Groves on my front disk rotors ???

Hi guys,

I have a new 2012 535i with a whooping 4,000 miles on her.

Today I noticed that the passenger side front rotor has groves on it I assume from the brake pads. If I run my fingers over the flat surface of the rotor I can feel groves on it.

It's really bad on the passenger side and a little less on the drivers side.

The rear rotors are flat and smooth as glass. So are my other rotor surfaces of the rest of my vehicles.

Is this normal ? This is my first BMW so I'm not sure if it's supposed to be like that ?

Thanks

How deep in mm are the grooves?

Funny... mine were never glass smooth from day one.

I think it's pretty normal, mine are grooved, but I have 24K miles. I've noticed the grooves for a long time now.

Mine were never grooved.

I've found some minor grooves on my front rotors. My 2011 535 had a severe groove in the front left rotor that the dealer said was norma.

The brakes on the F10 are amazing--I know they are beefed up on the 550xi. I've found they are squealing when first applying. For daily driving it does not take much brake pressure at all to slow the car down and stop. The transmission and regenterative system to a good job. I've tried a couple "Italian Tune-Ups" to clear out the squeal and it's not working. Car has 3500 miles on it. I suspect it's from not nailing the brakes hard enough.

My driving is suburban and you don't need to zoom up and nail the brakes. I think probably a ridge has built on the rotor. I'll have it checked at inspection.

I've seen some minor grooving on my 550 but not my 535. I expect if you throw a good tantrum, the rotor will get replaced. It's really not normal to have a deeply grooved rotor. I tollerated mine on the 535 because I was trading it. A small rock had to have gotten in between the rotor and the pad for that bad of a groove to grow. Having Audis, other BMW's, Mercedes, and Porsche, I've never seen such a groove develop.

Good luck!

Not normal,

Take it to your dealer they will replace them at no charge.

I had the same issue on the drivers front (grooved) and my brakes squealed from day one. I'll try and find the work order link and post it here for you to see.

Please tell your dealer, they will fix it. After replacing the rotors and pads the sqeal went away and smooth braking returned.

Good luck...

edit: service invoice attached below...see page 3

The OP did not mention any squealing problem with the brakes, nor did he report a "severe" groove. He simply mentioned seeing some grooves that he could feel with his finger. I'm not sure we can be sure of his definition of "really bad".

Are other people reporting that they have absolutely no grooving on their rotors? As I reported, I have some minor grooving on mine and have noticed it for quite a while. They are not what I would call severe, but I can feel them with my finger. My brakes have never squealed in 24K miles of driving. Disc brakes work about the same on all cars, don't they? The pad presses against the rotor to stop the car. Are we saying that there is something inherently "wrong" with BMW rotors, or is this simply a matter or normal wear caused by small abrasive particles that collect between the pad and rotor?

Suggest the OP visit his dealer at a convenient time and get a reading from the service department. It's possible he did suffer some specific rotor damage from an object lodged in the brake pad.

Thanks guys for all the replies. My brakes do not squeak and they feel solid and function perfectly. I don't drive my car that hard at all and baby it really.

The groves aren't super deep but they are noticeable and when I run my finger over the rotor you can really feel them. The reason I even bring this up is I have NEVER owned a car that had a rotor that wasn't smooth, even after 80k plus miles.

I was talking to a random guy next to my bmw the other day and the guy asked me what was wrong with my front brakes ? I asked him what the heck are you talking about ? And he pointed to my front rotor and said my brake pads where gouging my rotors. Because I have the 19" m-sport rims on the car you can see the rotors well. I will definitely go by my dealer and ask them, so far they have given me outstanding customer service.

Here are some pics of my front and rear rotors, 24K miles. I can feel the grooves if I run my finger over the surface.

Had same on mine, dealer replaced at no charge, SA noted that known issue of "bad batch of pads" with debris that causes grooves.

OK, so that's what I musta had. I was dreaming about glass smooth shiny discs only to get those mini grooves from day 1 when I picked up the car with 70kms on the clock... (why it had 70 kms is another story)

Hookay, if the pics ^^^ are what you are seeing, IMHO its normal vehicle operation. If it was much beyond catching a fingernail, maybe, but BMW cast iron rotors are so soft, typically, some uneven pad/rotor wear due to road debris is normal. As long as the pads key into the rotors, and the car stops straight and true, I seriously doubt any dealer is going to change parts based on a cosmetic observation like this.

Originally Posted by MMME30W

Hookay, if the pics ^^^ are what you are seeing, IMHO its normal vehicle operation. If it was much beyond catching a fingernail, maybe, but BMW cast iron rotors are so soft, typically, some uneven pad/rotor wear due to road debris is normal. As long as the pads key into the rotors, and the car stops straight and true, I seriously doubt any dealer is going to change parts based on a cosmetic observation like this.

Just in case you didn't notice, those pictures were from "me", not the OP. I was trying to show what my own rotors look like after a couple of years use for the OP to compare. I don't know what the OP's rotors look like. However, after owning 3 BMW's, I agree with you and I think my pictures ARE showing normal wear.

Originally Posted by markl53

Just in case you didn't notice, those pictures were from "me", not the OP. I was trying to show what my own rotors look like after a couple of years use for the OP to compare. I don't know what the OP's rotors look like. However, after owning 3 BMW's, I agree with you and I think my pictures ARE showing normal wear.

Thanks for clarification, I was referring to your pictures. Did not want to clutter the thread by requoting.

I was curious about this topic as it relates to the F10, and was wondering if this was something unusual about the rotors/pads used on these particular cars?

If OP could quantify the observed groove depth (mm, thousandths, etc.) it might help, but hard to deduce an issue without data...

This may help:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...07&postcount=8

Originally Posted by Quacker

This may help:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...07&postcount=8

Thanks, good link. I agree that over 0.060" is pretty excessive...

I finally got some pictures of my rotor.

The first two are from the front passenger side rotor, the one I was asking you guys about.

The last one which looks totally normal is from my passenger rear rotor. Again the back two are smooth.

When I get some time I will definitely take it in the dealer.

Originally Posted by griffin 27

i finally got some pictures of my rotor.

The first two are from the front passenger side rotor, the one i was asking you guys about.

The last one which looks totally normal is from my passenger rear rotor. Again the back two are smooth.

When i get some time i will definitely take it in the dealer.

wow!

Originally Posted by markl53

wow!

Seriously.

OP - Hard to tell but those look over or at least pretty near 60 thou. I'd say that was worth a trip to the dealer.

So I finally got around to going to the dealer this morning to have them look at the rotors. The service manager took a look and feel. He asked me if the car brakes make noise or if the car pulls to one side, etc. My answer was No to all.

He said not to worry about it, he has seen grooves before in BMW's in the rotors. BMW would replace the brake pads and rotors anyway for the first 4/50k. Which I didn't know, I thought I was responsible for the brake pads. But now that I'm not, I'm going to not baby the brakes anymore LOL.

So bottom line, apparently this can happen on these cars and it's not an issue. They were really cool and said if any noises, pulling, etc. start to occur they would replace everything right away under warranty.

Originally Posted by Griffin 27

So I finally got around to going to the dealer this morning to have them look at the rotors. The service manager took a look and feel. He asked me if the car brakes make noise or if the car pulls to one side, etc. My answer was No to all.

He said not to worry about it, he has seen grooves before in BMW's in the rotors. BMW would replace the brake pads and rotors anyway for the first 4/50k. Which I didn't know, I thought I was responsible for the brake pads. But now that I'm not, I'm going to not baby the brakes anymore LOL.

So bottom line, apparently this can happen on these cars and it's not an issue. They were really cool and said if any noises, pulling, etc. start to occur they would replace everything right away under warranty.

Who's your dealer?

I received the same response on the 550i xdrive and have the same grooves as OP

Originally Posted by bighungry618

Not normal,

Take it to your dealer they will replace them at no charge.

I had the same issue on the drivers front (grooved) and my brakes squealed from day one. I'll try and find the work order link and post it here for you to see.

Please tell your dealer, they will fix it. After replacing the rotors and pads the sqeal went away and smooth braking returned.

Good luck...

edit: service invoice attached below...see page 3

Yup, just want to dealer for my schedule oil change and tell them about the groove on the front brake (and some Shimmy when braking at freeway speed) and they change it with no question ask...only 20k miles on mine...

I have the grooves but no shimmy or noise.