[DrewM.]

My front disc's are getting close to the minimum thickness and will need replacing pretty soon, while the pads have a little under 50% remaining I'll probably replace those at the same time.

I'm after a set of street orientated pads that have the same characteristics as the OE pads in regards to cold braking ability, while producing less dust, any direct experience with aftermarket pads meeting those criteria would be great to hear.

[therealdb1]

If you are fitting new discs you should "certainly" fit new pads not "probably".

What discs are you fitting as these will have an effect on the braking performance also?

If you are a sensible on the road driver and not going to hoon your car around a race track I would recommend the OE brakes.

My experience of "low-dust" set ups is that they create less dust because you do not stop!

[rasa bmw]

ive just bought zimmerman discs and yellowstuff pads for my 330d,,and they are superb,,my 335d will be getting the same treatment when they need doing..although i went and bought a set of front red stuff pads for it,,were going cheap £50 and couldnt help myself,,so will probably jsut gett he reds for the resar also,,but deffo the Z coat zimmerman discs,,i went with hhte yellow as i was getting loads of brake fade with only 3 high speed stops ,,now they do not fade at all however hard they are used

[therealdb1]

Originally Posted by rasa bmw

now they do not fade at all however hard they are used

But the OP wasn't concerned about fade he wanted to know about dust.

Does the Zimmerman / yellow stuff create more, less or the same amount of dust as the OE brakes?

[AD18]

Zimmermann sport disc brake and yellowstuff here too. Dust levels, i think they are about the same as OEM, maybe a bit more but i haven't had oem pads on my car for a while now so can't remember for sure. I wouldn't say they produce less dust though.

[Chappers 71]

I would suggest a set of ceramic pads & grooved discs.
I've been on red stuff pads for a few years now with currently Pagid discs & am very happy with the set up. I would say dust levels are fairly low but I can't really remember what they used to be like.
When it's time to replace my discs I'm going grooved as I found out that they allow gas/heat build up to escape, even if that's not true I still want them.
I've had drilled discs & they just clog up with carbon, they look good though

[rasa bmw]

wouldnt notice on a road car about drilled/grooved dimpled..also are more prone to cracks(drilled),,also the yellowstuff are not to bad on dust..redstuff are great for reduced dust but still produce it,,

[DrewM.]

I'll be getting Zimmerman drilled disc's from Autodoc as they have a 25% black Friday sale, in fact, they are so cheap I have ordered the matching rear disc's.

Lots of threads point toward the EBC yellow's as a good lower dusting pad, with a similar brake coefficient to OE pads, Although I'm a little wary as I've had some bad experience with EBC products in the past, admittedly, at the very infancy of the company and I've heard they have made vast improvements in quality since.

I was really after a set of Axxis ULT pads, I've had these on two cars and found they to be a very good pad, good from cold, can take a few laps on a trackday without wilting and produces less in the way of dust than I'm experiencing from the current pads I have fitted.

Anyone this side of the pond tried the Akebono ceramics?

[rasa bmw]

my discs for my 330d were £168 for the 4,,Z coat plain disc from 123spareparts.co.uk

[DrewM.]

I got the front and rear cross-drilled and coated for £235 delivered.

[rasa bmw]

yeh still good price, but id rather have the £70 in my pocket (3 bottles of JD) than soemthing that aint gonna give you anything extra in the way of performance

[AD18]

Originally Posted by DrewM.

I got the front and rear cross-drilled and coated for £235 delivered.

They certainly look nice and I like them, but are more for looks than performance. Enjoy.

[AD18]

^^ Having said that, I did go on track with them and they held up fine, no cracks. However, as +Chappers71 mentioned, grooved are better for that kind of thing for the heat escape and fresh cutting surface they provide.

[DrewM.]

Originally Posted by AD18

They certainly look nice and I like them, but are more for looks than performance. Enjoy.

Exactly the reason I got the cross-drilled over the plain disc's, I'm under no illusion they will perform any better, it purely for the aesthetics.

What pads do you use with the Zimmerman disc's?

[rasa bmw]

drilled are also more prone to cracks,,are they drilled or dimpled?cannot tell,,i know you said drilled but some folk dont know the difference,,nice grey paint on calipers and black or silver for retaing clip would look even better,,ive bought some paint and waiting to next year to complete

[AD18]

Originally Posted by DrewM.

Exactly the reason I got the cross-drilled over the plain disc's, I'm under no illusion they will perform any better, it purely for the aesthetics.

What pads do you use with the Zimmerman disc's?

For the looks, yeah go for it.
I had PFC Z rated pads recently when I was taking the car on track, but now I've switched back to Yellowstuff. However, as I won't be going on track anymore and I haven't been on OEM pads for a long time perhaps you can tell me what standard pads are like and why you want to change. I am still thinking of going back to all OEM but can't decide.

Originally Posted by rasa bmw

drilled are also more prone to cracks,,are they drilled or dimpled?cannot tell,,i know you said drilled but some folk dont know the difference,,nice grey paint on calipers and black or silver for retaing clip would look even better,,ive bought some paint and waiting to next year to complete

These are drilled. I did read a lot of comments saying how drilled are more correct. I gave them a proper battering on track in summer and they've held up fine to be honest, time will tell. A friend of mine who has a track prepped E46 M3 with the standard drilled discs has only just started to show signs of cracking after a good number of years use. I understand the reasoning behind them cracking easier but...I dunno
Good shout re. the retaining clip, didn't think of that!

[DrewM.]

Originally Posted by AD18

For the looks, yeah go for it.
I had PFC Z rated pads recently when I was taking the car on track, but now I've switched back to Yellowstuff. However, as I won't be going on track anymore and I haven't been on OEM pads for a long time perhaps you can tell me what standard pads are like and why you want to change. I am still thinking of going back to all OEM but can't decide.

Both the yellow stuff and PFC z rated are on my short list, how do you find them in terms of cold braking performance, pedal feel and dust levels, and which do you prefer?

I'm not particularly interested in fade resistance as this car will not be near a short track, maybe a lap or two of the ring of I go on a euro road trip but they will be relatively pedestrian as I'll have the family with me.

I find the OE pads fine for road use, I did manage to get a relatively long pedel on a morning run with a couple of mate on the way to a PH cars and coffee meet, but, that could be contributed to the standard fluid getting hotter than it likes, more than the actually pad material wilting, the main bug bare is the dust levels, I've never had pads like them they produce more dust than any pad I've experienced.

[rasa bmw]

i honestly find them ok for cold braking,,but i doont drive the car hard till its warm anyhow(oil temp ) so brakes will be a bit warmer,,but driving off first thing they just feel normal to me..

[DrewM.]

Originally Posted by rasa bmw

i honestly find them ok for cold braking,,but i doont drive the car hard till its warm anyhow(oil temp ) so brakes will be a bit warmer,,but driving off first thing they just feel normal to me..

Sorry, which pads are you referring to, PFC, EBC-YS or OE?

[AD18]

Originally Posted by DrewM.

Both the yellow stuff and PFC z rated are on my short list, how do you find them in terms of cold braking performance, pedal feel and dust levels, and which do you prefer?

I like both. I think the PFC were better for when going on track and held up to heat better but were a tad more mushy when cold than the yellowstuff which is why I recently changed. I don't know about now but when I bought the PFC earlier in the year they only made z rated for the front so i kept yellow on the rear. PFC all round would have been better. My friend had them front and rear on his E92 M3 and he found them spot on. I think thats what a lot of those guys go for.
I might need to bed the yellows in again but i still find the cold bite not great for me. After a few stops though and when there is some heat in the brakes they are really nice, solid pedal and great bite. Its this winter weather which is making me think to just go to OEM *IF* they actually have good cold weather bite. In summer both pads were good.
Dust was low with PFC, I personally find the yellowstuff to dust more.

[rasa bmw]

Originally Posted by DrewM.

Sorry, which pads are you referring to, PFC, EBC-YS or OE?

ebc ys

[DrewM.]

Originally Posted by AD18

I like both. I think the PFC were better for when going on track and held up to heat better but were a tad more mushy when cold than the yellowstuff which is why I recently changed. I don't know about now but when I bought the PFC earlier in the year they only made z rated for the front so i kept yellow on the rear. PFC all round would have been better. My friend had them front and rear on his E92 M3 and he found them spot on. I think thats what a lot of those guys go for.
I might need to bed the yellows in again but i still find the cold bite not great for me. After a few stops though and when there is some heat in the brakes they are really nice, solid pedal and great bite. Its this winter weather which is making me think to just go to OEM *IF* they actually have good cold weather bite. In summer both pads were good.
Dust was low with PFC, I personally find the yellowstuff to dust more.

Thanks for the info.

I'm leaning towards to PFC's purely based on the bad experience I had with EBC in the past.

I'm pretty sure they still only make the z rated for the front so if I go this route I'll still have choose a rear pad, probably just OE spec from a manufacturer like Textar.