Brake upgrade options on an E30 with 16" rims?

Post Sat Dec 17, 2005 11:56 am

What easily fits off other bmw's or what aftermarket options are there?

Need something bigger, but we've got shallow pockets on this project so a nice set of AP's isnt an option!

Post Sat Dec 17, 2005 7:54 pm

Can you stretch your budget to 500-600 quid ?

Rally Design do a 4 pot Willwoods with mounts and 280mm discs that is supposed to fit under 15 inch rims for just under 500 quid including pads.

They are also supposed to do a 300mm disc kit for bigger wheels but it's not listed on their web site so you would need to phone them to confirm this.

http://www.rallydesign.co.uk/catalog/in ... 62_563_564

Post Tue Dec 20, 2005 10:27 am

I've seen the BIG wilwood kit, uses the new forged radial mounted calipers combined with a 310x21 mm vented disc.

They claim that setup will fit inside a stock 15" BBS too.

Rallye Design is local to me, I can pop along and mock up the various setups using my car if required ?

I still think the master cyl will be too small with 4 pots, E32 master cylinder swop should be budgetted for IMHO

Post Thu Dec 22, 2005 5:08 pm

ant wrote:I've seen the BIG wilwood kit, uses the new forged radial mounted calipers combined with a 310x21 mm vented disc.

They claim that setup will fit inside a stock 15" BBS too.

Rallye Design is local to me, I can pop along and mock up the various setups using my car if required ?

I still think the master cyl will be too small with 4 pots, E32 master cylinder swop should be budgetted for IMHO

Please do - brakes are high on my list

Post Thu Dec 22, 2005 5:24 pm

Don't think the kits come with pads, when I bought mine, it didn't anyway.

They said it's becuase there are so many different pad applications available, which is reasonably I guess.

They're only about Ãƒ”šÃ‚£50 a set though

Post Thu Dec 22, 2005 7:37 pm

I got a new rally design cat' today and the 310mm x 21mm big brake kit is 574 + VAT + pads so it's quite a bit more than the 280mm kit(399 + VAT + pads) !

Post Fri Dec 23, 2005 12:29 pm

I reckon (this is my plan anyway) that if you buy the cheaper kit with the midilite caliper, you can use it until the discs wear out, then upgrade later.

The caliper brackets are designed such that they can be spaced out in all direction without much drama so pretty much any size discs should be usable

Post Fri Dec 23, 2005 9:12 pm

Turbo-Brown do you have this 280 kit fitted?

I personnally don't think that the are that good. But i'm not sure if i've just got used to them now!

I can't believe there is a 310 kit, I would have bought that if I had of known

Post Sat Dec 24, 2005 12:32 am

Not fitted it yet.

Surely can't be worse than the standard kit!?

If they're not that great, I'll go for monka discs and see what happens

Which pads did you get?

Post Sun Dec 25, 2005 7:36 pm

What do you mean you ain't fitted them yet. You've had them long enough

There not bad, just not as good as expected. I had some of the poly E or poly Q pads and they burnt my wheels. So I had to get the EBC pads.

Monka discs what are they?

Post Sun Dec 25, 2005 8:07 pm

there are not alot of options with 16's!

Post Tue Jan 03, 2006 10:48 pm

chu346 wrote:What do you mean you ain't fitted them yet. You've had them long enough

There not bad, just not as good as expected. I had some of the poly E or poly Q pads and they burnt my wheels. So I had to get the EBC pads.

Monka discs what are they?

Just fitted them this weekend!

By monka, I mean massive

How did you go about coupling the hoses up on yours? I ended up making up some copper lines to go from the caliper to the flexible hose with a couple of brackets to hold the unions. What a pullover!

Post Wed Jan 04, 2006 5:41 pm

Did they fit on ok. I had problems with the caliper rubbing on the wheels, they were BBS too.

My kit came with a double male adapter that you put into the caliper to convert to metric size, then I bought a couple of female to female adapters to connect the pipe and caliper (with male adapter installed) together.

What pads do you have, if you have the poly pads (E's or Q's) be careful they do burn your wheels like they did mine.

Let me know what you think to them?

Post Tue Jan 10, 2006 8:31 am

I've got the poly-Q pads.

Only driven once and they're still a bit spongy

Gonna get someone with a vacuum bleeder to have a go this week!

Post Mon Jan 16, 2006 5:12 pm

TBH im not a massive fan of willwoods.

I would sooner use something OE if possible

Are there any options off other beamers that bolt straight up?

Post Mon Jan 16, 2006 5:20 pm

nope unless u got 5 stud, but thats expensive.

Alpina, Hartge and Racing dynamics did bigger front brakes.

Alpina used a bigger disc with a stock caliper, they just made a special bracket to mount the caliper further out. But u need to find someone who will lend u some to get some made up, plus the discs are expensive

I would try some ferrodos from the shop, with ate power discs. Plus castrol srf or super blue fluid, u could be surprised

Post Mon Jan 16, 2006 5:34 pm

Yeah the ds2500 are ok.

TBH though if i go for just a pad upgrade, i will probably go 1155 mintex

Post Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:34 pm

i have mintex 1155

they did 12 laps of the ring and are still on my car, pretty good from cold too.

Post Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:52 pm

Yeah i swear by the 1155 for stuff like the ring, in fact thats what we used on one of the cars i went there driving last year.

Will just get some of them then if there isnt an easy and cheap way to upgrade the size.

CheeRS lads

Post Tue Jan 17, 2006 6:45 pm

What if you do have 5 stud??

I have M3 running gear and when these disks and pads run out (new - got them cheap at gaydon) I'm thinking about upgrading.

I beleive there are some 300mm ish disks that'll bolt straight on from a 5 series but thats all i've heard. I have 15"'s on at the moment and don't want to upgrade.

Anyone?

As or upgrading the std 4 stud brakes. You could fit corrado/golf G60 disks (280 mm x 21 mm) or some Seat Ibiza Cupra 305mm (thereabouts) disks (4 x 100mm, 4 stud!) and get hold of some 4 pot calipers to make brackets for (or brackets to move the BMW calipers out from hub and to meet offset of disks)

The calipers from a nissan 300zx are very light and cheap but would need then larger master cylinder from the V12 7 series as they have a 1" m/s as std.

If your wilwood's are spongy you should consider fitting the 23mm master cylinder from the M3 or the 25 from the 7 series and possibly a smaller servo from a golf. The 25mm master cylinder would probably be too much for the std calipers boer though. The servo would add feel but you'd have to press harder (better on limit thouugh). Fit braided hoses too , again for the added feel...

I also found a website in america sellin bronze bushes/stainless sliders to insert into OEM single piston calipers to prevent flex under braking which ruins feel,power (a bit), and pads/disks.

Jai