[Culichor]

To OP, Great info, Thank you.

[JoeyH335i]

Any update on any of the problems with these rotors? I need to buy some soon and I am looking around to see what is best. No BBKs. Just a slight upgrade.

[trixdout]

I don't mind paying a premium but it better be made in the U.S. Vendors outsourcing is only to make money at the cost of quality of an item. Don't tell me that they use our manufacturing processes to make these items. They have no quality control like it is here. The raw materials are not the same that the U.S. uses. Customers need to stop supporting "made in china" crap. More and more I see shit shit shit items everywhere. Their prices are soaring through the roof and its despicable. Prices are reflecting what "made in the U.S.A." quality but they aren't made here or any other reputable country.

Complete and utter shit if you ask me. Companies trying to screw the little guy over at the cost of their pockets getting filled up. Some people make sooo much money in this world and won't spend anywhere near half of what they make. This world is turning to shit thanks to big business.

[techlogik]

These are brakes, if your life worth $100? Made in TW/China...yeah, good luck verifying they are actually DOT compliant...likely not. I don't believe a damn thing they say over in that area of the World, particularly China and my experiences with manufacturer/sourcing products from them over the past 10yrs.

Recent good 60 minutes story about Lumber Liquidators and the non-compliant crap they've been selling for years in the US...Chinese manufacturer says, not compliant, costs more, we can do that of course, but isn't the spec from US source...

Rotors last so flipping long, why bother saving $100 over your life? But hey, that is me...haha..

Most vendors for pieces of equipment like this are going to be sourcing from China...that is how things goes these days. But there are many good US sources/European as you know. Some things it makes no sense to purchase and save a buck...other things, so what...brakes are not a so what item IMO.

[cschmelz]

Originally Posted by ECSTuning

annalisa,

Situation:

· Action: After you purchased and received your order of ECS GEOMET® Rotors and ECS Tuning 2-Piece Rotors you contacted multiple departments here at ECS Tuning asking the same questions concerning specific details regarding our rotor manufacturing.

o Result: ECS Tuning responded to all inquiries in a timely and professional manner.

· Action: You brought to ECS Tuning's attention that you were given incorrect information about the Country of Origin of a product.

o Result: We quickly clarified to you that not all ECS rotors are manufactured in the United States. Additional training has since been performed with our staff to address any further confusion on this topic.

· Action: You contacted our Customer Service department expressing your unhappiness with your purchase.

o Result: Our Customer Service department offered you a refund if you are not satisfied with the product in which you received.

§ Result: You declined and threatened to go on the forums with this information. In our opinion we have nothing to hide so here we are….....

Summary:

We do apologize that the rotors do not meet your Country of Origin expectations but we can assure you that you would be more than pleased with their performance. We sell our rotors all over the world and have received a lot of praise and positive reviews on both their performance and cosmetics



ECS GEOMET® Rotors

Our ECS GEOMET® Rotor blanks are sourced domestically from vendors who have worldwide manufacturing operations. A majority of our rotor blanks originate from Italy, Turkey, Brazil, Asia, Mexico among others, but each part number may have a different country of origin. The rotors are designed in house by our Research & Development department and machine work / GEOMET® coating are preformed to our specification in the United States through our preferred manufacturing partners.



ECS Tuning 2-Piece Rotors

Our ECS Tuning 2-Piece Rotors are engineered by our Research & Development department and manufactured to our specifications in both the United States (95% of our applications) and Taiwan (5% of our applications) depending on the application. We have designed our ECS Tuning 2-Piece rotor line to include the features of a much more expensive multi-piece rotor at an affordable price point. Countless hours of engineering, testing and quality control measures were invested into this product line to ensure the ECS Tuning product goals were accomplished.



Country of Origin of Website

In response to your request that we list the Country of Origin on all products, we will definitely take this suggestion into consideration. However, we are in compliance with all Federal Trade Commission regulations and take this topic very seriously. If any customers would like additional information on the origins of a product, please contact our Sales Department at 800.924.5172.



Any further questions can be directed to us via PM or contact our Customer Service Department at 800.924.5172.



Happy Braking!

Bravo for your level of involvement in the forums!

[fravel]

12 months and ~10,000 miles later and I have no problems to report with my ECS geomet rotors. No on the hats/holes either. I'm quite satisfied with my purchase.

[nyceric03]

No problems with the rotors I got from ECS for my 3 and 5 series. I don't see the big deal with people complaining about what country its made from. You get crap made in the us thats bad quality as well as good quality. The country of origin has never affected any products I purchased. Like in other posts most of your cellphones, computers etc are all made in china and various poorer countries. Everything works great so far but of course there are some big name scandals cause the media likes to make a big fuss to sell papers etc.

[LI_Goalie]

I wonder when people will stop buying into the myth that all products out of China are shit.

Some are shit, some are not. It depends on how much the vendor is paying the Chinese manufacturer. They can make products just as well as any other country if you pay them the appropriate amount.

For years hockey goalie equipment was only made in Canada. Eventually, the product was shipped overseas for manufacturing in China. Everyone complained that the gear was going to be shit, that it was going to have bad stitching, that the material would be inferior.

Many years later and no one gives a flying fuck anymore because they realized the chinese made pads are exactly the same as the Canadian made pads.

Country of origin doesn't mean shit.

[datbimmer]

I am not surprised by this. I have had a horrible experience with a vendor here. Don't expect the best customer service all the time most companies are very small and can't afford to do everything to satisfy you. From now on I'm taking by business somewhere else. Much better customer service on ebay actually.

[ualdrivr]

The old saying, you get what you pay for. You can't have it all!

Having said that, they do look pretty darn good and installed, they look even better. How's their braking action? Any one know? If they work good, look good and they are reasonably priced, then I don't see a problem with your purchase.

[feuer]

Originally Posted by LI_Goalie

I wonder when people will stop buying into the myth that all products out of China are shit.

Never, especially on the BMW forums, is sad....

[DoubleParked]

The recent diesel scandal aside, aren't most of the parts used to assemble late-model Volkswagen cars made in China?

[Cloud9blue]

Originally Posted by DoubleParked

The recent diesel scandal aside, aren't most of the parts used to assemble late-model Volkswagen cars made in China?

lol, and how is that related to the ECU software that VAG implemented themselves...

any contracted factories or suppliers, doesn't matter they are located in Germany, US or China, Pakistan will build anything you want these days. it all depends how much they are getting paid for doing that.

if you have shit product that is made overseas, that just mean the company that paid the factory to make them cheaped out and didn't want to spend the money for a higher quality products.

Hell, my folks had a Chinese assembled e60 530i for 7 years while they were living there. Never had a problem with it (wish I can say the same for my german made 335i) and from what I can tell, it is exactly the same as the German made one.

[Musashi]

Originally Posted by Dr. G

Taiwan has some pretty top notch quality stuff and China is a hit or a miss. It all depends on the factory.

You would be SURPRISED to find out that so many of these brake and performance parts companies we think are EURO or AMERICAN indeed do outsource to China and Taiwan.

If you are buying 2-piece rotors, there's a very good chance they are coming from Asia.

Did that once with a brand called EBC. Euro brakes made in China with ISO detailed specs etc. Lost the entire brake set in 1 yr. It was internal rusting and poor metallurgy which fiddled with properties and one emergency brake the rears gave up. The expert shop I went at laughed at me when seeing them. "Sir, these are Shit!" "Where did you get them?" I replied "EBC! They told me "Oh the motorcycle brake company? Sir what does this have to do with cars?" I was sold by their marketting. Then got Gt grades made in Canada, costing less than OEM, no issues, and had yet to wear a set after 80,000 miles.

The Apple example is a poor one. iPhones are "Assembled in China." Much, much of the tech going inside is not at all made in China (Germany being the biggest chunk), and so many other countries. And yes, I drove the M Performance Taiwan wheels. Now Japan Ray's on my BMW- as a tribute to the company making the monoblock forged BBS and Vorsteiner - Ray's. And bailed HRE when their domestic USA wheels failed. After all Ray's had the world's only 8,000 ton, now 10,000 ton press to forge these of a single block.

BUT NONE OF THESE ARE BRAKES. ISO certificates means nothing in the "Poorely Made in China" as the book says. A country where you BUY inspector reports, you bribe cut corners, then report to your bosses all is good. Yes, even Apple had to crack numerous times on silent sabotages at Foxxcon. But back to brakes. First, they will run HOTTER. Less material, less metal, more holes, = more energy in LESS body mass to dissipate. Two, the country of origin does matter, especially if it has a history of bad QC or faking QC results, e.g. PRC.. 3. Anyone so willing to cut $ costs by going there is willing to cut costs. With performance brakes and safety, well it goes against the overall goal. 4. I live in Canada where these things can go from very hot to -40F. Nope, will never ever bet the PRC ones will survive such extremes, plus the road salts at -30F winters..

I think AF's contribution is invaluable- avoided me a potentially bad risky error. Would take Stoptech before ECS- but will not as they rot in winters. Presently, my M Perf Brakeset is rated for 140,000 kms wear front, and 160,000 kms rear- very little tracking with spirited driving and regular bedding. Can these ECS match? I doubt it.

Same reasoning for tires. Will never touch Chinese Made Tires. After all it is the country holding the constant record of deliberate roll-overs accident victims to ensure they are dead and no lifetime compensation is over. The smartphone footages and major court cases leave no doubt. They do not care about cars and tech as we do, it is cultural. Whatever ECS says is irrelevant- its workers do not care. Apple kept its production lines efficient and smart with a heavy whip and constant inspections, and even then Foxconn has the highest suicide rate.

Samsung batteries? ISO QC grade? Umm they lacked internal components from the factory line, in JINA. Lesson? They do not care. Do that with brakes, RIP.

[Musashi]

Originally Posted by annalisa_ferri

Finally somebody does not fear to say impolite things. Especially taking into account the fact that we are in a bmw forum, and I can immagine that one of the reasons for the owners to buy their Exx is QUALITY

See my reply. "Poorely Made in China" is a best seller. Nothing beats a place which does not care and bribes inspection, QC and ISO ratings, and 'omits' insulating tape inside batteries destines for some Samsung Galaxy Note 7. After all, they are Koreans right? Yes the factories had ISOs on electrical safety certificates etc and Samsung paid in billions for the oversight of its Chinese battery manufacturer.

[Musashi]

Originally Posted by timmyc

Once BMW moves their manufacturing to China this guy's head is gonna explode

Goodluck. German metallurgy, as Euro in general, is heavily protected, and why the PRC has yet to copy a single aircraft engine including the 1970s Rolls Royce ones. Nope, it is not going to happen.

[Musashi]

Originally Posted by The HACK

This reminds me of this one time...

I used to work at a very reputable automotive aftermarket company, based out here in the United States. I was tasked to hold a specific event to reward our loyal customers. I won't go into details, but let's just say it's an event not unlike what you'd get from BMW's ///M school, but only cost the participants $120 for a day. Because, you know, we wanted to really reward some of our most loyal customers.

At the end of the day, the lesson learned here is, you either ESCALADE or you acquiesce as the vendor/manufacturer, and the stories you hear on these intarweb forums is NEVER what it seems.

Obviously you did not have a set of replica brakes fail on you during braking as I did. their maker, EBC, sold "Euro" brakes made in the PRC. Will not blame the PRC on this one, but that the EBC retards saved money on production while pumping it into false advertising. ISO, heat treated, forged, bla bla bla. 1 year later was using the rotting brakes as counterweights for the laundry machine... AF saved me from buying the ECS crap, which i was seriously considering. He did me, potentially, a life saving favour. Most post members here are American. Am from Canada where the limits are now -40F to hundreds C rotor temp. Salty roads. 5 months of winter. Brembos lasted me 140,000 kms front set... 160,000 rear, with regular bedding. For slightly more than the ECS set I doubt would have survived TWO winters. Not because they are made in China, but because China does not care about ISO and us car loving folks dying in a crash due to some faulty rotor or CHINA TIRES.

[Musashi]

Originally Posted by The HACK

That, and anyone here that thinks stuff made in China is inferior? Think again. Cheap sh*t made in China is inferior. Expensive stuff made in China? They're probably BETTER made than the most skilled labor can produce here in the U.S. or even in Europe. High-end skill labor in China is BETTER than high-end skilled labor you can find anywhere. The problem with the high-end stuff for import? You can't afford to make enough to drive the cost of logistics down. Especially say, for a product that cost $100 to make? You're not importing multiple container-full of it and tying up 8, or 9 figure in cash for the inventory to make the per-unit cost reasonable for import. Where it makes sense, is if you're importing $100,000 worth of springs and sprockets and stuff that comes in several huge containers, that you ultimately assemble here yourself into thousands of units.

Like I said. If any of you wants to dig deeper, you'd be SHOCKED at how much of your BMW comes from China. SHOCKED.

Got to get off the grass, go visit. Apple uses a HEAVY whip to keep product sabotage or leakage to low figures. "High skilled labour?" Hays Global Index score has China waaaaay at the bottom, like so low that you get tired going through all the countries only to realize that they are at the bottom. but hey you lived in Communism right? you do know that one buys exams, theses, inspections, ISO certifications etc? there is no shame in it. Bribery, patronage and corruption. Your counterargument Pro China does not hold- no more than Chinese intelligentsia itself is hammering the party on these very issues. Next time you hear of another trial for someone rolling over and over their accident victim, all filmed, claiming they thought it a garbage bag, to avoid lifetime compensation, remember this: they do not care about you and you car braking. Europeans do. Americans do. Brazilians do. China? NOPE. And if you are a rich North American vs their factory worker, sorry to say, they care even less.

Not sure if WSJ or E90Post

[feuer]

I wonder what BFS would have to say on these rotors lol

[Asonchadwick]

Not to get of topic of brake rotors but i just bought some katech titanium lug nuts and all 20 were crap!!! I swear these were the throw aways. Maybe they hand pick the bad ones and group thrm in lots for some unsuspecting customer instead of scrapping them? Pretty sure they are made in the usa or at least i thought as katech is a huge aftermarket race place for corvettes and such. Come tomorrow ill be finding out wtf happened and sending these back!

Nothing was machined evenly, the barrels where not centered or concentric, the seats were not round centered or concentric. A couple of them were so bad when i test threaded them on a stud i couldnt get them back off by hand because of the threads were so messed up inside. None of the flat tips of the cone seats were square. If you took any 2 and threaded them on a stud face to face they would not sit flush, the list goes in and on. Sadly i also bought some skunk2 forged aluminum lug nuts and they are machined perfectly so i ended up using those instead.

Also the ti nuts were supposedly 16 grams and the aluminum ones 24 grams but i swear the ti felt just as heavy i need to buy a scale today and weight them.

[whyzee125]

OP I get your frustration but I really don't think ECS is in the wrong. You say you're only concerned that they don't have staff on site in China/Taiwan to enforce quality control but would you be upset if they were made in Germany or Italy but their staff was in USA? It seems there isn't anything wrong with the rotors and they're made in the same country as most other rotors are. Put them on and enjoy them. You'd never know the difference.