Z3 Brakes

EBC Redstuff are about the best all-round pad available, wear well, and also produce very little dust.



I have been using Zimmermann drilled discs from GSF on various cars for about twenty years, and find they wear very well.  They are also a lot cheaper than many others.

Your 286 mm vented discs are common to most E36 and E46 models up to 2.8 litres, so replacements are readily available.


Edited by Mike Fishwick - 28 Mar 2013 at 1:43pm

The holes help to vent any gas produced by the pad under heavy braking (such as quickly descending an alpine pass)  provide an exit path for the water which can build up on long motorway runs, and also help deglaze the pads.  I do not get any of the glazed pad problems which always happened with the original discs after a lot of gentle braking.  Generally speaking, they do not do any harm, and do a few good things.

The brakes feel responsive, crisp, and powerful when hot or cold, even after prolonged light use, so I would be loath to change the setup.

Quite apart from that, they are not expensive, and they last well - generally about 100,000 miles with 2 sets Redstuff pads.  That, of course, is driving in rural France, where we do not have speed humps or mini roundabouts, and very few traffic lights, so braking is not such as frequent pastime as in the UK.


Edited by Mike Fishwick - 28 Mar 2013 at 3:25pm

Yes, try GSF - German Swedishand French - and Europarts .

Give CarParts4less a look they are another online version of Europarts and are often cheaper for the same parts on the Europarts site.
I bought front and rear discs and pads from them for my 1.9, still waiting to fit them too cold at the moment.

Colb


Edited by colb - 02 Apr 2013 at 9:25pm