E30 Zone

Looking to get a pair of these for my car:

http://www.ebcbrakeshop.co.uk/p1184152.htm

Heard a lot of mixed views on these.

Anyone using or had these? Are they any good?

I am using them at the moment. The work well and like they say it does not produce too much dust. What it does produce is easily removed with soap and water.

What about braking when cold? I've heard a lot of negativity about this despite the manufacturers claims they do well even when cold?

greens were ok , nothing special but reds are far better from cold and just kept biting the hotter they got.

Can they be run on the standard discs? Or do they need to be uprated as well for it to have a noticeable impact?

i cant see any reason why you couldnt although i used the matching ebc grooved discs at the same time.

fuzzy wrote:greens were ok , nothing special but reds are far better from cold and just kept biting the hotter they got.

+1

greens work ok but do suffer from a definate 'step' in braking performance as they heat up. first nothing then quickly more braking. annoyingly the step is so severe i could sometimes get one side up to temperature before the other and keep locking one wheel . i then found them easy to overheat to a smelly mess

Reds on the other hand have equally good (if not better) performance from cold, a much smoother transition and to temperature and a lot harder to cook.

i now run reds all round with standard discs

So where would I stand running drums on the rear? Will the fact that the front brakes "bite" better have an impact on the rear end and make it (more) twitchy (my diff has been welded too)?

Sorry for all the questions but want to make sure I know what I'm getting into and make the right choices before I change any bit on the car

I've got greenstuff all around on standard BMW discs. They're fine on the road and for what I want, but I can see where you might not like them for the track or if you consistently drive faster than me on twisty roads (not difficult )

lloydp wrote:I can see where you might not like them for the track or if you consistently drive faster than me on twisty roads (not difficult )

Driving to Ludlow is pretty much twisty windy roads from almost the moment you get off the motorway - I always push hard around these roads (not breaking speed limits or anything of course ) and so it's a constant battle of left foot braking, downshift, upshift and so on.

This has never been a problem for me as I usually drove up in my Audi A4... now that I got my new toy I want to do it in that but not sure if it's up to the hammering it'll receive (both from me and the roads) and don't want to get caught out from a lack of braking power if I misjudge a bend for example

i dont know but i think heavily mismatched front to rear braking, fast enthusiastic driving on twisty country roads and a welded diff could possibly be a bad combination if you like getting to were your going in one piece..

rmt wrote:I am using them at the moment. The work well and like they say it does not produce too much dust. What it does produce is easily removed with soap and water.

a brake pad that doesnt produce much dust = a brake pad that doesn't work as well as one that produces more dust.

I THINK THEY ARE inferior for road use to standard pads they produce lots of dust a pain with bbs and as stated above don't stop great from coled use the standard pads oh and get the braking system properly sorted ie new brake cylinder as most e30's are simply terrible in this department now which people seem to overlook as they haven't driven the cars when they were remotely ne w and therefore don't know what good brakes they should have.

I found them to be like putting in jelly instead of a pad. Tar-ox or red dot pads only for hard/track driving.

What I'm looking for is a good all-rounder, that will be good under normal driving conditions, when pushed to the limit on road/motorways and the odd occasional track day

Ferodo then fella.

Ive got textar pads with my brembo discs and they work very well. Not sure how they would be on a track though

Ferodo are your typical "heavy duty" standard pads right?

I use greenstuff and like them.Do not produce sticky dust but they do seem to wear the standard discs.One car ran them for 40,000 miles and there was still life in them.The other car has been fitted with greenstuff for about 30,000 miles and they look about two thirds worn.
Do not do track days but I have been known to 'press on', on twistie bits...

i have greenstuff pads and grooved discs waiting to fit
with s/s flexi's,
i hope the brake dust is a lot less for my refurbed wheels.

i don't like brake dust

What's this about master cylinder being duff over the years. What effects would I feel from this?

I got ebc green/ zimmermann drilled discs on all 4 wheels and it stops well but....

the peddle is bit soft even after bleeding a few times. Also makes a whooosh sound from I guess the servo... is that OK ?

i noticed that after changing my brake hoses the peddle didnt feel as soft as it did before. (old hoses were fecked and they were replaced with genuine hoses) i would check out the condition of the hoses if you have already tried bleeding them.

cheap as chips ok for fast road but do create alot of brake dust

i hate brake dust

Whoooosh.................. This is what I'm talking about! Sad vid I know.... Shoes are worse lol

I have SS hoses to be fitted. Rear to caliper r new.

have you checked the vac hose from the servo?
or the servo seal.

nice shoes btw,if a bit whiffy

I use greenstuff pads with drilled and bored disc on my E34 Touring and they do their job very well apart that when its -15c I wish they could work a bit better (but you dont face that cold temperature in the UK) I will buy some new again for sure!

yellowstuff seem to be coping well on my chariot.. nice and cheap and last too which is nice as standard pads just dont cut the mustard

had yellowstuff on the e30 4 pot calipers and on the MR2 and they work very well, I'm very pleased with them

Yeah the ol' yellowstuff is very good value for the money, what are they £55 for e30 calipers? You'd probably pay £15 less and get some crap from halfords.

The only issue is that as they start to wear down, 3/4 trackdays, they start to crumble a bit. I am down to about 0.7 surface contact now and I swear cold bite isn't as good as it used to be. But I don't really care, they are unfadeable on track even with long sessions. You HAVE to get decent brake fluid though, or it is all a pointless exercise.

Once you have boiled it once, a trackday is ruined.

Not sure I would use them on an out and out road car though.

yellow mellow next,if the green runs out.

Jon_Bmw wrote:Yeah the ol' yellowstuff is very good value for the money, what are they £55 for e30 calipers? You'd probably pay £15 less and get some crap from halfords.

The only issue is that as they start to wear down, 3/4 trackdays, they start to crumble a bit. I am down to about 0.7 surface contact now and I swear cold bite isn't as good as it used to be. But I don't really care, they are unfadeable on track even with long sessions. You HAVE to get decent brake fluid though, or it is all a pointless exercise.

Once you have boiled it once, a trackday is ruined.

Not sure I would use them on an out and out road car though.

I think mine are justified. Although I have found they glaze on the road as you just don't brake as hard so I find jabbing the pedal keeps them exciting. I have abused them for 2 track days and a ring trip so far and please for £45

Yeah glazing is the right word. The 205 which doesn't get used a lot becomes slightly hazzardous the first time you get it out of the garage, but as you say some stabbing on the pedal and warming them up works wonders.

I've used Greenstuff (on a Nissan 200SX) with grooved discs...They work OK on the road even from cold...BUT they do suffer from fade quite quickly as they heat up and they produce a horrendous amount of dust as they wear down quite fast.

I now use Ferodo DS2500 with Black Diamond (front) and OEM (rear) discs on my M3...

The Ferodos don't work as well from cold and they are a bit noisy as there are no anti-rattle spring cut-outs. However, they warm up quite quickly and are much better than the greenstuff pads on a track as they take ages to fade...they also are a lot better, dust wise, than the greenstuff.

I use AP racing fluid as it has a really high wet boiling point.

So does the type of brake fluid make a massive difference in braking? What's the best type of fluid to use for all round use then?