Trouble Installing StopTech Front BBK - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

Ridgeback_Pilot · 2nd March 2005, 06:16

Has anyone else had trouble installing their StopTech BBK?

I purchased my StopTech front BBK from Dave Zeckhausen a couple of months ago. Thanks to Dave's terrific customer service, I was able to obtain the holiday discount price well into January. He even arranged for me to swap the red calipers that came with the kit for a pair of black calipers shipped directly from StopTech. Great guy!

The trouble came when I took my Beast into my favorite local independent BMW shop this morning to have the StopTechs installed. When they attempted to install the new rotors to my front wheel hubs, the five wheel bolt holes did not line up perfectly. The technician was concerned enough to take a digital photo and contact StopTech's technical support. (As soon as I get a copy of the photo, I'll post it here.)

When the StopTech guys looked at the photo, they agreed the rotors had been machined incorrectly. StopTech immediately agreed to swap my rotors for a new pair under warranty. My technician said he could "probably" have made the rotors fit by torquing the wheel bolts, but assumed that the bolt holes on the rotor should like up perfectly with those on the hub. StopTech evidently agreed.

So, the shop put my stock front brakes back on the car, and it will be next week before they're able to try again with the replacement rotors from StopTech. Frankly, I'm surprised at this apparent lack of quality control by StopTech, because I've heard it's a first-class company. They're certainly living up to their reputation for good customer service, but I wonder how many other BBK rotors have had this problem. And how many less meticulous technicians would simply have bolted the rotors on anyway and never raised the alarm?

Anyone else had problems with StopTech rotors that did not fit properly, or is this an isolated incident?

Mike

gsfent · 2nd March 2005, 06:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ridgeback_Pilot

Has anyone else had trouble installing their StopTech BBK?

The trouble came when I took my Beast into my favorite local independent BMW shop this morning to have the StopTechs installed. When they attempted to install the new rotors to my front wheel hubs, the five wheel bolt holes did not line up perfectly. The technician was concerned enough to take a digital photo and contact StopTech's technical support. (As soon as I get a copy of the photo, I'll post it here.)

Frankly, I'm surprised at this apparent lack of quality control by StopTech, because I've heard it's a first-class company. They're certainly living up to their reputation for good customer service, but I wonder how many other BBK rotors have had this problem. And how many less meticulous technicians would simply have bolted the rotors on anyway and never raised the alarm?

Anyone else had problems with StopTech rotors that did not fit properly, or is this an isolated incident?

Mike

Mine were shipped mid January and went on about a month ago. No problems with the rotors, only things of note was that the backing plates had to be touched up and I think there was a little issue getting the pad sensors installed. Neither was a big deal.
Regards,
Jerry

TCM · 2nd March 2005, 06:37

I have seen this before on a set of Stoptechs on a 540i. The bolts do not match up properly with the screw in place on that particular car. Other then that, I have heard nothing bad about the company quality control standards though. So I am sure this was a freak thing. Please keep us updated.

mottati · 2nd March 2005, 07:19

no probs with mine either, but this was from like 16 months ago...
Bummer.
Mike

DZeckhausen · 2nd March 2005, 16:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ridgeback_Pilot

Anyone else had problems with StopTech rotors that did not fit properly, or is this an isolated incident?

The problem is with the hat, not the rotors. When the hat is installed on the hub, the three (BMW) dowel pins line it up so that the bolt holes and the rotor retaining screw holes are just slightly off center. According to the mechanic, the kit could have been installed without using the rotor retaining screws. There was enough room for the wheel bolts to be installed properly and everything would have been flat and it would have worked perfectly. But the kit was designed to take advantage of the factory rotor retaining screws and the mechanic made the right decision (in my opinion) to stop what he was doing and contact StopTech. The hat is clearly off kilter.

Photo provided by mechanic (arrows are mine)

From the photo provided by Mike's mechanic, you can see that the bolt holes (yellow arrows) are off slightly. It's hard to see, but the rotor retaining screw holes (red arrows) are off by the same amount. While the wheel bolts have enough room to work, the rotor retaining screws do not.

I'm following up with StopTech to run this issue to ground. I plan to go buy a new M5 wheel bearing/hub today and test fit it to my own inventory. I'm doing that for two reasons. If my inventory also has defective hats, I need to know this before I sell the kits. If my inventory is good, then I can overnight a pair of assembled rotors and hats to Mike's shop and they can get back to the installation.

I'll keep you posted on the progress. Mike, on behalf of StopTech and from me, I apologize for your inconvenience. This shouldn't have happened and we'll make it right.

DZeckhausen · 2nd March 2005, 16:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by TCM

I have seen this before on a set of Stoptechs on a 540i. The bolts do not match up properly with the screw in place on that particular car. Other then that, I have heard nothing bad about the company quality control standards though. So I am sure this was a freak thing. Please keep us updated.

That was back in the dark ages when StopTech made the hats specifically for the M5. The M5 uses a pair of rotor retaining screws while the 540i, 530i, 528i, and 525i use a single rotor retaining screw in a different location on the hub. Shortly after becoming a StopTech dealer, I suggested that StopTech consolidate the design of the hats so they would work with either model. They did. Now, the same StopTech E39 kit will bolt up to an M5 or a non-M 5-Series and be able to utilize the factory rotor retaining screw(s).

DZeckhausen · 2nd March 2005, 22:24

Here's the latest update on how this issue is being handled.

This morning, an M5 wheel bearing/hub and a pair of rotor retaining screws were purchased from a local BMW dealer. All the rotor hats in StopTech's inventory were checked against the design drawings and were test fitted to the BMW hub. All were within spec and all of them mounted to the hub without problems.

Yesterday, both front rotors/hats were shipped via UPS by Mike's mechanic back to StopTech. They are scheduled to arrive at StopTech tomorrow. At that time, both hats will be measured against the spec and tested to see if they can be mounted on the BMW hub. If one or both are out of spec, replacement rotors will be sent overnight back to Mike's shop. If both hats are within spec, then we have a mystery and something is wrong on the car. At that point, StopTech is preparing to have Matt Weiss make the 5 hour drive north to participate in the installation and chase the real problem to ground.

In parallel, StopTech traced the batch number of the hat back to production, based on information I provided them. The hats in Mike's kit came from two production runs ago. Other M5 kits in the same production run have been installed without problems. So, assuming there's something wrong with Mike's hat, it didn't affect all of the other hats in the same production run. That rules out a set-up error on the CNC machine.

In the next 24 hours, we should have a more definitive answer on what happened. In the meantime, I'll be checking my own inventory against the specifications and test-fitting to an M5 hub before sending anything out from here. More details as they become available.

gsfent · 3rd March 2005, 00:02

[quote=DZeckhausen]

At that point, StopTech is preparing to have Matt Weiss make the 5 hour drive north to participate in the installation and chase the real problem to ground.

In parallel, StopTech traced the batch number of the hat back to production, based on information I provided them.

/QUOTE]

Wow, talk about customer service from Dave Z and Stop Tech, very impressive.
Regards,
Jerry

Ridgeback_Pilot · 3rd March 2005, 00:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by DZeckhausen

I'll keep you posted on the progress. Mike, on behalf of StopTech and from me, I apologize for your inconvenience. This shouldn't have happened and we'll make it right.

Dave: Many thanks for all your help with this issue. There's certainly no need to apologize. Both you and StopTech are living up to your reputations for stellar customer service!

Tell Matt that if it turns out that the problem is with my wheel hubs and he needs to come up and work with my shop in Monterey to resolve it, I'll come and get him in the Cessna! Torrance is only a 1.5 hour flight from here, rather than a 5 hour drive!

Mike

mottati · 3rd March 2005, 00:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ridgeback_Pilot

Tell Matt that if it turns out that the problem is with my wheel hubs and he needs to come up and work with my shop in Monterey to resolve it, I'll come and get him in the Cessna! Torrance is only a 1.5 hour flight from here, rather than a 5 hour drive!

Mike

Very Nice!