[330istocknot]

My car shakes when braking, around 50-70mph.

do these look like they are warped? any of them? the two front has like little indentations outwards, like tiny bumps.

Just bought a premium drilled performance rotor package. I plan on replacing the rotos and brake pads.

2014 328i sports line, 86k miles and i dont see any rotor replacement on the carfax before. is it time for a rotor replacement anyway at 86k miles?

[cfm56d7b]

At 86K miles, the rotors are more than ready for replacement. Don't forget to install new brake wear sensors when changing the pads.

[Skyhigh]

Nothing wrong with your rotors, at least based on the photos. Look perfectly normal and in good condition.

Rotors don't age, they wear out. Yours definitely do not look worn out, irrespective of the mileage (it's the driving style that defines how many miles it takes rotors and pads to wear out). There is no such thing as time-based or mileage-based replacement of brakes - they are done "on condition"
To be more confident, measure the thickness of the rotors and compare to the guidance you will find online for new and worn out rotors of your type. This will give you a rough % indication of how much life is left in them.

They look in great condition though.

P.s. remember to always inspect the back side too, using a mirror! Sometimes problems are hidden on the inner side.

[AW F31]

You'll struggle to visually see warp in a brake disc.

A way to get an quick indication of whether it is warped would be to jack up the wheel and see if the wheel spins freely.

If it does spin freely, it's not likely warped.

If the wheel is catching periodically on the brake pad it could be an indication of warping being present.

[n55david]

Originally Posted by AW F31

You'll struggle to visually see warp in a brake disc.

A way to get an quick indication of whether it is warped would be to jack up the wheel and see if the wheel spins freely.

If it does spin freely, it's not likely warped.

If the wheel is catching periodically on the brake pad it could be an indication of warping being present.

this

only way to check for warping is to pull it off and actually check for run out. you can't tell my pictures lol

[SuperLomi]

Originally Posted by Skyhigh

Nothing wrong with your rotors, at least based on the photos. Look perfectly normal and in good condition.

Rotors don't age, they wear out. Yours definitely do not look worn out, irrespective of the mileage

I'm going to go ahead and disagree here. You can't tell if rotors are worn out by looking at a picture.

In this care there's a not insignificant lip worn around the edge of the rotor, so it's possible the rotors are near end of life. Only way to know for sure is to measure rotor thickness in the wear area, and compare to the spec.

At 86k miles, if these are original rotors I would suspect they may be candidates for replacement. Especially if they are experiencing other symptoms, like brake shudder it's worth having a shop check out.


And as others have said, you can't check runout visually, unless it's REALLY bad. Only way to know sure sure is to measure. Take it to a shop and have them check, if you don't know how to do it yourself/have to tools.

[SuperLomi]

Originally Posted by Skyhigh

Nothing wrong with your rotors, at least based on the photos. Look perfectly normal and in good condition.

Rotors don't age, they wear out. Yours definitely do not look worn out, irrespective of the mileage

I'm going to go ahead and disagree here. You can't tell if rotors are worn out by looking at a picture.

In this care there's a not insignificant lip worn around the edge of the rotor, so it's possible the rotors are near end of life. Only way to know for sure it to measure rotor thickness in the wear area, and compare to the spec.

At 86k miles, if there are original rotors I would suspect they may be candidates for replacement. Especially if they are experiencing other symptoms, like brake shudder it's worth having a shop check out.

[Skyhigh]

Originally Posted by SuperLomi

I'm going to go ahead and disagree here. You can't tell if rotors are worn out by looking at a picture.

In this care there's a not insignificant lip worn around the edge of the rotor, so it's possible the rotors are near end of life. Only way to know for sure it to measure rotor thickness in the wear area, and compare to the spec.

At 86k miles, if there are original rotors I would suspect they may be candidates for replacement. Especially if they are experiencing other symptoms, like brake shudder it's worth having a shop check out.

Of course you can Called visual inspection and done as part of the technical inspection (at least here in Europe). By experience one knows how a warn or nearly-warn rotor looks like. Of course the ultimate check is measuring the thickness, as I have suggested as well. As also mentioned already, visual inspection must be done on the inner side as well, as sometimes there are nasty surprises hidden there.

OP's rotors on the photos exhibit very limited lip on the outer diameter, no rust, full surface contact and no apparent (dis)colouration which may suggest overheating. That's all I can tell based on the photos.

Want to see how nearly-done rear rotors look like?


These are the rear ones on my Audi. Still original from factory, second set of pads. Limited contact surface area, but nearly the same on the inside and outside (from memory up to 20% difference in contact area acceptable). Rubbing when manually turned - within tolerance. Braking - good. Fully roadworthy (according to formal roadworthiness inspection as well).
Now compare them to OP's pictures.

I don't disagree however that not everything can be seen on photos. This said, from what is visible - they look perfectly fine, despite mileage.

[INROADRACR]

Rotors rarely warp. The pulsating feeling you may get during normal braking, which so many define as warping, is almost always brake pad deposition. Deposition, or the transfer of pad material to the rotors, often happens when brakes are very hot (from aggressive use) and then stopping at a light with the foot on the brakes. At this point, the pads transfer some material to the rotors.

The fix to this is pretty simple. Look up brake bedding, but it's simply a series of controlled braking from a higher speed to evenly distribute any surface material.

As for the 'look' of your rotors, they seem like they have life left in them, but you may want to go to a different rotor and pad combination. Totally up to you.

[adhrp]

My car has 130k miles on it and still has the original rotors. Changed the brake pads at 71k miles with about 3-4 mm still left on them. Indy recommended not to wait till the pads are too thin as that helps conserve the rotors. Good advice, as that seems to have kept my rotors in good condition. The rotors will be changed when the next pad replacement happens.

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by Skyhigh

they look perfectly fine, despite mileage.

Agreed. They could have been better maintained with regular repainting of the hubs and removal of the outer ridge, but they should function just fine. The main cause of rotor rust is the same as any rust: road salt. Where the OP lives he may have never encountered it. That makes just about everything last a lot longer.

[HighlandPete]

Interesting topic, as judder is very often put down to warping, but as said already, hardly ever the case.

I wish my discs looked like the OP's after a year, let alone the mileage.

Here is a picture of the rear of a disc, which looked okay (but worn) on the outside. We can clearly see why brakes started to judder.

[pshovest]

Make sure you're not throwing away usable rotors.
BMW's says rotors that have reached minimum thickness, are good for (1) one more set of pads.

[Wgosma]

Originally Posted by INROADRACR

Rotors rarely warp. The pulsating feeling you may get during normal braking, which so many define as warping, is almost always brake pad deposition. Deposition, or the transfer of pad material to the rotors, often happens when brakes are very hot (from aggressive use) and then stopping at a light with the foot on the brakes. At this point, the pads transfer some material to the rotors.

The fix to this is pretty simple. Look up brake bedding, but it's simply a series of controlled braking from a higher speed to evenly distribute any surface material.

As for the 'look' of your rotors, they seem like they have life left in them, but you may want to go to a different rotor and pad combination. Totally up to you.

+1….indeed, warped rotors are quite rare. It's usually pad material on rotor surface issue as mentioned.

[ggrcrash]

It's not the rotors, it WILL be if you keep driving though...If I were you, I would be checking the lower front control arms...You really can't check them by just looking, you need to be underneath the car and look up, if you see fluid seeping from the arm, or a better way...Grab a grip (seriously) of the control arm, try and move it, if you can, the mounting points are worn out