Strap in, it's a long one about an Alibaba BBK i bought, fitted and tested!
I posted this in the facebook Z4 Track Day Group but thought it might be of interest here.
Before I start, if these are of interest to you, please go in with eyes wide open. I was prepared for them not to work, and whilst they have been brilliant so far, I do not have any long-term test data or experience. You do this at your own risk, as I did.
Finally got around to gathering my thoughts together and a video on the new Alibaba brakes for the E46/Z4. The video is pretty detailed, as I wanted to document any issues with fitting or performance. I’d recommmed you watch it all if they are of interest to you so you know what to expect.
They’ve been on the car about a month now and I’ve managed to complete 160 miles on track with them at Donington.
This all started at Xmas when looking at where to take the brakes next. There are not many options for the Z4 when it comes to full BBK’s without spending mega money. I was considering a 330mm V-Maxx kit which is TUV approved and £1250. This was until I realised there are many suppliers of identical kits to the V-Maxx on Alibaba. I began speaking to a few suppliers and finally bit the bullet in December.
The kit is for an E46 3 series and uses a 2-piece 345mm curved vane disc with a copy of the CP9200 calliper produced by AP. It is a 4 piston caliper with a slightly smaller piston area than the stock Z4 3.0si caliper, which keeps the pedal nice and firm. It uses an AP shape pad that comes in many many flavours of race pad and isn’t too expensive.
To be honest, I bought the kit because it was so cheap with the intention of trying it to prove it was a load of rubbish. I’d seen a few YT videos on Aliexpress/Alibaba BBK’s but no one had used them on track in anger. My thought process was that if indeed it was crap, I at least had bells, discs and brackets which could be used with a real pair of CP9200 from AP. Thus creating a cheaper way for me to get into some AP’s
The kit took about 45 days to arrive from China and looked brilliant upon unboxing. The caliper is an exact copy in dimensions and amazingly weight. I took this to be a good sign of possibly using the same materials maybe? Overall it shaved 4.15kg per side off the front of the car.
Fitting required a tab to be removed from the mounting point on the car, the dust shield needed trimming and a pair of washers were needed to space the caliper away from the disc as is recommended by V-Maxx in their instructions. Also, intersstingly, AP recommend using shims/washers when fitting their kits if needs be. Due to this, the pads needed shaving down a mm or two to not overhang the disc.
Apart from that, fitting was fine. However, once bled, the bleed nipples all leaked! A pal of mine realised that AP bleed nipples use an o-ring on them, which was missing from the ones supplied. Once fitted with the correct bleed nipples, there were no more leaks. Due to the leaks, I fully stripped both calipers, cleaned, inspected them and rebuilt them based on the thoughts of, if they got the bleed nipples wrong, could they have missed an internal seal etc. Everything looked good and went back together perfectly.
I upgraded the pad to EBC SR11 using the Z4 Track group discount code as the pads that came with it didn’t feel great, and went to Donington. I’d not quite nipped the banjo bolt up enough but once that was tightened the brakes were frankly brilliant! Super sharp pedal, fantastic stopping power, zero fade, zero judder and the confidence that they were going to work time and time again. Each passenger commented on how good they felt and I had great feedback from Dan who drove my car too. I do have brake cooling on the car with air taken from the front bumper. We saw disc temps of over 300 degrees once back in the pits following a full cool down lap and caliper temps of c150 degrees. On the road in day to day driving the pedal is hte sdharpest it has ever been and feels incredible. Right up there with te AP 6 pot kit and race pads I had on my M3.
I’m honestly amazed at how good they are, especially given how little they cost.
Would I recommend them? Absolutely, but people need to be aware that they do require some fettling to make them work. Personally, I think the fettling is worth it. Plus, I don't have any long term data/experience around how they'll hold up/fair in the English weather so please bear that in mind.
I’ll be keeping a close eye on them over the coming months to make sure they keep performing.
So, on to the cost……….
The full big brake kit was £340 delivered! Plus then £15 for bleed nipples and £160 for pads. I believe, due to Trump and the rise in oil and therefore shipping costs, it is a little more now at $500 per kit. Replacement rotors are $250 a set or I’m sure I could get some made in the UK if needs be.
All in all, I’m really happy with the kit, pedal feel and performance.
