Upgrading brakes for fast road E30 325i

[Car-Nut]

Well the subject says what I want to do any suggestions...

Oh this my first Hi Everyone !!

[Simon]

Welcome to the zone!

I'm moving this, as you've posted it in the for sale section!

[Simon]

My advice would be, get a caliper rebuild kit, and rebuild the caliper, some good quality fluid high boiling point fluid, braided hoses, standard BMW discs, and some ferodo DS2500 pads, this should give you a very good setup without going to the step of big brake kits.

[Dunx]

some good quality fluid high boiling point fluid, braided hoses, standard BMW discs

Any recommendations? and any reason why not other discs - such as black diamond etc ?

[Simon]

some good quality fluid high boiling point fluid, braided hoses, standard BMW discs

Any recommendations? and any reason why not other discs - such as black diamond etc ?

ATE super blue seems to get very good reviews, hoses, either goodridge or earls, and standard BMW discs are very good for general use, and is always the recommended disc for the E30 M3 for general and light track use.
Beware the standard BMW discs from GSF and ECP, they are not BMW quality, and will warp at the first sign of heavy breaking!

[fuzzy]

youll get loads of different suggestions on brake set up as everyone has their favourite,i agree with simon on rebuilding the calipers,the repair kits only about £30 from bmw,but i use EBC drilled + grooved discs with matching Redstuff pads on the front and Greenstuff on the rear and Goodridge steel flexi hoses

[Simon]

youll get loads of different suggestions on brake set up as everyone has their favourite

You're right there! I've found the EBC stuff rubbish!

[Simon]

Bollocks, just realised I've moved this to other BMW chat !

[Simon13]

mintex m1155's u will never fade these on the road

[Toby_Unna]

Beware the standard BMW discs from GSF and ECP, they are not BMW quality, and will warp at the first sign of heavy breaking!

hmm that's interesting.

i assumed they were the same part, my GSF 325i front discs were from a well known manufacturer from memory. however they quickly rumble and shake when braking hard from speed. i assumed they must all do that (i'm used to e28s which always have vibrating brakes due to all the worn steering joints)

are ones from a dealer really definately different then? (as if so i'll probably replace my GSF ones this week)

[Lordschleife]

mintex m1155's u will never fade these on the road

I thought 1144 were the only road legal ones, & 1155 and 1166 were circuit use only?

[M5pilot]

For ultimate braking you want the Moveit brakes Ian haynes has on his car.

If, however like most people, your on a budget speak to Demlotcrew about his brake upgrade path. Seems to be excellent.

If you want to go even better then WMS and Willwood do a 4 pot caliper setup. Player6 and bootyman have HiSpek brakes which again are very good and I think you can have 6 pot calipers.

If you don't want these brake conversions then its a nice set of brembo discs and some decent pads like the Mintex m1144/1155, Ferodo DS2500, DS3000 or EBC Red stuff (these are good if used properly).

[Simon]

Beware the standard BMW discs from GSF and ECP, they are not BMW quality, and will warp at the first sign of heavy breaking!

hmm that's interesting.

i assumed they were the same part, my GSF 325i front discs were from a well known manufacturer from memory. however they quickly rumble and shake when braking hard from speed. i assumed they must all do that (i'm used to e28s which always have vibrating brakes due to all the worn steering joints)

are ones from a dealer really definately different then? (as if so i'll probably replace my GSF ones this week)

I've taken advice from a few trackday regulars on the BMWCC forum, and I've been told that BMW discs are very good, and put up with a lot of stick, TBH I'd think any standard size disc, even some mega expensive drilled or grooved discs will end up warping, but some give up the fight easier than others, so without upgrading to bigger brakes setups, the above seems to be the easiest and cheapest route.

[Car-Nut]

Well first of all sorry for posting in the wrong place.... bad lad !!

Secondly thanks for the advice.... all of the options

I think I like I the sound of the option with the standard discs etc, etc

Obviously a few of you use this, can you advise wher the cheapest places are for parts

Thanks for all the help...

Great website !!!

[Lordschleife]

Never had any problems with ATE power discs from ECP and they're cheap as chips
Also Sabine won the 24hr Nurburgring using them a few years back, so they must be pretty decent at holding up in race conditions
http://www.conti-online.com/generator/w ... sc_en.html

[Demlotcrew]

Ive also not had any problems with ATE powers from ECP, but i have experienced cheap disks warping like simon said! From now on im going to try and go BMW always.

Andrew

[Palazzo]

I'm about to go on to my 3rd set of discs in 18 months (12k miles), all bought from BMW, so can't say I'm a fan. All road work too. If they are any good, what could cause the problem?

[Lordschleife]

If they're wearing out quick it could be the pads you are using if they're quite abrasive on the discs, or not bedded in properly and just using the abreasive part of their stopping power and not the chemical?

If they're warping it could also be your braking style - you need to brake in short hard bursts so they can cool again rather than leave your foot on the brakes for a long time, and never park up with the brakes on after heavy use.

Also what model do you have, cause iirc not all E30's have the brake cooling ducts (some pre facelifts & cabs?)

[Simon]

Is the hub surface nice and clean, any slight rust/debris can cause problems.

My experience with BMW discs have been fine, and I took the advice from a guy who had a dedicated track car, and he swore by the BMW discs, I am talking M3 here, but I would have thought the standard E30 discs would be just as good quality.

[Lordschleife]

Yeah I've always heard the e30 m3 ones are good, just need better pads/fluid for track work.
Never really had any problem with std BMW discs, but I have had slight pad fade from std BMW discs/pads so choose to use ATE discs with slots for any gas to escape, and different pads.

[Palazzo]

Nearly always brake hard and quickly, don't leave foot on brakes. Have a facelift 325 Sport which is the problem child and a pre facelift 325 cab which has no problems?!?

[Templ8e30]

I use my e30 for daily use and for track days so I appreciate good brakes !.
I use ATE power discs at the front and Zimmermann cross drilled at the rear, Pagid fast road pads all round and Goodridge hoses with ATE superblue fluid.

This is the best braking setup I've tried and I'm sticking with them, no fade despite trying very hard and nice sharp feedback at all times.

Cheers,

Iain T

[Lordschleife]

I'm using pagid fast road at the mo, and while they're OK they don't have the bite of DS2500

I just use std ATE discs at the back and thats fine for teh amount of braking they do, I dont trust cross drilled at all as they can crack (though unlikely at the rear)

The likes of ATE super blue brake fluid (or Castrol Super which has v.similar spec and is what I'm using at the mo) is fine when new, but not so great when a bit of moisture has got to it, thats where Castrol SRF really wins out (and to a lesser extent Motul RBF600)

[Dan318-is]

motul RBf600 is flawless. im running that now on worn pads an the difference is awesome. less sponginess also. SRF is like 40 quid a litre aint it!?

ds2500, while being the supreme road pad, at 100 quid an axle set, are a bit much.

il be using mintex 1144 liek simon said, halfway between pagids n ferrodo i think.

[Simon13]

brembo don't make disks for 4 stud E30's

m1155's are road legal or so it says on their website, they are ok from cold! i mean this is in the winter mornings -1 etc. They do eat disks though

karan managed to crack his zimmerman disks on the rear robin!

if i want standard brakes i always go to the dealer they no more than GSF or Euro's really

[Lordschleife]

I've heard mintex squeal and dust a lot but are otherwise a good pad, might try 'em myself next time

[Simon13]

they do with the ate power's. brake dust was no more than stock pads

[Lordschleife]

Sound worth a shot next time I need pads, & you're right about the 1155, I must have been thinking of 1166 being track only
How much are the 1155 out of interest?

[Car-Nut]

Thanks for all the feedback

Think I'll go

Ferodo DS2500 Pads
Goodridge hoses
Discs ATE power discs at the front and Zimmermann cross drilled at the rear or should I stick with BMW standard not decided on that bit.
ATE super blue brake fluid



Just a nice subtle mod....:O)

Now to cost it !! :O(

[Lordschleife]

Thats pretty similar to the setup I had on my 325i which worked superb, the only difference is I used solid ATE rears and SRF fluid.

If I were you I'd go for the Motul RBF600 fluid (camskill sell it) as it cost about the same as ATE super but has a better wet boiling point.

Not so sure about the drilled rear discs, std bmw or ATE would prob. be ok and you'd avoid the risk of cracking, you could get the ATE rear at the same time as power dics from ECP

Price wise, are you sitting down...?

ATE Power discs (Front) solid discs (rear) £91.16 Eurocarparts
Ferrodo DS2500 (front FCP303H_72 & rear FCP296H_46) £165.11 balancemotorsport.co.uk
2x 500ml Motul RBF600 HiSpec Brake Fluid £19 camskill.co.uk
Goodridge Hoses SBW0012-6 £78.00

So basically around £350!
Of course you might get away with using the std discs you currently have on for now, depending on how worn they are.

[Gwynleym10]

Are ATE brake discs from ECP/GSF not the same as proper bmw ones?

One ATE factory is in South Wales (about to close down and move to slovakia) but they make ATE brakes for porsche bmw and VW surely if they are made in the same factory they would be of the same quality?

I understand about the cheapo Guttman ones, are we sure people don't get confused with these?

I think we should all go out and buy lots of ATE discs and calipers to safe guard these 250 odd jobs! (it would make my job a whole lot easier as well....)

[Car-Nut]

Thanks Robin where did you get the hoses. ?

[Lordschleife]

Demon Tweeks, but I'm sure there are cheaper places.
Also the ones with zinc plated fittings rather than stainless steel are cheaper at around £66 I think
Just make sure you get the 6-line kit (its needed for all cars with rear discs, not just ABS cars)

Demon Tweeks is where I got my DS2500 also, but I had to phone them for that - online systems useless, thats why I listed that other site.

[Lordschleife]

m1155's are road legal or so it says on their website, they are ok from cold! i mean this is in the winter mornings -1 etc. They do eat disks though

I wasnt imagining things!
http://www.proven-products.co.uk/mintex_c-tech_pads.htm

"M1155 is purely designed for competition use and under no circumstances should be used for normal road applications."

They've obviously since changed their tune, TBH looking at thes spec of 1155 I could never see why they wouldnt be OK on the road anyway

[Simon13]

they are the don, i used them for over 20,000miles and they have about a 1/3 of meat left. i'm sure the car passed an mot with them also!

I'm keeping them for the auto just in case the power on it gets too much for me