brakes dilemma

Post Mon Jan 19, 2009 2:42 am

slowly bringing my car up to a good spec for track now im on to the brakes and im a bit stuck do i go thru with changing to 5 stud all round and use the e36 m3 brakes or do i just buy a uprated brake kit from the likes of wms ? only thing is will a wms kit fit under my 15" mims ?

any advice welcome cheers

Post Fri Jan 23, 2009 4:22 pm

I'm pretty sure the 280mm WMS kit fits with std 15" BBS

HTH

Post Fri Jan 23, 2009 4:56 pm

yup they do on my car! Can't have stick on balance weights inside the wheen though.

Post Fri Jan 23, 2009 6:42 pm

RichIS wrote:do i go thru with changing to 5 stud all round and use the e36 m3 brakes

Use the front struts from the lesser E36's (325i/328i etc) and you can use the E46 330Ci front brakes - I think the calipers and discs are a straight bolt on.
Would probably be cheaper than finding E36 M3 stuff and you would get bigger discs (325x25mm), although you would need 17"s, but thats the same with the E36 M3 stuff.

AFAIK, a lot of E36 owners are doing this upgrade rather than use E36 M3 stuff.

The WMS kit does fit under the 15" BBS AFAIK, but there might be an issue with the Mims. IIRC, there was some problems with some Mims fitting over the standard 260mm disc and caliper because of the offset of the wheel - it might be worth finding someone with the WMS kit fitted and trial fitting one of your wheels???

Post Sat Jan 24, 2009 2:54 am

i fort you couldent use normal e36 struts due to them having larger spring perches or sum thing ?
if do go the 5 stud route ive already got a set of 328 sport bbs to go on

Post Sat Jan 24, 2009 1:51 pm

Thought.

I posted a thread in the general e30 chat section about brake kits and got alot of helpful info on wms, wilwood and also highspec.

Post Sat Jan 24, 2009 6:34 pm

RichIS wrote:i fort you couldent use normal e36 struts due to them having larger spring perches or sum thing ?

I cant find the web page now, but I think with the E36 M3 stuff you can use the E30 springs etc, but with the non-M E36 stuff you need to use E36 springs. There might also be some issue with the strut tops, but IIRC thats sorted with the correct camber plates.

A guy I went to college with used E36 328i front struts and brakes on his E30 and Im sure theres some threads on the US E30 sites about it.