Rotors & Pads
 

Got a 2k ES daily driver. My pads are shot, my rotors probably need to be replaced, my drums squeal a touch and it's all ugly as sin. I'm going to at least paint the calipers/drums, and replace the front rotors and all the pads.

Got a few questions for those of you who've used aftermarket bits.

1) On a daily driver, is there any real reason to not use the cheap rotors / pads, other than looks?

2) If the cross-drilled are really worth it for me are these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Drill...spagenameZWDVW

as good as any or do I need the more expensive ones. Any suggestions for good quality low price rotors/pads?

3) How much of a bitch is it to swap my ugly ass rear drums for discs, how much is it going to cost me, and again on my daily driver is it worth the money and effort? I hate to admit it, but the main reason I'm considering it is because they're just ugly as fuck.

4) If I do swap, can I just buy some OEM, possibly junkyard pieces, for a different year and bolt up or am I in for a LOT of work? I know ES before '99 had 4 wheel discs, and I think maybe that '01-'03 had a version which did too?

I've always used EBC when I can, mostly on the front. If your considering cheap stuff on the front you don't wanna know what a rear swap would go for, if you could find one..

I'm considering everything, by cheap I mean just whatever the stock parts are from autozone. Really I'm more interested in whether or not there's any real difference for a daily driver in stock and aftermarket rotors/pads. I don't mind shelling out some more cash if I'm going to get some real world performance out of it, but if it's $20 vs $250 and I don't get anything more out of it then why spend the extra cash? Obviously if I were racing it there's reason to upgrade, but I haven't seen anyone do a writeup on brakes for just a daily driver.

That said, I would say EBC Greenstuff pads and rotors would be well worth it.:)

protegegarage.com has a neat front brake package which includes 2 EBC rotors, 2 greenstuff pads, and stainless steel brakelines. for day-to-day driving there will be more noticable pedal feel and more confident braking.

word of warning: ebc pads produce a LOT of dust. granted all pads produce some amount of dust, but with ebc your wheels will have that "bmw that hasnt been cleaned" look.