What brake pads are recommended for street use on the E39 by bluebee

8 minute read

What brake pads are recommended for street use on the E39

Compliments of bluebee @ www.bimmerfest.com

CANONICAL SUMMARY: 

What brake pads are most often recommended by users for the E39 for street use in the USA?

Note: See companion thread for most often recommended rotors and rotor suppliers.

Based on exasperation expressed in this thread (and in hundreds of others), the goal here is to list (more so than discuss) the brake pads (brand and model) most often recommended for the E39 street use in the USA & why (bite & dusting & perhaps noise if it's relevant, as compared ONLY to OEM!).

Please note: This is not intended as a yet-another-brake-pad thread ... the intent is to summarize and list only so that we can REFER others to this thread when the question inevitably comes up (again and again and again) of which are the most-recommended pads for E39 street use. Folks are welcome to debate the merits of the pads elsewhere.

I'll start with a summary of what I know to be often-recommended brake pads for street use (and I'll skirt the problem thatAxxis is said by Zeckhausen to be no longer sold in the USA ... by combining Axxis with PBR as Axxis/PBR ... and I won't even get into the Repco/Bendix Mintex name confusion ... I'll also skirt the fact that Metal Masters is well documented by Turner Motorsports to be the same as Axxis by lumping MM with the Ceramic Axxis/PBRs unless/until someone provides conclusive evidence otherwise). Similarly, I'll assume Centric is the parent company for Stoptech PADS unless someone provides a reference otherwise.

OEM: (front: Jurid, P/N 34-11-6-761-280; rear Textar P/N 34-21-6-761-281):

- Jurid 187 [OEM bite (i.e., great stopping power); OEM dust (i.e., high dust); OEM noise (i.e., no noise)]

- Textar T4071 [OEM bite (i.e., great stopping power); OEM dust (i.e., medium dust); OEM noise (i.e., no noise)]

Most often recommended replacement pads for street use in the USA:

1. Akebono EUR### EURO Ultra-Premium Ceramic [lower bite than OEM, essentially no dust, no noise]

2. Axxis/PBR Deluxe Advanced [lower bite than OEM, essentially no dust, no noise]

3. Axxis/PBR/MM ULT aka Axxis/PBR/MM Ultimates [OEM bite, OEM dust, noise?]

Jason added the following recommendations (but no data yet):

4. Pagid Blues [don't yet know bite compared to OEM? dust? noise?]
5. Hawk HPS [don't yet know bite compared to OEM? dust? noise?]
6. Hawk HP+ [don't yet know bite compared to OEM? dust? noise?]

And, paferri added the following (with data):

7. Textar Ceramic Fusions [OEM bite; lower dust; noise?]

Cal (see below) added the following dual-use (street:track) pads (with data):

8. Centric/Stoptech Street Performance [greater than OEM bite; lower than OEM dust; unknown noise]

FINE PRINT:

Note 0: Street use is hard to define so let's just avoid heavy use such as racing and other off-street uses; assume legal (mostly) speeds on USA roads.
Note 1: Please always compare to OEM! This means (lower/higher/no bite/dust/noise as compared to OEM. Please be complete by comparing all three!
Note 2: If a pad is already mentioned, there is no need to say "I like it too", or even "I hate it" because these are already recommended. What we are aiming for is a short list of canonically recommended pads to refer others to. And it doesn't matter "I switched from" or "I switched to"; just list the recommended pads and compare them to the OEM by stopping power, dust, and noise (or other important criteria as needed as I don't imply I know all the criteria that matter).
Note 3: This is not the thread for angished horror stories. It's subjective enough just to list stopping power, dusting, and noise as compared to OEM, let alone to suffer any particular person's love/hate scenarios. Leave the drama to other threads; this is merely an itemized list for reference purposes.
Note 4: If you have a recommended pad that is NOT on the list, please add it to the list (with the stopping power, dusting, and noise comparison to OEM). If you have more (or conflicting) information on stopping power, dusting, or noise than what is above for the recommended pads, it is expected you will help clarify what is stated here, so that the test-of-time result will be the value added in this thread.
Note 5: I already said it but I'll say it again. This is not the thread to discuss whether MetalMasters ULT is the same or not as Axxis ULT or PBR ULT; likewise, this is not the thread to argue whether Axxis is the same as PBR or whether or not Axxis is even sold in the USA anymore (I've read the entire 52-page 100-year history of the company thanks to Michel, and all that didn't even come close to resolving the issue); so let's take that brand-confusion discussion to another thread (they already exist and the jury is still out on the answer ... which means nobody really knows for sure). Likewise with Centric PADS versus Stoptech pads (let's take that to another thread and only modify the list above with the final result.)

Please correct where I err so we have a canonical summary of recommended brake pads for street use for the E39 in the USA!
Thanks. Blue

UPDATE!

Short list of recommended USA brake-pad suppliers (sponsors; alphabetically, please improve as needed):

EAC Tuning (OH 6.7% tax) 800.208.6448 http://eactuning.com, contact [email protected]

- Carries: Jurid 187, Textar T4071, Akebono Euro, Hawk HPS & HP+, Textar Ceramic Fusions, and others (in order of the original list)

JLevi SW (CA 9.75% tax) 888.JLEVISW (888.553.8479) http://www.jlevistreetwerks.com

- Carries: StopTech Street Performance, Hawk HPS, & Porterfield R4-S Street Pads

OemBimmerParts (TX 6.25% tax) 210.445.7090 http://www.oembimmerparts.com, contact Max@???

- Carries: (brands:models listed above carried?)

Pacific BMW (CA 9.75% tax) 800.542.9634 http://www.pacificbmw.com 

- Carries: (brands:models carried?)

Longer list of other brake-pad suppliers (alphabetical order, please improve for all to benefit):

- Bavauto (NH, no tax) (800-535-2002) http://www.bavauto.com (brands:models carried?)

- BMAParts (CA 9.75% tax) 888-262-3911 http://www.bmaparts.com (brands:models carried?)

- Circle BMW (NJ 7% tax) 732-440-1238 http://www.circlebmw.com (brands:models carried?)

- Crevier BMW (CA 9.75% tax) 800-309-2318 http://www.crevierbmw.com (brands:models carried?)

- Pelican (CA 9.75% tax) 888-280-7799 http://www.pelicanparts.com (brands:models carried?)

- Zeckhausen (NJ 7% tax) 800-222-8893 http://www.zeckhausen.com (brands:models carried?)

- any others?

As I found out in May of last year, Axxis pads were impossible to find for the fronts on my 525i from ANY sponsor (and even from any non-sponsor site). 

TOP 5 Brake Pad Suppliers for the E39 (recommended by 'fest members):

- OEMm Bimmer Parts (TX) 210-445-7090 http://www.oembimmerparts.com

- SpeedNet Motorsports (CA) 800-530-3515 http://www.speednetmotorsports.com/index.html

- Turner Motorsport (MA) 800-280-6966 http://www.turnermotorsport.com

- Zeckhausen (NJ) 800-222-8893 http://www.zeckhausen.com

Even the rears were only found in people's old inventory as they phased it out.

- Why so hard to price Axxis Deluxe Advanced brake pads on the Internet? 

So, revisiting this thread, almost a year later, I must re-ask the same question (so as to get a more definitive answer):

Q: Are any suppliers restocking Axxis pads for BMWs in the United States today?

Note: Re-using this picture so ignore the text.