BMW Brake Kit - Zimmermann/Akebono 34116785669KTF3

I bought this kit for my 2016 550, and I felt like the initial bite was not great and I did not have confidence in breaking. I felt like I did really press hard to get to the endpoint of a complete stop and this is very challenging and stop and go traffic. I did not feel confident at all with these. I switched pads to textar kept the same Zimmerman rotors and it feels much improved. Will never go with Akebono again

The Zimmerman discs, Akebono Pads, and wear sensors work very well (after several thousand miles so far), and save hundreds of dollars compared to the alternative options. When it comes time to refresh your brake hardware, there are a couple things to consider beside cost, such as pad compound. These Akebono pads differ from the OEM pads in their compound. The Akebono’s initial “bite” sensation is a little lower than the OEM pad… until they heat up. You may also notice they are a little less “grabby” just before coming to a complete stop in traffic jam crawling, an annoying quirk that most all of the V8 5 Series cars I’ve owned since new have been known to exhibit. It’s when slowing down rapidly from very speed that it will become apparent that the Akebono pad compound works very well. The Akebono also has the benefit of producing a LOT less brake dust on your wheels. Wear seems excellent so far, and silent as well. Some install tips for DIY people: When installing the discs, BE AWARE that brake discs are specific SIDE-TO-SIDE (due to the internal cooling fin design), and they are obviously specific front and rear as well. Check your part numbers (on the box) before laying out your components, and label discs with tape to avoid having to remount discs that may become installed incorrectly due to getting mixed up. Do NOT use anti-seize on the outside face of the brake hat where the wheel will mount, only lightly around the hub center to avoid possible wheel oscillation, or the slinging anti-seize onto the disc’s swept area. Make sure that your wear sensors are installed on the correct (INSIDE) brake pad within the correct caliper. That location being the driver side in front, and the passenger side on the rear. Very importantly, be certain that your sensor wire routing is correct. They need to be correctly clipped into position, and do check to see if your sensor wires might have too much “slack” in any area that may allow frictional contact with your wheel or other suspension component. The inside of a spinning wheel will burn through a new sensor wire in less than a mile if they can come into contact. No second chances there. Lastly be careful to avoid contaminating your new disc’s swept surface area when handling, mounting, or applying brake grease to the pad mounting tabs. If you must use brake cleaner, flag off the brake hat (center) and let it drain away from the hub/hat. There is an anti-corrosion coating on these discs that will rinse off easily with brake cleaner. In my case, the packaging had scuffed off some of that coating, and later, I found that my brake hats began to show some light rust in those areas after a few weeks. For purely asthetic reasons, I removed the discs, and painted the hat areas with VHF brake caliper paint (masking off the wheel-to-disc contact area). If you go this route, allow the VHF to cure for at least a week or more (you can still drive the car) before using any type of spray can disc brake cleaner on the brakes or it’ll mar the VHF paint. Catalyzed industrial epoxy paints are much more durable, but generally rated only to 900°F, which is probably fine for street car discs, but perhaps not for a track car. The VHF spray is cheaper and faster and easier and is rated to a higher temperature. For my calipers I use 2- component (catalyzed ) industrial epoxy paint from Klass Kote. Be aware, cleaning dirty calipers to properly prep then for a professional looking epoxy finish is definitely a weekend project. That’s about it. Takes less time to do the job than writing this review!

These Zimmerman discs, Akebono Pads, and sensors work very well when it comes time to refresh ypu

parts are top notch and fit the 550i like a glove. no more brake pulse slowing down off the highway! the sensor is a nice addition, but the old one seemed fine to reuse . the old clip did snap however, so having the new one on hand was CLUTCH

Quality products as always. Perfect fit. Everything one needs was in the box, even extra brake grease. Very satisfied.