Bavauto Slotted vs. ATE Slotted vs. Ol' Stock-a-roony

[llll1l1ll]

Greetings fellow internet posters!

Cheesiness aside (hopefully), it is time to replace the brakes on my 325is. While abroad for a year, my Dad took the liberty of overhauling my brakes with Autozone rotors and pads. Needless to say, braking performance was mediocre at best over the past year, and now my rotors are warped.

So, I'm shopping around now. However, I've come to a fork... A three pronged one, I guess. In any case, I'm torn between stock and slotted. I used to have the ATE slotted rotors on my old E30, and they were nice. Y'know, the ones with the slots that look like an atom's electron path? They are about 100 bucks for a pair, IIRC. There are also Bavauto's slotted rotors for about 150 a pair, IIRC. Then there are stock, which are fairly inexpensive.

Price isn't really a factor in this decision. I'm concerned about rotor wear. I do drive in the suburbs and city; however, a spirited drive is not uncommon once or twice a month. I plan on buying Pagid pads--this I know, but I've heard bad things about Bavauto slotted rotors (or were they the cross-drilled) and how they just fall apart.

Can anyone care to enlighten me some on the subject? Perhaps I missed a thread while searching...

Best,

Pete

[Emre]

Best rotors for stock E30 brakes are OEM Balo. After that would be OEM Brembo. Plain rotors in both cases.

Ate generally makes good stuff, but I would stay away from any slotted/drilled rotors. I've never had good luck with them.

[YAN-3]

if the bav slotted or drilled are the zimmerman ones i say stay away. i have had 3 sets on 2 different e30s and all have cracked on me

[Wh33lhop]

Blanks.

[dinanm3atl]

Blanks are king. On my M3 when I was tracking it I NEVER had an issue abusing Zimmerman blanks endlessly... I TRIED some drilled zimmermans and they didn't last as long and the heat cracking got me nervous... more blanks.

[Jand3rson]

I've got ATE Powerslots on my car now, and combined with the Hawk HPS street pads, it's the best brake setup I've had on my car yet.

[e30s52]

Blanks are the best. I have cracked two sets now of zimmermens that are slotted. I havent had any problems at all with blanks

[MR 325]

Ate Powerslot rotors are very good quality. Definitely the only drilled/slotted performance rotor I would buy.

[dinanm3atl]

Ate Powerslot rotors are very good quality. Definitely the only drilled/slotted performance rotor I would buy.

Agreed. The ATE powerslot is a decent rotor. The problem is the machined rotors like ebay and zimmerman. Nothing wrong with zimmerman until you just drill holes in them.

[hoveringuy]

I love my Powerslots... had them for 7 years and they're still perfect.

[llll1l1ll]

The Powerslots were what I was talking about. I will probably pick up a set of those, unless I can find the other blanks that Emre was talking about (Balo).

The reason I asked was to get a second opinion (duh) since the ones on Bavauto seemed unusually cheap for slotted. Was just wondering if anyone else had experience.











Also, sorry you had to move the thread, mods!

[RainierHooker]

Pelican Parts carries Balo blanks...

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/catalog/shopcart/BE30/POR_BE30_BRKpad_pg3.htm#item12

[nando]

stock rotors are already pretty small (and thin) and don't have a lot of mass. slots, holes, groves, whatever - they all reduce the overall mass of the rotor making it a less effective heat sink. Put slotted/drilled rotors on your car if you want it to look fast, stick to cheap blanks if you want to drive fast.

I do agree that the ATEs are great for street use. My original set lasted about 60,000 miles before they were done. No track use though.

[e30trooper]

brembo blanks: front 36.95 each , rear 31.44 each. Hawk HP plus pads: front 90.82, rear: hawk HPS 66.91. Not a bad set up at for the money!

[Wh33lhop]

The only way I'm ever getting slotted rotors is if I get a BBK. And even then, I might prefer blanks.

Slotted and/or cross drilled looks stupid on stock brakes anyway. The only real upside is (debatable and probably unnoticeable) a bit better bite and the fact that the slots can help free any debris (pebbles etc) that get stuck between the pad and the rotor.