vs
Brake pads OEM BMW or Mintex
After 70K miles of fun driving, I finally replaced my front brake rotors and pads...3mm left on the pads LOL. I got Zimmermann Rotors($180) and Mintex pads($45) and couldn't be happier. In fact, this set-up feels a lot better than the OEM bite and feel plus the massive reduction in brake dust.
Pros: better than OEM, less dust
Vehicle:
Volkswagen Golf
Mileage: 70000 km
I recently got a pair of pretty rusty 325 calipers for £50 (mine are the smaller ones from a 316) and sandblasted them back to clean metal. Then painted with high temp paint and rebuild kit £30 (pistons, seals, guide pins, bleed valves etc). I was pretty happy with the result which cost me around £100 for the pair. I then went with mintex discs and pads and a full set of braided brake lines my mate had. Full refurb prolly cost me £300 and are significantly better than they were but I don't think they will be as good as a 4 pot setup.
Pros: significantly better brakes
Cons: not as good as 4 pot
Vehicle:
BMW
M3 stock brakes are better, the GTI gets a little tail-happy under hard braking above 110-130mph.
Cons: tail-happy under braking
Vehicle:
BMW
I’ve always used Zimmerman rotors and Mintex pads, and have yet to find a better combo. I’ve tried Brembo, Stoptech, Bosch, but nothing has pleased me like Mintex [pedal feel, stopping power, no noise, very low dust [especially when used on drilled rotors]].
Pros: pedal feel, stopping power
Cons: nothing has pleased me
Seems like there would be room in the market for a slightly detuned S55 base model without the fancy seats, brakes and wheels for about $5-8k less like the M3/M4: M3/M4 Competition.
Vehicle:
BMW M2
I really love driving it though, particularly the brakes and the handling.
Pros: glorious sound, great handling
Vehicle:
BMW
My local Bavarian car specialist refuses to install ceramic pads and will only do OEM due to low performance in the cold and increased wear on rotors. I was looking forward to less brake dust, especially on the front, but I live on top of one of the steepest hills in the city. I now have OEM pads.
Pros: less brake dust
Cons: low cold performance
Vehicle:
MINI
Mintex is a step below the OEM Jurid/ATE/TRW pads in terms of friction coefficient. Mintex is an upgrade when it comes to dust. Right now, running Akebono Euro Ceramics... I won't come to my verdict until winter.
Pros: less dust
Cons: lower friction coefficient
You wanna avoid mintex red box these days. The passat pads have a slight problem with burning up under hard braking.
Cons: burning up under braking
Vehicle:
Volkswagen Passat B5
Not to sound mean, but Mintex redbox are terrible pads.
Cons: terrible pads
Vehicle:
Volkswagen Corrado
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