[Dogfish1974]

Hi guys I'm looking for a new pair of front brake rotors for my 335d. What are the best aftermarket ones to fit and where's the best place in east midlands?

[doughboy]

Welcome to the forum bud.

Sorry, you'll have to go about 3500 miles West of the UK to find any brake rotors

Brake discs on the other hand.....

If you're after OE replacement discs then try Eurocarparts.com they have the best prices. The pagid ones are great quality. Just check your sizes as these websites can get confused with 330 discs.

If its uprated discs you want, then the choice is zero for the 335i/d unless you go for a big brake kit at 2 or 3 grand.

[NJ 1161]

Prior to me fitting my bbk I did find zinnermann (sp), and they do a drilled/ slotted disc upgrade in standard sizes. Can't remember details but sure a quick google will bring details up.

[doughboy]

I have the MTEC drilled discs, but as with Zimmerman, the drilling / slotting is only really cosmetic.

A cast iron 1 piece disc, quality issues aside, will each work as well as another one.

Any grooves or holes look nice, but they make no difference to braking ability in reality. Pads are what you need for that.

Slotted ones will make more noise, but drilled will not. You see plenty of cosmetic drilled factory discs on Mercs and M cars, but no slotted ones - there's probably a reason for that!


The MTEC discs, despite being really cheap, seem perfectly good to me, they have no runout wobbles or DTV issues at any time including when very hot, which the factory BMW discs did have. They are well machined and finished too boot, and make no noise over standard. I use EBC yellow stuff pads (which cost more than all the discs!!)

You can get a full set of MTEC drilled FRONT & REAR 335i/d discs for £179 delivered. Pretty good when BMW want nye on £300 for a pair of front discs!

[two,_OH_five]

You could try Z4 35i OEM disks for a semi bell/rotor setup

They are not uprated as such but with an ally bell they will offer a decent reduction in unsprung weight and should offer better thermal management
Plus they don't go rusty

More information HERE


EBC also do disks (which I personally would trust more than cheap/eBay stuff) and you can choose to have grooved or not


Team those with decent friction material (Performance Friction, Porterfield, EBC etc) and a change to high quality brake fluid and you should end up with a system that remains pretty fade free under reasonably heavy provokation

You really ought to swap pads at the same time as the old ones will be bedded in to the old (presumably worn?) disk profile

[doughboy]

Agree the alloy bells look nice, but they're bare aluminium and still seem to corrode like hell too, just look at any new 5 series with a few miles on it, the bells are all white and furry with black spots!

You could polish them and coat with high temp laquer I suppose, but then you're back to the painting saga that many of us have gone through.

I previously would have agreed on the perceived quality issue with cheaper discs, but having found the cheap MTEC ones to be better than supposed 'best' OE discs I'm not so sure. (MTEC do sell on ebay, but I wouldn't call them an ebay co). I'm sure all the cast blanks come from the same factory in Taiwan these days...

The EBC range of discs is limited on the 335i/d to the not-so-good-looking ones. And IIRC they are not handed like the cheaper MTEC ones (where grooves / holes are opposite way for opposite sides of the car)

New pads and fluid is the best bet, again hard to find pads for the 335i/d front, I suppose PF are best, but you have to buy from the US (Porterfield don't do 335i/d yet again)

EBC red were OK when hot, but very poor on day to day use, very little initial bite was not good on that first brake in the morning!, but the latest EBC yellows seem leaps and bounds better IMO, ver happy with them

my recent thread on new brakes etc

[two,_OH_five]

I agree on EBC yellow (different car mind)

Good feel from cold but hang in there when hot. They need to drop the DUST FREE advertising though
Previous disks I have bought from them have always been handed but you never know until the box shows up


The cheap disks thing is a hangup of mine. I've seen some eBay specials (and the typical motabitz ones in days of yore before t'internet) turn up looking like Pringles and I've seen a few cracked after track abuse (If the disk ain't blue shame on you). I agree there is reputable stuff out there but none the less the hangup remains.
Then again I've seen OEM stuff fair no better but they mostly don't need the 1-2" DTI gauge on arrival

[doughboy]

Originally Posted by two,_OH_five

I agree on EBC yellow (different car mind)

Good feel from cold but hang in there when hot. They need to drop the DUST FREE advertising though

Then again I've seen OEM stuff fair no better but they mostly don't need the 1-2" DTI gauge on arrival

Yeh, my wheels are BLACK after 10 days, they've been bedding in mind, but its still a lot of dust.

I borrowed a mag mount DTI off my old man, but felt too daft to use at the the garage when the discs were being fitted.

Turned out ok as the discs feel absolutely perfect, not a wobble or low speed catching in sight!