ATE vs Zimmerman Brake Rotors
So it’s time to swap my old OEM rotors and pads into new ones. I’ve tried searching for discussions on ATE’s vs Zimmermann’s, however the threads go back to 2005.. I’ve heard that the Zimmermann is a more serious rotor, however BMW OEM rotors are made by ATE. I’d like to give a shot at the slotted or drilled versions of ATE’s and Zimmermann’s just for the aesthetics and possibly better braking which I doubt being true compared to the solid rotors. These would go with a set of ATE ceramic brake pads(I chose ATE just because they come with more stuff like new screws and clips compared to what Zimmerman gives you, and ceramic to prevent brake dust).
Would like to hear somebody who’s had experience with these rotors.
Comments
No experience here i just use plain old solid brake disks. I thought drilled break disks in general give you better breaking during the rain as they allow for water to escape but wear down quicker as there is more friction?
Drilled brakes have little benefit to a unfinished face as they dont offer a huge amount more cooling and are prone to crack from the contraction and expension. Slotted rotors are the best for cooling and grooves would be good for day to day use with occasional hard braking as the groves help renew the braking surface. The ats would probabally be the better option and given that both discs are the same sise they will have nearly identical braking performance maybe the zimmerman is worse as less surface area but not sure about that. Hope that helps :)
Yes, I’ve heard that drilled discs are more likely to fade due to less surface for the heat to sink. Racecars in the old days used drilled rotors to let the gas between the pad and rotor escape, however racecars have such big rotors that the size of the surface does not matter. That’s why they’re useless for regular road cars. And even being big rotors they are likely to crack in the holes after hard use. So now many racecars are equiped with either slotted or solid discs because they are much tougher and the slots help grip better. Road cars are really purposely made with solid discs, they’re more effective with them and braking quality really depends on the pad and the tire. But the drilled and slotted design just looks so beautiful behind the rim to me..