Brakes? Recomendations?

[Chris]

Hey guys, i'm coming to the conclusion that the pads on my 320 are glazed or something so i'm gonna get some new ones. Plus the discs are getting old and thin so i might aswell change them aswell.

So does anyone have any good recomendations for a decent pad and rotor combination?

I dont want to brake the bank but i want something decent.

Oh, and medium fast road is about as exciting as my driving gets.

Cheers
Chris

[Alex]

ive heard green stuff and ebc pads are quite good but ive never had any experience wiht them

[Jon_Bmw]

Green stuff are EBC pads

Anyhow, don't get them. Get the EBC yellow pads with standard BMW discs and some decent fluid. I doubt you'll ever fade them unless you are a hardcore track guru with a heavy e30. Not that dusty, good bite from cold. Cheap. Need I go on?

I run them on a 205 and find them a brilliant pad.

HTH

Jon

[Alex]

Green stuff are EBC pads

Anyhow, don't get them. Get the EBC yellow pads with standard BMW discs and some decent fluid. I doubt you'll ever fade them unless you are a hardcore track guru with a heavy e30. Not that dusty, good bite from cold. Cheap. Need I go on?

I run them on a 205 and find them a brilliant pad.

HTH

Jon

shows how much i know about them

[BadDave]

Provided the calipers are in good condition I.E moving freely, then a set of braided lines, some ATE Superblue fluid and some decent fast road pads( no need for trackday/race pads unless doing some highly spirited driving) would be a good start.

I've heard good reports about the ATE disks witht the "atom" pattern in them, this wears away to the minimum disk thickness over time, available from ECP or GSF
Cant remember which one it was

Think it was ECP

[mhuk]

ebc green stuff on all 4 calipers here and zummerman drilled discs. Stopping power is super!

[Chris]

So EBC Yellow or greens?

Does anyone recomend Mintex or Black Diamond? They seem cheaper than Green Stuff but more publicised for want of a better word.

One other thing to note is i plan on moving this car up to a 2.7 as and when funds allow. Thats half the reason i want to get the brakes upto spec.

Can you still get the ATE powerdiscs? (atomic pattern) I cant find them on the ECP site.

Last question, Where do you all buy decent pads from? any recomendations on that front.

Cheers
Chris

[stonesie]

ECP stock the powerdiscs and superblue brake fluid.

I am going for brembo discs and textar pads from GSF, they can also get the brake fluid

[BadDave]

So EBC Yellow or greens?

Does anyone recomend Mintex or Black Diamond? They seem cheaper than Green Stuff but more publicised for want of a better word.

One other thing to note is i plan on moving this car up to a 2.7 as and when funds allow. Thats half the reason i want to get the brakes upto spec.

Can you still get the ATE powerdiscs? (atomic pattern) I cant find them on the ECP site.

Last question, Where do you all buy decent pads from? any recomendations on that front.

Cheers
Chris

I've used "off the shelf"mintex and 1144's before and they did what they were intended to do
The 1144's were in a pr of AP 6 pots so obviously they worked pretty well.
Nothing wrong with moving up to 1144's but i see there's been no mention of the EBC redstuffs yet.
IIRC Fuzzy uses them to stop the cossie(when it's running)


Apparently you can still get the ATe discs
http://www.teessideautotech.co.uk/acata ... stems.html
That was the 1st stockist i found(it's not a recommendation)

I'm pretty sure the Black Diamond disks would be adequate as well.
Try and steer clear of drilled disks(they have a tendency to start cracking near where they're drilled) and opt for the grooved versions instead


EBC pads can be purchased direct from there website
For mintex i use Questmead(poss the largest stockists in UK) or places like Rally Design who are usually that litle bit cheaper

Don't forget to change the brake fluid as well. it's well worth it IMO



HTH

[Jon_Bmw]

I can't comment on how you drive, but if you enjoy the roads, especially with a 2.7 and quite a heavy car I suspect you could fade a set of greens. A chap in 2 laps of a trackday cooked a set in a clio 182. Difficult to know really, if there is no massive price difference, i'd get the yellows personally. They last well, as well.

[Chris]

ATE powerdiscs, are they sided? How many in a package? Finally found them on the ECP site but still find the descriptions a little confusing.

[BadDave]

They shouldn't be handed
Not sure whether they're listed individually or in pairs tbh

Might be worth phoning to confirm

[Chris]

Yeah, think i will give them a ring.

Last question.

Where can i get EBC yellowstuff's in E30 fitment?

http://www.ebcbrakeshop.co.uk/p1184527.htm

These are the first i've found after about 30 mins trawling the net.

[baboon5151]

i,ve been using ate powerdiscs with ate pads & superblue fluid for about 4 years now,never had any problems with them.would say its a good set up.

[BadDave]

Yeah, think i will give them a ring.

Last question.

Where can i get EBC yellowstuff's in E30 fitment?

http://www.ebcbrakeshop.co.uk/p1184527.htm

These are the first i've found after about 30 mins trawling the net.

IIRC the Alpina's used a Mercedes caliper and carrier


EBC website doesn't list them for the e30(only the M3)

[Jon_Bmw]

I am sure they are available for the m20 brake calipers! As said, i haven't personally got them in an e30 but in a 205. Ask Andyboy, i think he likes them and might know where you can get a set.

Interestingly everywhere I looked, i couldn't find a listing for a 1.9 205 caliper, the 1.6 one was common in yellow format, but all the big tuning shops didn't have the 1.9 set listed. I eventually tracked a set down through a small company I had never heard of, he had the part numbers you see. Got them out to me within 2 days. Sadly I can't remember the company name.

[Jon_Bmw]

Don't quote me on this, but a quick look on the EBC catalogue which isn't very user friendly revealed this part number for a 325is:

DP4779R.

Just trying to cross reference it with another site for you.

[Jon_Bmw]

Does that look right:

http://www.ebcbrakesdirect.com/search/d ... &x=43&y=15#

[BadDave]

Pad shape looks right and dimensions look right

The dims do differ slightly from the Mintex specs I'm looking at but by no more than 0.29mm in pad length and 0.7mm in pad depth. nothing to worry about really

[projectmick]

Don't get yellows if your driving is fast road at best, as they wont perform to full potential, greens will fade on a track quickly, but ok for road use, reds prob the ones to go for if you want best of both.

[pnd]

EBC GREEN PADS = mediocre performance and loads of dust genuine bmw pads and discs are good for the road in my experience

[Chris]

Mick: why not yellows? Reds dont seem to be rated well for cold use, which to be fair is probably a fairly significant part of most use. I use the car every day for the trip to work, but also for some spirited back road hacking now and then. I've only ever had my current genuine pads fade once or twice, just a bit more bite would be nice.

Jon: your a LEGEND, significantly cheaper than my selection aswell.

[Chris]

Just thought i'd bring this closer to the top so i can find it easier after fitting the new gear on friday.

I went with ATE Power discs for the front and Original equipment discs for the back.

EBC Yellow Stuff for the front and some OEM equivelent jobbies that i already have in the garage for the rears.

Little note. If you order 1 quantity of discs from ECP you do just get 1 disc. They actually opened a box of 2 discs took one out and sent me the other I was kind of expecting a phone call if i had got it wrong (as i had) but no such like.

The bloke i phoned though was very helpful and spotted the problem straight away and sorted it out (for another £44)

So thank you for all the advice, i'll let you know how they go.

Chris