[Davidschu]

Hi all,
Recently purchased a 2013' bmw 335 x-drive sedan m-sport with 54k miles. Just hit 60k miles today and now I'm getting a strong squeaking when I come to a stop. So it's time for some new pads.

The stock pads (I assume the car has stock pads on it) leave a ton of brake dust! What are the best options for some low dust pads that have similar stopping power to the oem pads and where's the best place to buy them?

Thanks!

[johnung]

Originally Posted by Davidschu

Hi all,
Recently purchased a 13' f30 m-sport with 54k miles. Just hit 60k miles today and now I'm getting a strong squeaking when I come to a stop. So it's time for some new pads.

The stock pads (I assume the car has stock pads on it) leave a ton of brake dust! What are the best options for some low dust pads that have similar stopping power to the oem pads and where's the best place to buy them?

Thanks!

Welcome to the group! As soon as you mentioned dust you will get recommendations for ceramic pads. Low dust is a pro but make sure that you know the cons are that they are slow to heat up to work and their bite is average. My favorite are Hawk 5.0 pads. Great bite, heat up instantly and light dust. Dust is light in color and washes off easily. Not like that sticky black OEM dust.

Highly recommend Zimmermann rotors which are high quality German rotors better than OEM because they are zinc coated against rust. Much less expensive than BMW rotors.

Change brake fluid every 2 years. Upgrade brake hoses to stainless steel brake lines like StopTech for $106/set. Much more solid brake pedal feel! See photo for F30 part numbers.

You don't say which model car or brakes you have. If they are front grey or blue Brembos I have attached photo for Hawk 5.0 part numbers.

Watch excellent YouTube videos from Kies Motorsports to learn a lot about your car. Kies is a great source for products too.

Hope this helps!

[Davidschu]

Thanks! I added the car description to my first post (2013 bmw 335 x-drive sedan m-sport package) I assumed I had the m-sport brakes since I had the m-sport trim package. However my calipers are grey. Didn't realize the m-sport brakes were blue. Which makes sense now because the stopping power of my brakes never impressed me.

In the future I may upgrade to those brake lines you suggested. I'm hoping I don't need rotors right now but if I do I'll look into those too. The hawk 5.0 pads sound good, anything with less dust would be great haha. I will look into those and probably place an order tomorrow.

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by johnung

Welcome to the group! As soon as you mentioned dust you will get recommendations for ceramic pads. Low dust is a pro but make sure that you know the cons are that they are slow to heat up to work and their bite is average. My favorite are Hawk 5.0 pads. Great bite, heat up instantly and light dust. Dust is light in color and washes off easily. Not like that sticky black OEM dust.

Highly recommend Zimmermann rotors which are high quality German rotors better than OEM because they are zinc coated against rust. Much less expensive than BMW rotors.

Change brake fluid every 2 years. Upgrade brake hoses to stainless steel brake lines like StopTech for $106/set. Much more solid brake pedal feel! See photo for F30 part numbers.

You don't say which model car or brakes you have. If they are front grey or blue Brembos I have attached photo for Hawk 5.0 part numbers.

Watch excellent YouTube videos from Kies Motorsports to learn a lot about your car. Kies is a great source for products too.

Hope this helps!

How do these feel compared to the stock F80/82 M3/M4 brake pads? (Brake dust not being a factor.)

[CoopersF15]

Are the hawk pads and Zimmerman rotors acceptable for lease return?

[johnung]

Originally Posted by CoopersF15

Are the hawk pads and Zimmerman rotors acceptable for lease return?

I'm no expert on lease return requirements but the Hawk 5.0 pads look identical to stock. They aren't bright pink or anything like that. And the same for the Zimmermann's unless you install a plain rotor on a car that came with some dimpled/slotted version but Zimmermann often has those rotor variations too

[johnung]

Originally Posted by Polo08816

How do these feel compared to the stock F80/82 M3/M4 brake pads? (Brake dust not being a factor.)

I can't really answer your question with authority because I haven't driven that M3/M4 or researched the compound used in its stock pads. But a guy who owns an M3 recently drove my car and raved about my brakes, for what it's worth.

The M3 uses the exact same Brembo 4-piston caliper as the F30 M Sport/M Performance caliper. It's got "370/380" in raised lettering on the back of the caliper. M3 uses 380mm rotors because it has a different mounting point than the F30 which uses a 370mm rotor. So the F30 and F80 would use the exact same front Hawk 5.0 pad. I can't recall the M3 rear brakes off the top of my head.

[johnung]

Originally Posted by Davidschu

Thanks! I added the car description to my first post (2013 bmw 335 x-drive sedan m-sport package) I assumed I had the m-sport brakes since I had the m-sport trim package. However my calipers are grey. Didn't realize the m-sport brakes were blue. Which makes sense now because the stopping power of my brakes never impressed me.

In the future I may upgrade to those brake lines you suggested. I'm hoping I don't need rotors right now but if I do I'll look into those too. The hawk 5.0 pads sound good, anything with less dust would be great haha. I will look into those and probably place an order tomorrow.

BMW causes a lot of confusion with how they throw around their marketing term "M Sport" on their various models. With the F3x 335/435 it's easy to tell by color if you have the grey standard brakes (rotors are front 340mm x 30mm/ rear 330mm x 20mm) or the blue M Sport brakes (rotors are 370x30/ 345x24).

On the used market you have to be careful because there are lower model F30's that come with blue front calipers that 340, not 370. The 340 and 370 calipers have identical pistons but the castings are stretched out on the 370's to accommodate the larger diameter rotors. See photo.

You can tell which brakes an F30 335 came with from the build sheet. If you plug the last 7 digits of the VIN into mdecoder website and look at the listing, the P337A means standard grey brakes and S2NHA means M Sport brakes.

My 335 came with standard brakes. For various reasons I first upgraded the rear calipers and rotors and later the front calipers and rotors. There is little difference in the two variations of front brakes. It's the rear M Sport brakes that make all the difference. They cause the car to squat more level under hard braking where the standard brakes tend to nosedive more.

It is a big expense to swap calipers and rotors even with used parts. If you have standard grey 340/330 brakes you can still feel a big improvement by just upgrading to Hawk 5.0 pads and the stainless steel brake lines. The StopTech lines are only $106/set and labor isn't much if you do it at the same time as a brake fluid change which should be done every 2 years for safety anyway.

Hope this helps!

[Watsey]

A few things to bear in mind :

Squeaky pads can be caused by a variety of factors, and do not necessarily indicate that they need to be replaced. Repeated light braking can cause a glaze to form on the surface of the pad/disc and can be removed by one or more hard braking runs from decent speed. If you're familiar with how to bedd your brakes, that can be an effective cure for glazing and to improve the pad/disc friction coefficient.

If the pads still have plenty of compound, removing them from the calipers and coating the back of the steel backing plates with Disc Brake Quiet or (my preference) ceramic grease can be effective. Also, careful application of ceramic grease to the caliper/pads contact surfaces helps the pad to move smoothly and to contact the pad uniformity. Obviously do not get anything on the pad surfaces.

In terms of braking performance I can vouch for the much improved pedal feel through fitting stainless steel braided lines and running a high performance brake fluid.

There's a good range of performance pads available, if that's what you're thinking of. My personal preference is Pagid, but you wouldn't like the dust - they dust more than OEM, but they are vastly more effective and for me the trade-off is absolutely worth it.

[BMWILUVU]

Originally Posted by johnung

BMW causes a lot of confusion with how they throw around their marketing term "M Sport" on their various models. With the F3x 335/435 it's easy to tell by color if you have the grey standard brakes (rotors are front 340mm x 30mm/ rear 330mm x 20mm) or the blue M Sport brakes (rotors are 370x30/ 345x24).

On the used market you have to be careful because there are lower model F30's that come with blue front calipers that 340, not 370. The 340 and 370 calipers have identical pistons but the castings are stretched out on the 370's to accommodate the larger diameter rotors. See photo.

You can tell which brakes an F30 335 came with from the build sheet. If you plug the last 7 digits of the VIN into mdecoder website and look at the listing, the P337A means standard grey brakes and S2NHA means M Sport brakes.

My 335 came with standard brakes. For various reasons I first upgraded the rear calipers and rotors and later the front calipers and rotors. There is little difference in the two variations of front brakes. It's the rear M Sport brakes that make all the difference. They cause the car to squat more level under hard braking where the standard brakes tend to nosedive more.

It is a big expense to swap calipers and rotors even with used parts. If you have standard grey 340/330 brakes you can still feel a big improvement by just upgrading to Hawk 5.0 pads and the stainless steel brake lines. The StopTech lines are only $106/set and labor isn't much if you do it at the same time as a brake fluid change which should be done every 2 years for safety anyway.

Hope this helps!

The M-Sport brake pads that come with blue brembos are excellent pads. I even did a track day on them and would not swap them for Hawk 5. The only downside of these pads is that they dust crazy. I also think SS brake lines are overkill for spirited street driving.

[johnung]

Originally Posted by BMWILUVU

The M-Sport brake pads that come with blue brembos are excellent pads. I even did a track day on them and would not swap them for Hawk 5. The only downside of these pads is that they dust crazy. I also think SS brake lines are overkill for spirited street driving.

Glad that you like your pads. I've been putting stainless lines on my family cars for decades. Not for primarily for spirited driving but to take the mush out of the brake pedal and have a more responsive feel. With standard rubber brake hoses the initial press of the brake pedal is spent expanding the rubber hoses rather than applying that pressure to the brakes. With stainless hoses that mush goes away and the brake pedal feels more responsive to the driver. Much prefer that especially in stop and go driving commuting to work.

[MacklinUSOB]

Originally Posted by johnung

Glad that you like your pads. I've been putting stainless lines on my family cars for decades. Not for primarily for spirited driving but to take the mush out of the brake pedal and have a more responsive feel. With standard rubber brake hoses the initial press of the brake pedal is spent expanding the rubber hoses rather than applying that pressure to the brakes. With stainless hoses that mush goes away and the brake pedal feels more responsive to the driver. Much prefer that especially in stop and go driving commuting to work.

Agree that the steel lines definitely tighten up the feel. BMWs in general have a long brake so it's nice to get some fidelity right as they do engage.

[cfm56d7b]

There isn't anything wrong with BMW OEM M Sport brake pads. Aggressive initial bite is much more preferable in daily driving conditions.

Softer pads also preserve rotor life.

Brake dust is a fact of life. I got used to it.

[ms_logging]

hi ! is there any difference in part number of pads between X and rwd model ? thanks

[Itogliano]

Originally Posted by ms_logging

hi ! is there any difference in part number of pads between X and rwd model ? thanks

no

[johnung]

Originally Posted by ms_logging

hi ! is there any difference in part number of pads between X and rwd model ? thanks

Nope. Brake pad part number is based on caliper and rotor size. Each caliper has its own unique sized rotor of which there are many for the F30.

FRONT F30 BRAKES
370mm x 30mm
340x30
330x24
312x24

Note: 370&340, and 330&312 front calipers actually take the same size brake pads.

REAR F30 BRAKES
345x24
330x20
300x20

IMO Hawk 5.0 are the best street brake pads.