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What rotors to use with my Wagner pads?

14K views 38 replies 16 participants last post by  JeffR 
#1 ·
I just picked up a set of these pads: Wagner ThermoQuiet Semi-Metallic MX548 for the rear and Wagner ThermoQuiet QC946 Ceramic for the front. I don't want to use the existing rotors, would like to start with a fresh set.

Besides the Wagner brand of solid rotors, are there any better rotors like Beck Arnley I could use? Even drilled ones? Or is it best to stick with the same manufacturer of the pads as the rotors?

Thank you!
 
#2 · (Edited)
Mixing and matching pads and rotors is okay for general purpose use. Technically there are soft and hard rotors as well as soft and hard pads. Is this just a daily driver? If you want better braking then generally softer is better, but at the expense of the life of the parts.

I don't see why you wouldn't just pick up a new OEM set of rotors for how cheap they are.
By the way a quick search would have yielded you many results.

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=895156
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=1028399
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=923717
 
#5 ·
Yeh, I would park it before using Wagner brake pads, but it's OP's choice. As far as rotors, I might use the Zimmerman's that Phyrgian recommended. Or if you want to stay cheap, go to partsgeek.com and they'll have a selection. And your BMW uses only vented rotors.
 
#6 ·
There's a good chance you'll have problems with those pads. 8 out of 10 times I've seen generic pads cause vibration issues in short time. Lots to explain but I can if you'd like in a PM or something (don't want to cloud your thread)

Personally I'd throw those pads in the rubbish bin and start all over. Go with OE or OEM.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Just get some parts from centric, it's fine. Wagner will provide amply good stopping power, but I would not expect them to be as good as OEM. If you want to return them for a more effective budget-friendly setup, do this:

Go to http://www.bmaparts.com, order the following:

2x Front Meyle Rotors: $73.90
2x Rear Meyle Rotors: $61.54

4x Front Bosch QuietCast Pads: $41.72
4x Rear Bosch QuietCast Pads: $41.72

Total cost: $218.58 + free shipping, and now you've got a safe braking setup good for 40,000 miles.



There's nothing wrong with Wagner pads, but they're not going to provide the same type of performance and build quality that you will find with Bosch products. On a performance car, it's much easier to notice the quality drop on parts since the parts are well-designed for performance from the factory.

If you're interested in learning more, check out Bosch's QuietCast pad product info:

http://www.boschautoparts.com/Brakes/Documents/QC_DiscBrakePads.pdf

And Meyle's brake rotor product info:

http://meyle.com/_download/service/...oduct-information-MEYLE-Platinum-Discs-en.pdf

Remember that all of these products have been tested thoroughly, and are safe for street use. They would not be sold by large-scale companies and corporations if they directly caused crashes daily. Your odds of going wrong are much smaller if you go through a reputable vendor.

Now, if you want a good performance setup, I can help you with that as well. If you do that, you'll want to look at brands such as Zimmermann, EBC, Textar, Hawk, Akebono, and ECSTuning brands. I've had solid luck with ECS's stuff.
 
#13 ·
Just get some parts from centric, it's fine. Wagner will provide amply good stopping power, but I would not expect them to be as good as OEM. If you want to return them for a more effective budget-friendly setup, do this:

Go to http://www.bmaparts.com, order the following:
You forgot to mention the discount code spece30, that will drop that price 10% if it's still in effect ;)
 
#11 ·
No, you're right, a well-respected company that's regularly contracted by most major auto manufacturers to develop complex systems, and also spend a fair amount of time, effort, and money to create (knowingly seldom-read) product performance sheets based upon countless man-hours and test results for mass-scale production to shops for installation on consumer vehicles, clearly are okay with selling cheap rebranded products with little quality control.

My bad. I guess you were right.
 
#17 · (Edited)
I went with Zimmerman rotors and Textar pads in the rear. $180 shipped with a new sensor from BMA Parts. No complaints and I'll do the same for the fronts when they are due.

Any reason why you don't want to use the old rotors? So long as they are well within thickness spec and there is no irregular wear, they can be reused. Just be sure to bed the pads afterwards.
 
#24 ·
If you want better than stock performance, you might consider slotted rotors. They don't have the same issues that drilled rotors have that solidjake mentioned. I believe Centric has slotted rotors ***8230; I use ATE Premium One rotors with a unique slotting system:



If you're interested in those, buy 'em now, as I believe that ATE stopped bringing them into the US. One source that has them is BMPDesign.com.
 
#25 ·
If you want better than stock performance, you might consider slotted rotors. They don't have the same issues that drilled rotors have that solidjake mentioned. I believe Centric has slotted rotors ... I use ATE Premium One rotors with a unique slotting system:



If you're interested in those, buy 'em now, as I believe that ATE stopped bringing them into the US. One source that has them is BMPDesign.com.
less surface area, better performance............k
 
#28 · (Edited)
I've used Wagner Thermoquiet ceramic pads on another car and I liked them. They looked high quality and were made in USA. They are good pads for a DD IMO. They were quiet, brakes were very strong, and didn't make a lot of dust.

Wagner rotors on the other hand are rubbish made in China junk. In Canada they rust very quickly. Wagner also makes cheaper made in China pads, I wouldn't get those.
 
#36 · (Edited)
As Sansho said, there's one for the front and one for the rear. Are you planning to DIY your brakes? If so, don't just blindly order sensors for both. They are easy to check visually. A word of caution, my front sensor connector broke when I tried to disconnect the original sensor. The plastic was brittle and it just crumbled. I ended up going without the new front sensor, and simply cut the broken factory connector off the wires and spliced them together.


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#35 ·
Assuming your pads have gotten low enough for one or both of the brake sensor to break, yes you'll need to replace the broken sensor. If the pads haven't worn to the point of breaking one of the sensors, then it can be reused if you're careful when you take it off the existing pad. There's one sensor in front and one in the rear.
 
#37 ·
...I ended up going without the new front sensor, and simply cut the broken factory connector off the wires and spliced them together.
While there may be a reason to bypass the brake pad sensor, for example you use track pads that don't allow connecting the sensor, be careful with that. Think a couple of years down the road … you've forgotten about that, you sell the car, the idiot you sold it to gets killed in an accident. The family lawyer as the car inspected and finds the sensor has been bypassed. Regardless of cause, you'll get sued for more money than is on the earth for contributing to the drivers death.

Spring the $9 for an OEM sensor, or if you want to go cheap, $4 for non-OEM.
 
#38 ·
First of all, I would never sell a vehicle without disclosing ALL known problems, workarounds, hacks, etc. Second, my current E46 will never be sold. I will part it out and send the remains to the scrap yard when/if that day comes.

My main point was that on older cars the connector may be brittle and break when you start messing with it.


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