Brake advice for my 318

Post Tue Mar 22, 2005 10:36 am

Ive only been driving my 318i for a month or two, and when i bought it my dad (a mechanic) gave it a full service and replaced the brakes and pads etc.

They need to be adjusted a bit as he didnt have time after he did them, but i think their just economy pads,(Bear in mind ive got drums on the rear, discs up front)

Ive heard some good things about Pagid (sp?) fast road pads and the like, are these worth getting? After nearlly locking up last night at abou1 in the morning im not very confident with the limit of these brakes lol

Post Tue Mar 22, 2005 12:51 pm

The brakes on my 318i or a bit poo aswell, so would be interesting to hear what people say.

Also the 318i (non ABS) models have solid front discs which is a bit of a pain becuse not many company's do decent ones.

Adam

Post Tue Mar 22, 2005 12:52 pm

325i front brakes

Post Tue Mar 22, 2005 1:17 pm

Jhonno wrote:325i front brakes

I did this on my 316 last week with some braided hoses. its one of the best mods ive done, the car will stop on a 10p piece now!

Just got the rear disk conversion to fit now

Post Tue Mar 22, 2005 1:19 pm

What parts did you use si? And is it easy to do? I wouldnt mind giving it a go if i can source some parts off a breaker sport

Post Tue Mar 22, 2005 1:28 pm

Ive just used some cheapo guttman disks and pads (about Ãƒ”šÃ‚£40 for the lot from ecp) and goodridge braided hoses from demon tweeks. The front callipers I got from another zoner a while back (cheers chris!). and some extra fluid for when bleeding them.

Im in no way a machanic but i managed to do it no problem so you should be fine. The only problem was bleeding the brakes afterwards and that was only because it can take ages.

When ive got abit of money when my engines finished im going to be putting on some good disks and padgid fast road pads so it should stop even better then.

If you have any trouble doin it mate just giz a shout. Simon (ex simon325isport) is breaking a sport at the mo so might be worth giving him a shout about the callipers.

Post Tue Mar 22, 2005 1:34 pm

Cheers si.

So the parts id need to look for then would be some calipers off of a 325sport?

And some disc's and pads and new hoses.

I basically know nothing about brakes, but wouldnt mind giving it a go if i could get the bits cheap.

Do you know of a writeup or guide to this sort of thing anywhere mate?

Cheers for the help

Post Tue Mar 22, 2005 1:36 pm

its a piece of piss

calipers off a 325i or 318iS

Unbolt the old calipers and brackets (2 allen key bolts, 10mm or there abouts iirc gonna be tight so might need an extension of sorts) bolt new ones on with shiney new discs and pads.. its that easy

Post Tue Mar 22, 2005 1:40 pm

you just need the callipers of any 325 mate. you dont need the hoses but since its all comming off anyway i thought it was best to upgrade them on there now instead of taking it all apart again.

I think I might do a writeup of how its done to stick on the main page on the zone. I dont know if theres one anywere else. If I havent got somethin done by the time you come to do it then just pm me or somethin mate with any questions.

Post Tue Mar 22, 2005 1:40 pm

Oh right, nice one. Im sure i could fit the new calipers on and discs wouldnt be a problem.Would i need to change the hoses? or could i use whats on there.

Be nice to try and do this soon if i can, ive got a lot of free time at the mo so....

Cheers for the help guys

Post Tue Mar 22, 2005 1:48 pm

you can use the hoses that are on there yes but give them a good check and make sure there not damaged.

Like I said I put braided on at the same time as I didnt fancy takin it all apart again

Post Tue Mar 22, 2005 2:02 pm

Looks like i'll be doing this aswell then

Cheers Adam

Post Tue Mar 22, 2005 10:20 pm

After nearlly locking up last night at abou1 in the morning im not very confident with the limit of these brakes lol

Just read the first post, if your locking up, then surely you don't have a problem with the power of the brakes!

At the mo i have solid 318i brakes, recently I changed front wheel from 14 bottle caps to 15 bbs, The 14s had crappy cheapo tyres where the 14s have avons on them....The difference in my confidence in the brakes is amazing.

It seams to me that E30 brakes vary enourmously, I myself don't actually find my set up that bad, infact I prefer it to my dads 2002 golf gti.

In terms of vented/solid this should in theory only come to make a difference when your are braking a lot, in order to disperce heat. However like adam said, the choice of discs are minimal.

I'm changing to a complete IS setup (brakes and suspension) so i'm going to be interested to see the difference!

Just remember tyre choice is soo important as well