brake servo/master cylinder

[hongkongfuey]

i was wondering about an upgrade on my brakes, i'm going to replace brake servo/master cylinder or both.


is there any other brake servos/ brake master cylinders i can use on my 88 325i

i don't want to go through the window every time i brake but a nice hard brake would be nice.

has any one done any mods , don't want to pay silly money either, my car is for road use only

[Cully325]

is the e34 one the same?

[Brianmoooore]

If there was anything wrong with the servo, you'd already have the 'firm' pedal that you desire!
What makes you think there's anything wrong with it, or the master cylinder.
What exactly are you looking for in the brakes? A lot of people confuse required pedal pressure with the effectiveness of the brakes.
E30 325 brakes in good order should be perfectly adequate for enthusiastic road use. The important words in that statement are "good order"!

[hongkongfuey]

the brakes are in good order, had new discs and pads all round when i bought . its done about 5-6k the pads are (ate), they still look in good condition. i changed the brake fluid in november with a pressure bleader and pumping pedal as its got ABS.

the pedal feels less hard than my mates 325 , if you press pedal then off then back on it feels hard as it should, theres not a problem with brake efficiency, and no fluid leaks or loss that i can see.

when you push the pedal you can hear a slight (pisst) noise from passenger side.

thanks rob

[oze30]

that's nothing. Try driving with no servo assist! Thats a firm pedal!

[hongkongfuey]

nice i'll just rip mine out then

[maxfield]

It's not as simple as that

[ed325i]

I have no servo but going to use twin master cylinders like oze30.

[hongkongfuey]

would it be servo or master cylinder i need to replace? i want to keep brake set up standard or near enough, some one said they had replaced the mc with one from a 750?????

[ed325i]

Yes you can use the 750 mc.
It sounds like you have air in the system still.

[hongkongfuey]

i'll try bleeding again, the cars done 150k does that make a difference

[fowler]

defo agreed with ed on this one they can be notriously hard to bleed some times

[Brianmoooore]

If the pedal firms up when you pump it, there's air in the system! You may even have some inside the ABS pump, which can be fun to get out.
Other things to consider are the flexible hoses, which may be past their best and swelling under pressure, and play in the wheel bearings, resulting in the pads being pushed off further than they should.
The noise from the passenger side is probably just the normal noise of a servo operating.

[hongkongfuey]

thanks all for the advice, i'm taking it to my mates garage to look on sat, will get back to you (wheel bearings were replaced)

is it worth putting on braided brake hoses?

[Brianmoooore]

It's NEW hoses that are required more than any particular type. Both braided hoses and rubber hoses will be fine when they're new, but the problem with braided arises when they get old and neglected. Braided hoses fail suddenly and catastrophically, whereas rubber hoses tend to give advance warning in the form of a long/soft pedal.

[DanThe]

You can buy a full set of braided hoses for about £60

Never heard of a braided hose failing Brian

[shorty73]

Just completely renewed my brakes from M/C to rear hoses.

750 M/C from C3 Braided lines from XLraceparts and lines from Automec. If your replacing the rear hoses then be prepared for a sh*t job. the nuts on the end of my lines and hoses were so shagged up by the diff I could not shift them. In the end I dremmell'd them off. It was quicker and easier to just replace the lines.

I know what you mean about the pedal feel. First time I took the car out I hated the brakes. Just felt like a lot of pedal travel for no real retardation in speed!! Used to Trackday/Sprint a Civic Type R so I was used to a bit more "Bite!"

I definitely recommend braided lines and the master cylinder if you want more "feel"

[hongkongfuey]

thanks i'll do that soon