There are good independent sources of brake parts at less than franchised prices but way better performance than KF.

Kwik fit (and the local manager is a ,mate, did my brake pads recently on the cruze.

Parts were GM delphi with part number on the box and pads at 40% of the main dealer price fitted inc vat, AND including the lifetime warranty.

If you know them Ok but any plush palace can charge you the earth just because they are a main deler and is the "techie really any better? I know of one main dealer who has "bonus" targets for their service dept.

Wonder how they do that? finish a 1.5 hour job in 45 minutes etc, or am i just thinking that the factory times are set so slow a 3 year old with a meccano tool kit can do the job.

Personally although I have the competence to do my servicing, i don't have anywhere to do it, so KF and the like, where I can trust them fulfil a useful function.

I have only owned one car that warped its front discs, that was a Rover 827, it had been a police driving school car and from its complete SH it usually had a set of front discs every 6 months or so, i was somewhat younger then and after a few high speed full power stops the discs would warp, so 6 monthly disc renewal continued....noted for being undesized for the considerable performance available, the Honda equivalent i understand didn't suffer this, presumably bigger brakes.

Unless you are treating your BMW like this, i suspect the rear disc brakes are contributing little or no effort to the overall stopping of the car, and thats where i would be looking first of all.

Another way to ruin discs is to brake very hard and then keep pressure on the pedal once you have come to rest, thereby transferring friction material onto a pad print section of the disc, if you brake really hard you should if possible lift off the brakes and allow them to roll a while to cool without stopping, if you have to stop, imediately remove pressure from the footbrake and hold the car on the (completely seperate) parking brake.

Standard cast discs don't vary much in my experience, but pad qualities do.

''Wonder how they do that? finish a 1.5 hour job in 45 minutes etc, or am i just thinking that the factory times are set so slow a 3 year old with a meccano tool kit can do the job''

Thing is ORB, maybe the factory times include correct cleaning and lubricating of the caliper and sliding mechanism, something so few garages seem capable of, hence all he seized brake and associated problem threads.

Edited by gordonbennet on 25/02/2014 at 18:23

I had an '80s Austin Ambasador that suddenly started warping discs after a couple of years of ownership. I can hardly be accused of driving it in a sporty fashion and certainly didn't hold the brakes on when stopped. Replacement became an annual job.

Never did find the cause.

I wonder if the OP's problem may be that KF aren't using the proper spec discs for the job. It is an M-sport!

Edited by bathtub tom on 25/02/2014 at 20:07