BMW Performance brakes on a 3.0si
- Thread starter StigJ
- Start date
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It's been done before, the kit is sold here:
http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E46-330i-M54_3.0L/Braking/Big_Brake_OEM/
note: the e46 330i front brakes are identical to the 3.0si. and this will change your brake bias so for looks/street it's fine. for performance/track, i personally would upgrade to better pads and fluid or save up for a properly tested kit.
http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E46-330i-M54_3.0L/Braking/Big_Brake_OEM/
note: the e46 330i front brakes are identical to the 3.0si. and this will change your brake bias so for looks/street it's fine. for performance/track, i personally would upgrade to better pads and fluid or save up for a properly tested kit.
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StigJ said:
The rears, no way to make it fit... well I take it back, anything can be done but it'd be really expensive and require custom fabricating (v3.0si outlined the difficulties with the rear in your other "post"). But even if you could, I wouldn't go with this kit. The E8x guys complain how they're getting fade with the stock kit and keep in mind they have even larger rotors than what we can fit with this caliper. So even if you could get front/rears to fit, you'd still be using the same sized rotors which defeats the purpose of a big brake kit.
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Mister_dj said:Dubbedown said:
Dubbedown, would this front kit and better pads/oil/brake lines at the rear not suffice? Quite like the 6 piston idea... as was never convinced with the stock braking system of the 3.0si.
My question to you is what aspect of the stock brakes do you find to be insufficient? On the street, you should not be experiencing any brake fade (and if you are then you're driving recklessly imo). With that said, if you find stopping power to be insufficient on street, that may be more a function of your tires.
To be honest, I'm not a fan of this kit. These calipers were meant to be used with the larger rotors on the 135i. Given this kit is paired with the same sized (smaller) rotors you're currently using, you're paying for expensive calipers that will ultimately mess with your brake bias and give you potentially worse stopping power. And trying to correct for this imbalance yourself would not be an exact science (nor something you should have to do after you spend $1200). ECS made this kit because they knew it'd appeal to enthusiasts, oem part that looks good but the performance benefits really aren't there. Now if they had brackets for the rear, while the rotors may still be small at least the kit would be more balanced...
If you want do a proper brake upgrade, and don't care for the bling aspect, I'd go with just lines/fluid/pads and look into stickier tires. Stoptech sells stainless lines for both front/rear. Motul RBF is a great brake fluid with high boiling pt. Pad wise you have plenty of options but PFC Z-rated gets really good feedback for a performance street pad with low dust. I know Hawk gets a good rep as well but I personally can't stand the squeal they make.
I don't have any break fade on the street, but have experienced brake fade on a trackday (where a friend driving at the same speed as I was in his Alfa GT 3.2, with stock 4pot brembos, had no issues at all), and generally just feel that the brakes don't bite as much I would like them to. They have done the job though, so I am only planning to replace them when they are worn, and even then I was thinking along the lines of what you said (lines/fluid/pads). But maybe when the time comes I will find this front kit difficult to resist 
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Mister_dj said:I don't have any break fade on the street, but have experienced brake fade on a trackday (where a friend driving at the same speed as I was in his Alfa GT 3.2, with stock 4pot brembos, had no issues at all), and generally just feel that the brakes don't bite as much I would like them to. They have done the job though, so I am only planning to replace them when they are worn, and even then I was thinking along the lines of what you said (lines/fluid/pads). But maybe when the time comes I will find this front kit difficult to resist
If you're doing performance driving on the track, MORE the reason to get a proper kit/upgrade and NOT this kit. Messing with bias has negative performance effects:
http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_brakebiasandperformance.shtml
I understand the logic of not wanting to replace the brakes prematurely but if you're handy, it might be worth having separate pads for track duty, and just swapping out before/after each event. If not, then at very least do a full brake flush with higher temp fluid. That should help with any fade issues for sure.