Anyone have experience-based opinions on the best rotors to buy in terms of braking performance, quality material, wear/rust resistance, high machining tolerances, etc. I'm putting Porterfield R4-S pads all 'round on my '86 300E and will be using the car for daily driving as well as long distance rallying, often with a lot of spirited mountain driving. Do slotted or power disc type rotors actually accelerate pad wear, or is that just a nasty rumor? Would I be better off with the stock smooth-faced ventilated rotors? And btw, who makes the rotors the dealers sell these days, anyway? Am I opening up a big can of worms with these questions like the oil debates?

Gary

Yes that topic has been "hashed over" before!

BREMBO & ATE rotor castings are from Italy

Balo & Zimmermann are German castings.

Brembo makes a FEW MB OE applications like the W220 s-class. OTHER that that NONE of the others have ANY OE applications!

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I sure like my Zimmerman cross-drilled rotors on the front.
Will probably install the same at the rear when needed.
P.S. I don't see any " accelerated " padwear with them.

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2007 C 230 Sport.

So who is the OEM? Or is it something they actually make themselves.

The Balo's are finished off in the same manner as the Genuine rotors. I've installed everything from Balo and ATE conventional discs to ATE Power Discs (slotted) to Zimmerman Cross Drills.

So far I'm most impressed w/ my Cross Drills.

The Power Discs are nice but they give an odd pedal feel, like you can almost feel the slots..hard to describe.

My Cross drills I have yet to use to the fullest yet but in a few 80-90% stops they have impressed me from start to finish....Initial bite is excellent, no fading after repeated hard stops etc..

All of these installs were on 560SEC's using Pagid pads.

Jonathan

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I have powerdiscs for around 40k I think. They brake fine. Not sure if I feel it in the pedal or not... but I can hear the difference during moderate braking.

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09 Jetta TDI
1985 300D

Manny and Jonathan,

Have you put them through any really extended hard usage? Do you know if Zimmerman drills the holes in solid castings or casts them with holes? It might be evident from the presence or lack of machine marks in the narrowest part of the holes themselves. Any evidence of cracks radiating out from the edges of the holes?

Gary

They look to me like they're cast with holes.
Also the holes are chamfered, which is actually the wearmark when they need replacing.
As far as hard usage goes, yes, I have had them pretty " warm " drivingin mountainous terrain.
I've done a LOT of research before I purchased them.
Many of the " cracked rotor horror stories " probably could have been avoided, if people had done their homework, as I did.

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2007 C 230 Sport.

I bought a set of Balos for the front and one was warped. Never got around to returning it in time. I drove with them for a year until I installed ATEs a few months ago. I prefer ATE for "normal" discs.

My indie mentioned ATE as the best, also saying they were OE on the new SLs - is that true? If not, who is OE?

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former: 83 300D, 97 C230, 93 400E

current: 08 C300 Luxury , 92 500SL