Where to find parts amid COVID closures

[kiethton]

I've found the front pads I'm after (DS2500 - still available on Demon Tweaks) but am having trouble finding some ideally OEM rear pads and OEM disc's all-round. No BMW parts counter in SE England, or even online Cotswold's online shop, seems to be open. I have spoken to my trusted mobile mechanic but he can only source APEC parts right now which I doubt will be up to the job.

Given the car generally gets used for fast road driving (alongside general shopping etc), I was hoping to get them upgraded as they're down to next to nothing and I now have very bad brake feel/poor retardation and have historically had overheating related vibration which is now even worse on anything more than urban domestic use.

If I can't find OEM parts for the rear/front disc's (I'm fairly set on DS2500 front pads - can't find rears?) is anybody able to recommend a good alternative that I can order for fitting ASAP as the brakes won't last for much longer as they are

[mmm-five]

It's not like you'll need them at the moment, so why the rush.

But if you really do need them, then both the official BMW online shop and Rybrook's BMW Autohaus Vogel's online portal both say they're still delivering.

[Wills2]

With the MOT garages still open the motor factors should be so OEM should be available, have you spoken to a garage? Had £800 worth of work done on my Z4C 2 weeks ago to get it through the mot inc brakes, parts were not an issue.

[kiethton]

Thanks all - will check those links out

It’s going to need doing, rear disc vibration and a pedal like a Porsche - really have to lean on to get any stopping power.

The car is also materially overdue a service now c1.5k miles (still doing c400 a week) so makes sense to do both at the same time.

Couldn’t find what I was after at the motor factor site - needs higher quality, higher performance parts for the use it gets.

[Wills2]

kiethton said:

Thanks all - will check those links out

It’s going to need doing, rear disc vibration and a pedal like a Porsche - really have to lean on to get any stopping power.

The car is also materially overdue a service now c1.5k miles (still doing c400 a week) so makes sense to do both at the same time.

Couldn’t find what I was after at the motor factor site - needs higher quality, higher performance parts for the use it gets.

Any BMW would love to have a Porsche brake pedal feel and stopping power, if you doing 400 miles per week during the lockdown for work purposes then you need some serviceable legal brakes, I'd suggest you slow down a bit and you'll find any parts on sale more than up to the job.

[d_a_n1979]

kiethton said:

I've found the front pads I'm after (DS2500 - still available on Demon Tweaks) but am having trouble finding some ideally OEM rear pads and OEM disc's all-round. No BMW parts counter in SE England, or even online Cotswold's online shop, seems to be open. I have spoken to my trusted mobile mechanic but he can only source APEC parts right now which I doubt will be up to the job.

Given the car generally gets used for fast road driving (alongside general shopping etc), I was hoping to get them upgraded as they're down to next to nothing and I now have very bad brake feel/poor retardation and have historically had overheating related vibration which is now even worse on anything more than urban domestic use.

If I can't find OEM parts for the rear/front disc's (I'm fairly set on DS2500 front pads - can't find rears?) is anybody able to recommend a good alternative that I can order for fitting ASAP as the brakes won't last for much longer as they are

Demon Tweaks generally have the bst prices for the DS2500s anyways.

Re discs, see if you can source ATE discs on eBay or similar, if not, have you considered Mtec Brakes?

You don’t say which car you have, but I’ve run MTEC for years now and their Grooved or C Hook discs work superbly with the likes of the Ferodo DS2500 or EBC Yellowstuff pads etc

[darreni]

Try Martin Seggie at Douglas Park BMW Hamilton for oe parts.

Also try Martin at MS mototsport for updated pads of all types.
https://www.raceparts.biz/

[kiethton]

Wills2 said:

Any BMW would love to have a Porsche brake pedal feel and stopping power, if you doing 400 miles per week during the lockdown for work purposes then you need some serviceable legal brakes, I'd suggest you slow down a bit and you'll find any parts on sale more than up to the job.

Right now it’s a Porsche feel aka more press = more stop but without the stopping power to back that up (and a lot of brake vibration to boot). Can’t justify doing this twice, we’re not made of cash unfortunately, hence asking for places to source the discs knowing it’ll take a week before our mechanic gets here to fit them all. The brakes on there currently are non-OEM and crap, thankfully now worn out after 25k miles, they are used hard!

Thanks to all others, a bit of reading around and I got textar discs (apparently they’re the same as OEM but unbranded) using one of the links and the DS2500’s via demon tweaks/another website. Should be all here within a week for our mechanic to sort so we’re ready to continue.

[Depthhoar]

Would be interested to know how you get on with the DS2500 pads. Had them on my M5 and suffered pad transfer problems after sustained hard braking. End result was cementite imprint on the discs and vibration when braking. No amount of re-bedding in shifted the cementite.

Part of the problem for me was giving the pads/discs hard, hot use on Alpine descents on a trip to Italy and immediately after that holding the car on the foot brake at traffic lights/junctions etc when transiting small villages. Not much opportunity for cooling the brakes so should have used the handbrake!

Expensive lesson to learn! New front discs and pads - both OE - solved the problem and no issues at all on similar roads during a trip to Austria last autumn.

I found the DS2500 to have less good initial bite when cold but on the plus side a harder pedal feel and great stopping power once they'd warmed up a bit.

[PaulGT3]

If you can't get genuine BMW brake parts, I have found Textar to be as close to OE as possible. Interestingly I found Brembo pads to be absolutely awful with brake fade with a bit of spirited driving - removed after a couple of months and back to Textar and no problems since.

[darreni]

kiethton said:

Right now it’s a Porsche feel aka more press = more stop but without the stopping power to back that up (and a lot of brake vibration to boot). Can’t justify doing this twice, we’re not made of cash unfortunately, hence asking for places to source the discs knowing it’ll take a week before our mechanic gets here to fit them all. The brakes on there currently are non-OEM and crap, thankfully now worn out after 25k miles, they are used hard!

Thanks to all others, a bit of reading around and I got textar discs (apparently they’re the same as OEM but unbranded) using one of the links and the DS2500’s via demon tweaks/another website. Should be all here within a week for our mechanic to sort so we’re ready to continue.

Stuff like Textar, jurid, ATE etc is fine & they do or have supplied discs & pads at OE level.

Pad wise, i've just moved to Brembo HP 2000 on my M3 & they feel & perform great. The cheap (£25) brembo pads have a terrible reputation though.

.