

Mechanic checked out the brakes and said the pads were a little over halfway done. Although this is the case, I often get a lot of squeaking from the brakes.
I wanted to replace the brake pads, but was told that in order to get new pads I would also need to get new rotors as well. Is this true? If it is true would it be better to go for aftermarket rotors and pads or OEM?

-2014 650i w/ 69k miles.

[rasa bmw]

only need new discs if they are well worn,,can put new pads on old discs,,but not old pads on new discs

[Walt White Coupe]

In general new cars are designed so that when the pads wear out the rotors are also worn to close to their minimum thickness. Based on the fact that your pads are at 50%, I think you probably could replace the pads without doing the rotors. But the final determination is the actual thickness of the rotors.

Here are the measurements for replacement for a 650.

Min Thickness: Front- 34.4 mm Rear- 22.4 mm

Before I did anything, I'd take the car out on the open road with no traffic and do some hard "slow downs" (don't stop, don't engage ABS) from 60 to 20 mph and repeat it 5 or 6 times until you can smell the hot brakes to bed them in. And then drive normally without stopping if possible for 10 minutes to cool the brake pad's/rotors down. A lot of times that will eliminate brake squealing.

[doggboy]

I generally replace both at the same time. Your brakes are the main safety feature on your car, I am not risking old rotors over $500.

[Mck444]

Mechanic quoted $850 for aftermarket and $1200 for OEM. I was thinking of going with just aftermarket pads. I want to eliminate the brake dust and get rid of the squealing. Are there any pads that have OEM like feel with less dust? I was looking at Akebono/EBC Redstuff, has anyone tried these on their 6?

[Opie55]

Originally Posted by Mck444

Mechanic quoted $850 for aftermarket and $1200 for OEM. I was thinking of going with just aftermarket pads. I want to eliminate the brake dust and get rid of the squealing. Are there any pads that have OEM like feel with less dust? I was looking at Akebono/EBC Redstuff, has anyone tried these on their 6?

The OEM pads on my 6 are not dusty at all for some reason. But on my X3 they were horrible. I swapped to Ate ceramic pads and there is zero dust.

[Mck444]

Originally Posted by Opie55

The OEM pads on my 6 are not dusty at all for some reason. But on my X3 they were horrible. I swapped to Ate ceramic pads and there is zero dust.

How is the initial bite and braking performance?

[Opie55]

Originally Posted by Mck444

How is the initial bite and braking performance?

They don't feel different to me and I'm usually pretty sensitive to such things. I was prepared to feel a difference but didn't. But I also don't drive an X3 that hard.

[BimmerBoi2020]

I just recently purchased my bimmer with 36K miles (yeah i know right) and I do alot of driving for work and now Im hearing alot of squealing! Should i be overly concerned or is that just a warning that i need to replace? Imsure there has been an answer somewhere about this here....

[Mck444]

Originally Posted by BimmerBoi2020

I just recently purchased my bimmer with 36K miles (yeah i know right) and I do alot of driving for work and now Im hearing alot of squealing! Should i be overly concerned or is that just a warning that i need to replace? Imsure there has been an answer somewhere about this here....

If you can do it yourself then you could take a look at the brake pads and see how worn they are. If the brakes feel fine and your sensor is fine then I think you should be good. If you really want you can change the pads. At 36K I think the only thing you would need to do are the pads, the rotors probably don't need to be changed for a while.

[BimmerBoi2020]

Oh Ok cool! i appreciate that insight!