Question on Brakes

[daniboi328]

Looking at fitting e46 330i discs with 7 series 4 pot brembo front breaks to my e30 and wanted to ask a few questions to the people who have already done this ....

1.
Do they fit under 15" wheels ?

2.
Is the bracket to hold the caliper easy to fabricate ?

3.
Are they adaquate enough to stop an s50 powered e30 ?

4.
Are there any other options that offer the same value for money ?

[harry_p]

They will never fit under 15s, you will need 17s as a minimum, and ones with decent caliper clearance too as the 4pot calliper is a lot thicker on the front side than the standard sliding ones.

For the rest, no idea, it's not something I've ever heard done on e30. Are you using a five stud setup? If so, what parts?

[daniboi328]

Thanks for the reply
Basically I'm accumulating the last parts of my project which is an s50 conversion
The plan all along has been to run 15" wheels (ive already brought a set) but obviously I need extra stopping power so I'm trying to work out what brakes I need to use to satisfy both my needs
Anyone have any suggestions ?

In regards to the 5 stud conversion I have all four hubs from a e36 318ti compact

[ross_jsy]

You don't use the front hubs off a compact when you do a 5 stud conversion. You also need to run a minimum of 16" wheels when using e36 stuff. Using e36 stuff isn't the best way to do it either, I wouldn't bother, seems a lot of hassle for the benefit it gives unless of course you use e30 m3 stuff but that's not cheap.

WMS do a good 4 pot kit. The 280mm one fits under standard brakes. From the money you save of sticking to 4 stud stuff you could even splash out on the rear callipers

[harry_p]

You need a minimum of 16s if using e36 m3 hubs, as they have 315mm discs.

Normal e36 stuff fits under 15s, but the geometry will be wrong.

I'm on e36 forums quite a lot and don't know of any upgrades that will fit under 15s other than drilled / grooved discs and updated pads and hoses.

I would look into some m3 evo hubs and arms so your geometry is somewhere where it needs to be, and use the e36 m3 discs and calipers under some 16s. Tbh, the e36 brakes aren't any more than 'ok' on an e36, but should be fine on a much lighter e30.

To keep the standard e36 stuff and stick to 15in wheels you'll probably have to stick to the standard e36 280mm discs and get a custom caliper mount made, but have no idea how much space you would have for one, or what calipers would fit.

[keri-WMS]

I'm on e36 forums quite a lot and don't know of any upgrades that will fit under 15s other than drilled / grooved discs and updated pads and hoses.

Do many E36 people want to fit brake upgrades under 15's? I always assumed they all head for bigger wheels!

[daniboi328]

So what front hubs are best to use ?

I've already managed to obtain a rather unusual set of 15" that I really want to use so sticking to a 5 stud conversion is a must for me.

Would I have to use standard e36 breaks then ?

[Motorhole]

The only way of getting an E36-based 5-stud setup to work is:

Front:
E30/E36 eccentric control arm bushes
E36 M3 Evo wishbones
E36 M3 evo kingpins & hubs
E36 M3 evo strut OR any E36 based front coilover kit - for the latter you may need custom top mounts as the threaded strut top on an E36 is M14 as opposed to the M12 on an E30.

Rear:
E36 Compact OR Z3 trailing arms

The problem you're going to run into with 15" wheels is smaller E36 brakes won't fit the mounts on the E36 M3 kingpin, only the M3 brakes will. And these are damn tight under 16" wheels with spacers, as you can see on my car!



You may be able to use standard E36 kingpins and brakes with the rest of the E36 M3 evo stuff but you'll loose a lot of castor, your front wheels will sit too far back in the arch and your car will understeer like a pig.

The only other way I can imagine is to get one of the 5-stud conversion kits that use a threaded sleeve and bigger wheel bearing and combine that with a custom big brake kit - but that's big bucks and I'd be wary of using such a conversion kit.

[harry_p]

I'm on e36 forums quite a lot and don't know of any upgrades that will fit under 15s other than drilled / grooved discs and updated pads and hoses.

Do many E36 people want to fit brake upgrades under 15's? I always assumed they all head for bigger wheels!

No, not really. The decent drivers ones came with 17s as standard, and they're the best size for the car really. 15s on an e36 use big balloon 205 60 15s, which don't really lend themselves to sporty driving.

Most people who drive hard tend to use 17s and e46 325 (300mm ) or 330i (325mm ) disks with the appropriate carriers / calipers.