Brake pads ATE or Duralast
I literally just did exactly this.. Had the BRAKE warning light on the dash and replace rear brakes on Idrive message on my 2019 X3 M40i at 32k miles.. rear rotors looked fine to me.. they were smooth and not grooved.. so i bought OEM ATE PADS and a BOWA rear brake sensor.. $128 shipped from Pelican parts and i was charged 1 hour of labor ($135) at my local Indy shop.. as others have mentioned youtube is your friend.. just a rear pads replacement is a pretty easy job w basic tools.. I should have done it myself but I decided the $135 cost was not worth my time and effort.
During this time I also replaced the brake pads with oem ATE one’s (low dust) and oem brake fluid flush.
Regular carbon ceramic brake pads, from Ate and I presume also Brembo, are better than normal pads. Same stopping power but much less heat generation and brake dust.
Sure OEM pads and calipers can stop a loaded truck on the street, but what about when your loaded truck is on a long downhill rough trail? Your brakes get very hot and you can get brake fade and too much heat can damage components, warp rotors, etc (especially after hot brakes meet cool puddle or creek crossing). I went with Dynamic Friction Ultimate Duty pads and I am glad I did because i hit a bunch of those downhill trails the next trip and they got hot, could smell them, but no brake fade and no issues since.
My 2017 is a bone stock daily driver and I have no plans to do any major upgrades or track my car. That being said, I've never had an issue with duralast gold pads and rotors from autozone. Reasonably priced and the pads have a lifetime warranty, meaning you buy them once and can trade the used ones back in for a new set at any time, no questions asked. The rotors have a 3 year warranty and even though mine are only showing some very minor wear, I'm going to take advantage of the warranty and swap them out for a new set in the next few months befor my 3 years is up.
I'm using Dynamic Friction pads from RockAuto and they haven't let me down, grey performance and heat barely affects it.
Lasted through two track days and still have a ton of pad life left.
I put ATE200 + Ferodo DS2500 pads on my Mk7 in prep for its one (half) trackday, have been on for a few thousand street miles and work well at all temps.
AutoZone Duralast Ceramics have basically lasted forever. They have a lifetime replacement for free, so I paid like $100 for front pads once, and gotten em free since. Easy DIY.
Even the parts prices are on a different level, ie brake pads with a Volvo logo on them - 160€, with ATE (they allegedly produce the original pads too) logo - 60€...
I won't even use duralast brakes on my daily driver, let alone a 3400 pound 200 mph missile..
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