Who's had to replace brake rotors?

surprised!!!

Is that how often you have to replace rotors???
:yikes:

I will be buying a BMW in the next few weeks and would like to know what to expect.

Why are you guys having your rotors replaced at such low mileage? What were the symptoms? Or do you guys have dealers just ripping you off.

Replacing rotors at such low mileage is unheard of unless they are warped (likely because of poor design by BMW or because they are being used in racing).

What the h#ll is going on here?

Does seem odd. I've had VW's which never needed new rotors. But then again, given that BMW's encourage "spirited" driving, could just be "normal" wear and tear...then again...maybe not...

While washing my wheels some time ago, I happened to look thru the spokes and saw that the rotor had the outline of the brake pad stamped into it. Driving the car doesn't seem to wear it off...it seems permenant...it's odd...what could cause that??

nate328Ci said:

My pad light went on at 12.6K miles and the rotors were replaced due to light warping. The rear rotors were replaced along with the pads at 23.5K because they were too thin. At 28K miles, I had new front pads put on, but the rotors are still true...

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Based on the pic in your sig, I would say that you are probably hard on brakes and therefore, replacing the fronts for slight warpage makes perfect sense.

However, having the rear rotors replaced because they were too thin sounds fishy to me. Most rotors are designed to be machined at least a couple of times before getting too thin to support another machining operation. There is usually a spec engraved on the rotor somewhere that machine shops use to determine when the rotor has reached its minimum thickness. It sounds like you were fed a line by your dealer. Hopefully they were replaced under warranty.

What about the rest of you guys that have replaced rotors at such low mileage? Were they warped or did the dealer tell you they were too thin?

geomax said:

While washing my wheels some time ago, I happened to look thru the spokes and saw that the rotor had the outline of the brake pad stamped into it. Driving the car doesn't seem to wear it off...it seems permenant...it's odd...what could cause that??

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Because of the heat and moisture that rotors are subjected to, any part of the rotor that is not touched by the brake pad will rust. This will give the impression that the pads have "worn" the surface of the rotor down. However, rotors are cast steel and will NOT get worn down by brake pads. The only way a rotor can get worn down is through machining them to make them true or when resurfacing them (usually done when installing new pads to give the pads a clean surface to bite into).

virtualrain said:

Because of the heat and moisture that rotors are subjected to, any part of the rotor that is not touched by the brake pad will rust. This will give the impression that the pads have "worn" the surface of the rotor down. However, rotors are cast steel and will NOT get worn down by brake pads. The only way a rotor can get worn down is through machining them to make them true or when resurfacing them (usually done when installing new pads to give the pads a clean surface to bite into).

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What I meant was that the pad outline, if it were rust, should get scraped off. But it doesn't go away. It's as if it's engraved in the surface of the rotor. So my question was, how did the outline get "etched" in??

at my last major service visit ($1300 worth of warranty crap) they replaced the front rotors due to warpage (as per the service bulletin pertaining to brake induced steering wheel pulsation) and the front and rear pads as due to another bulletin for a brake squeal. It is worth noting that the car had 27,141 miles on it and they told me the front and rear brakes were still at 50%. In other words, I would have gone 50,000 miles on my original brakes.

Others here posted significantly lower mileage, but I'll bet some of them have automatics. The others just push their cars way too hard I guess Maybe I should stop using the transmission and engine braking to slow me down and start using the brakes!

DrBimmer said:

BMW rotors are designed to wear out along with the pads. Those of you that are used to just slapping on new pads and turning the rotors are out of luck here....

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I am definitely starting to believe this - and will likely eat my earlier words as a result It is bizarre to me since all other vehicles I have ever owned are as you say... replace the pads and turn the rotors.

Can you (or any other reader) enlighten me further on the design? Do they use some sort of carbon rotors or other exotic material that wears out?

geomax said:

What I meant was that the pad outline, if it were rust, should get scraped off. But it doesn't go away. It's as if it's engraved in the surface of the rotor. So my question was, how did the outline get "etched" in??

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I'm sorry. I'm not sure. Perhaps some other folks can shed some further light on the whole rotor/pad design since it seems very unconventional to me.

Fronts at 12.6K and rear at 23.5K

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Doesn't BMW use non-metallic carbon pads? :dunno:

If so they shouldn't wear down the rotors as quickly as a metallic pad. Even with metallic pads, 12.6k miles seems an excessively short distance to need your rotors replaced. Maybe there were other factors involved as well.