E30 540i brake upgrade

Post Mon Sep 17, 2012 12:12 pm

hey guys,
i've been searching on here and other forums for quite some time now, but can't seem to find what i'm looking for!

what i have, is an opportunity to buy a very cheap set of front and rear stock 540i discs and calipers from a wreck.

now, i know 300mm.de do a kit with the 540i calipers, on 312mm audi TT rotors, and i have a rough template for the caliper bracket, but i feel 312mm is overkill for the m30 in my e30.

but has anyone used or seen someone use the stock 540i rotors and calipers on the e30 hub?

the stock rotors are 302x28 front.

obviously they will need re-drilling to fit the 4 stud, but im just wondering if the thickness will make any problems, and whether or not moving the bolt holes 10mm closer (shrinking the bracket) will work or what other issues i'll run into.

any feedback or ideas would be appreciated!
cheers guys

Post Mon Sep 17, 2012 12:38 pm

The centre bore of the E34 disc is too large, you would be better off turning down a TT disc to the required diameter.
I need to do something similar with my front brakes so I can fit the alpina wheels over them,

I have front and rear 540 calipers on mine, the front are very tight to the Hartge wheels -

Post Mon Sep 17, 2012 1:03 pm

Drool....

I just came accross a thread where someone was working on brackets to fit 36 callipers and 286mm discs, started a thread here: http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=226709

I looked into the 540i setup but I don't think they will work with 9J borbets up front

Post Mon Sep 17, 2012 2:14 pm

wow thats tight! but soo sexy!

is it safe to turn down a rotor from 312 to 302mm? then I'm guessing the bracket would need shrinking (like said before) so it was 50mm high not 60mm.

i'm currently running 15x7 'nemeto' BBS RS reps et20, so obviously new wheels are a given.

yeah from reading the 300mm.de fitment page it seems the avergae offset is +10 to 0 to clear the caliper.

i was considering the VW corrado with RX7, but these 540i calipers and rotors have popped up.
the vw 280mm rotors might fit under the 15's with spacers, but im not sure if it will be enough for registration over here in the land of aus

Post Mon Sep 17, 2012 5:55 pm

jamjars wrote:i'm currently running 15x7 'nemeto' BBS RS reps et20, so obviously new wheels are a given.

Would this fit under your wheels out of interest? http://www.keri.co.uk/wms/4P028-E30-298 ... otated.pdf

I've been pondering a "slightly smaller" version of the 298.5mm kit as a it might help with the Alpina 16" in particular....might help with this wheel too.

Post Tue Sep 18, 2012 4:13 am

the 298.5mm kit is too big by about 2-4mm, it would fit under a 16" nemeto et20 with a roughly 8-10mm spacer.

your 280mm kit should fit almost perfect with a 3-5mm spacer.

wheels are nemeto 15x7 et20 56mm dish.

i had a quick read, but couldn't see anywhere mentioned about dust seals on your caliper pistons? i need these to be road legal... :/ if not, any idea on the difference in caliper size between your calipers and rx7 calipers?

i'm about to ring the engineer again and see if i can get away with 280mm brakes for roadworthy

Post Tue Sep 18, 2012 3:32 pm

Like most motorsport calipers the WMS ones don't have external seals as they are designed for race use and the high temperatures would destroy exxternal rubber seals (leaving you worse off than if you didn't have them).

So as to wether they are road legal it's down to the customer or their engineer to find out depending where they live.

However we offer a 12month warranty on the seals no matter how people use them (including mud-covered rally cars) and nearly no one has ever needed them....in fact we very rarely sell rebuild kits at all, there are loads of our calipers out there trucking away without any issues for year after year!

The only thing that's worth doing is cleaning the pistons when you push them back when changing pads, but that's obvious and easy to do.

Post Wed Sep 19, 2012 7:17 am

i miss-worded that :/

what i meant was that i need seals here in south australia to be legal, although some say you can get away with it if they dont notice, but i dont want to take the risk :/

i've read abit into the stainless pistons and such, and i would prefer these calipers over rx7 calipers, but it looks like i dont have much of a choice

i'm just waiting to hear back from the engineer on wether to run 280mm or something bigger, he believes that 280mm should meet factory stopping power with the extra weight (brake fade test) but we'll see what the final verdict is

cheers for your help though!

Post Wed Sep 19, 2012 8:43 am

If you have new pads fitted how will they tell there are dust seals or not?