[khaug]

The downloadable 2015 m235i brochure on the BMWUSA website states that the car has carbon-ceramic brakes, "which are identifiable by the blue color and M logo on the calipers."

I find this very hard to believe, as carbon-ceramic rotors were optional on the last new Porsche I bought at a cost of $8K!

Can anyone with a 2015 confirm that the rotors are indeed carbon-ceramic?

-K.

[hyperzulu]

Nope. Only on the new M models, not the M Performance models.

[Cyberdemon]

Definitely not - they probably copied and pasted that from the other manual and since no one reads those things they didn't spot it.

But maybe buy the car anyways and then tell the dealer you want $8000 back since you don't have carbon ceramic brakes. If nothing else you can probably get a free carbon M license plate cover ;-)

[F80_M]

Haha that's a good idea I wonder who on this forum is going to try and punk the dealer

[bluemeanie]

I read a magazine article recently about Porsche ceramic brakes. The $8K optional brakes cost $17K to replace, which was after only 5 days of track usage!

Needless to say that if you plan to track your car it is much better to get the non-ceramic brakes and just replace the much cheaper pads and rotors as needed.

(I like the idea of asking for an $8K refund

[Cyberdemon]

Originally Posted by bluemeanie

I read a magazine article recently about Porsche ceramic brakes. The $8K optional brakes cost $17K to replace, which was after only 5 days of track usage!

Needless to say that if you plan to track your car it is much better to get the non-ceramic brakes and just replace the much cheaper pads and rotors as needed.

(I like the idea of asking for an $8K refund

At some point you need to realize that when you start driving a super car you no longer pay Autozone prices.

Porsche can charge an absurd premium, because it's a Porsche. It's not much different from a $20,000 GT-R transmission overhaul or a $10,000 VANOS service.

[bluemeanie]

I don't think that I have any illusions about the cost of super car ownership. My post reflects the fact that most folks at DE events use non-ceramic brakes because brakes are a consumable item and good steel brakes are quite functional on track. There are simply better (and numerous) other ways to spend one's track dollars besides replacing delicate ceramic brakes.

The magazine article merely confirms observations, but with some rather shocking numbers attached.

[Cyberdemon]

I don't disagree with you, but again - some people pay to play. The guys who show up with their fully prepped GT3 being pulled by their Cayenne S Turbo are cool with their $20,000 brake jobs.

And while I am not in a tax bracket to make that call, after doing the M school and having the chance to compare back to back the E92 M3 and the F10 M5/M6 the benefit of the carbon brakes is very quickly apparent. Through 2 days of abuse the bigger M5 never had a hint of fade and gave you huge confidence to push the 4400lb as hard as you wanted to. The much lighter M3 even with the competition package it was clear when you pushed too hard and were starting to get fade.

The M school runs carbon brakes on all their cars, and they said the life of their rotors was much better than the steel rotors on the older cars, but they're also not paying MSRP for the parts so who knows how often the cars are in for new brakes.

[pdubb]

Where does it state this? I just picked up my car yesterday, maybe I'll bitch for a carbon fiber license plate frame