Brakes for a 320i

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Harrylechat
E30 Zone Newbie
E30 Zone Newbie
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2005 11:00 pm
Location: Near Cambrai Northern France

Post Wed May 25, 2005 8:56 pm

Hi,

Sorry I keep asking for help but I have a 320i that I bought last year in France. I discovered today that it wasn't made for the French market (longer air filter cartridge and apparently it's got various "anti-pollution" bits that most European models didn't have on the Series I). The local main dealer thinks it was probably German spec. because the filter is a year or more in advance of the local cars.

Now I need to buy a set of front discs and the appropriate pads and a set of rear shoes. I am not a mechanic and I have no idea if all 320 brake parts will fit my car or not. There are some discs on eBay at the moment that say they're for a 320 and they "look" right but does anyone know of a good value site if if those discs are wrong or if I don't win?

Second question: I've been offered some new Motocraft pads from a seller with 1000+ positive feedback. They say they fit "E30s", are front pads so uniform? The guy does know that I've got a 320i. He wants Ԛ£20 a set for the pads, says they retail at Ԛ£80. EuroParts is offline so I can't compare.

Third question: My car has solid discs at the front. Is there any advantage to fitting vented ones, even drilled and grooved ones, is it even possible to change one sort for another? It has drum brakes at the rear; I'd forgotten those even existed!

If anyone can give me an idea of what I ought to expect to spend for the discs, pads and shoes I'd be grateful. Also if there are any other parts I ought to be laying in stock ready for the day the brakes are changed. The wheel cylinders are apparently OK.

One of these days I hope I'll be able to return the favour, maybe if someone needs help planning a route across France and wants some hotels booking or whatever. :wink:

I'm sure I'll be back with more questions but thanks to the people who came back to me last week on the "First service" thread - I've successfully changed my oil and filters, checked my brakes - see above! - and changed the spark plugs and air filter so far. Running well and in fact the slight valve noise seems to have stopped since I changed the oil maybe I'm too darned proud of myself to hear any imperfection!
:lol:

Thanks in advance,

Andrew
Always looking for Baur bits
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Brianmoooore
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Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:00 pm

Post Wed May 25, 2005 9:32 pm

Ask for all the help you need, that's why the forum has a section called "technical help"!
Regarding your brakes - excluding the M3, there's only two sorts of brakes fitted to the front of E30s, vented and non vented, and I thought all 320s had vented at the front with solid discs at the rear. Your's sound like 318 brakes. Post the VIN of your car, so that we can look it up on the ETK (electronic parts list).
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Hani
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Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2005 11:00 pm

Post Fri May 27, 2005 2:20 pm

I have a 320i from 1990 with front disks and rear drums and theyre unvented as far as i know.
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Andy_magic
E30 Zone Camper
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Joined: Tue Feb 22, 2005 11:00 pm
Location: Cambridge

Post Fri May 27, 2005 7:45 pm

Just to mix it up, I have an 89 320i with vented disks and drums on the rear, the other has disks all round.

To put the pad prices into perspective, I got some Ferodo pads from Halfrauds for Ԛ£24 I think.
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