I just bought pads, rotors and sensors. Went with BMW branded, lifetime replacement warranty makes it a no brainier.
Pros: lifetime warranty
Vehicle:
BMW
Reviews of spare parts for BMW
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I bought a 2003 E46 a few months ago with a similar mindset. Don't need my car to commute, only for leisure. And wanted something more fun to drive and to work on.
Best decision I've made car related for a while. It's an absolute joy to drive. And not too bad on the wallet. I just completed a 1000 mole road trip to Scotland and averaged 41mpg across the whole trip (I have the 2.2L M54 engine so you're unlikely to beat that, but I'd think 30+ would be achievable). I found a gem on Facebook marketplace for a bargain. I've spent about £1k since but thenl vast majority of that was getting the AC compressor replaced to have that working again.
I would say that these older BMWs need a lot of love and preventative maintenance. That's fine if you want to do it yourself, but if not it will add up fast at a garage. Rust is definitely the main deterrent for a running car. Thankfully the wings can be easily replaced. More serious rust underneath would put me off.
For that price I'd want one with minimal work required in the immediate and serious rust free. But it's a great car and engine. Definitely take your time to find the right one
Pros: joy to drive, good mpg
Cons: needs maintenance, rust
Vehicle:
BMW
For straight time-attack speed it's either the Yokohama A052 (for 1 lap) or the new RE71RS (for several laps).
Pros: good time-attack speed
Vehicle:
BMW
Buy pads and the sensor from FCP Euro. Use their lifetime replacement warranty for the next set. Went to the dealer in July for an alignment and they recommended pads for a similar price. I bought pads rotors and sensors for front and back, total was $1000 for BMW parts. You could save with Jurid which is listed as OE and OEM. My pads are at 4mm all around so I'm actually waiting for the sensor to trip before doing the job.
Pros: lifetime warranty, good price
Vehicle:
BMW M2
Just swapped over to Valvoline Restore and Protect in my N52 BMW daily driver with 215k miles. I drive a lot and am taking before and after photos inside the valve train. I have exclusively used Castrol Edge A3/B4 for years so I will have a true comparative.
Pros: high detergent package
Cons: existing deposits go suspension
Vehicle:
BMW
Mileage: 215000 km
I have the Energizer battery in mine. It's worked perfectly so far. The included posts are plug and play with the i3 terminals.
Pros: worked perfectly, plug and play
Vehicle:
BMW
I ended up doing Pagid rotors on my 540i with Dynamic Friction DFC5000 Euro pads. I’ve put some hard stops through them from high speeds and am very happy with their lack of noise and dust.
Pros: quiet, low dust
Vehicle:
BMW
I was told that these pads and rotors won’t have that intial brake bite like BMW pads do but goddamn. I had to change my entire braking habit just because it really wasn’t biting like I thought it would.
Pros: less cleaning needed
Cons: poor initial brake bite
Vehicle:
BMW
Im 6000 miles in on my i4 m50 and the tires are about to be replaced. Its a super powerful and super heavy car and it will eat up tires like nothing.
Cons: tires wear quickly
Vehicle:
BMW
Mileage: 9656 km
Contrary to popular comments, I have moved away from Bosch. I consider that quality went down and they do not last long.
Cons: quality went down, short lifespan
Vehicle:
BMW
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