I recently fitted some K-Sport brakes to my Z4MR and I promised some members to post a seperate thread about it so here goes.
I don't intend this to be a step by step approach to removing the old and fitting the new brakes as there are many online guides around that cover this, have a search, instead I wanted to concentrate on the problem areas I came across and how I solved them.
So why did I bother? Well, my original brakes weren't working great. The car is 6 six years old now. Braking wasn't a pleasant experience with some judder, mainly due I think to a sticking left front caliper. When they were hot, the brakes squealed like a bitch, sending neighbours and animals to run for cover.
It looked like some yellow stuff pads had been fitted up front with oem pads at the rear. The front rotors looked badly worn, the rears looked ok. So I was looking at new front rotors, refurbing the calipers, new pads and I would also replace fluid and flexible brake lines. When I added up the cost of this, it was a sizeable chunk of money. I decided to put it towards a BBK.
I decided to try and go with K-Sports as there have been very good reports of these in this forum and others.
Ordering
The main K-Sport UK site is http://www.ksport.co.uk
The guys at Apex Performance is the company sitting behind this. If you look on the website you will see that there is a front set listed for the Z4M but no rear set. We decided that the E46 M3 kit should fit but I asked that if it didn't, I could return the total kit which was agreed.
So the order was:
Front 8-pot 356mm Rotor
Rear 4-pot 330mm Rotor
Keeping as close to the existing rotor sizes as possible.
I decided to go just with the K-Sport street pads, and at the moment, I am glad I did
By the time I paid for expedited shipping it came to around £2,400.
It came packed well in four big boxes. Two boxes for the rotors and two had the other parts, calipers etc. You get a brief guide to help you fit it that was good enough for me.
Tools
Removing the old and fitting the new brakes is a fairly simple process if done with care. The problem I had is that although I have a garage with a pit, it seems to be made for something the size of Noddy's car so I would have to do the work outside on my drive. The weather of the last six weeks has been so bad you can imagine what a pain this has been.
Assuming you already have some good socket sets, hex also, hydraulic jacks and stands, addtional bits that can make the job easy are listed here.
Power bleeder - Sealey VS820
http://www.sealey.co.uk/PLPageBuilder.asp?id=20&method=mViewProduct&productid=9320
Accurate Low end torque wrench for bleed nipples and banjo bolts
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_178843_langId_-1_categoryId_165469
High end torque wrench, wheel nuts and big bolts. I had an old one that had seen better days so bought one in Lidls for £16.99
Lug bolt guide
http://www.reverselogic.us/ReverseLogicLimited/Lug_Bolt_Guides.html
Anti sieze grease
http://www.carlube.co.uk/index.cfm?product=121&product_title=Carlube Anti-Seize Grease
Brake Cleaner (1 can per axle should do)
http://www.holtsauto.com/products/print_view/repair-and-maintenance/professional/holts-brake-cleaner
Prize for the most useless tool goes to the Draper brake clamp. The existing BMW rubber hoses are just too tough so don't bother with it.
Rotary tool like a Dremel for cutting the dust shields
Some large washers to put between lug bolts and new rotor.
Some pairs of rubber gloves to protect you from the brake fluid.
I chose to use ATE Super Blue as my replacement fluid as I wanted to flush the system through and see when it was coming out.
Rear Brakes
I will refer to the diagrams on Realoem
http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=BT92&mospid=49344&btnr=34_1285&hg=34&fg=10
http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=BT92&mospid=49344&btnr=34_1424&hg=34&fg=12
http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=BT92&mospid=49344&btnr=34_1500&hg=34&fg=17
The existing rotor and caliper came off very easily. I removed the two large bolts (3 in the caliper diag) holding each rear caliper on. Because the rotor had little or no lip, I just slid the rotor off then supported it. I had no problems with the small hex bolts that hold the rotor on being siezed but I had given all bolts a spray with WD40 the night before. A slight tap with the rubber mallet and off came the rotor.
To fit the mechanics of the new brakes you have the caliper bracket, rotor and caliper to put on in that order. Give the existing hub a good clean first. I used a drill with wire brush attachment. You must get off any crap so the new rotor sits on the hub nicely.
You will need to cut the existing dust shield with the rotary tool so the new caliper and bracket will fit.
Test fit everything, put a few lug bolts in and tighten up a little as per instructions, and have a look to see if the caliper is sitting across the centre of the rotor. It shouldn't be far off. Measure the caliper to rotor surface distance inside the caliper and compare it with what your eyes are telling you. To adjust you can put up to 2 extra washers between the old caliper mount and new caliper mounting bracket. Of the four wheels, I fitted one washer for three of the four corners. Rotate the rotor and see how well its tracking.
Follow the instructions for torquing all the bolts up, then fit the brake pads. I put a small smear of copper grease at every point where metal touched metal, the rear and sides of the pad and the anti-rattle clip. Be careful not to get any on the pad surface.
So now it should look like this.
Now, problems
Above you can see the rear caliper and brake line
Above, a selection of hoses, small original caliper to intermediate bracket hose shown.
The flexible brake lines provided will just not work at all. They are the wrong length and will not fit into the bulkhead to mate with the metal brake line.
Spoke to Kev Duckworth at Apex Performance and he asked for Hel to make some up to my spec free of charge and send them to me. Having a measure with some string I asked for 740mm total length and sent a picture of the existing hose bulkhead end. These were the right length and fitted fine. Probably could have got away with 720mm I think. Its hard to estimate with the banjo fitting.
As you can see from the picture of the old caliper and hoses, there is a bracket in the middle. It is supported twice in its journey from bulkhead to the caliper, once by a plastic clip and also by the metal bracket. I bought some of 6mm rubber lines brake P clip supports off e-bay like this
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/P-CLIPS-B...icle_Parts_Accessories_ET&hash=item5649007ce6
To support my new brake line, I took the rubber out of one P clip and used it in the existing plastic cable clip then used one P clip underneath where the old metal bracket used to be. I think it works pretty well.
Pics of new cable path below
The new brake pads dont have a place for the pad sensor to slot into so I just tied these back out of the way with cable ties.
Now I was able to bleed the rear brakes and drive the car.
Stay tuned for fun with the fronts!
I don't intend this to be a step by step approach to removing the old and fitting the new brakes as there are many online guides around that cover this, have a search, instead I wanted to concentrate on the problem areas I came across and how I solved them.
So why did I bother? Well, my original brakes weren't working great. The car is 6 six years old now. Braking wasn't a pleasant experience with some judder, mainly due I think to a sticking left front caliper. When they were hot, the brakes squealed like a bitch, sending neighbours and animals to run for cover.
It looked like some yellow stuff pads had been fitted up front with oem pads at the rear. The front rotors looked badly worn, the rears looked ok. So I was looking at new front rotors, refurbing the calipers, new pads and I would also replace fluid and flexible brake lines. When I added up the cost of this, it was a sizeable chunk of money. I decided to put it towards a BBK.
I decided to try and go with K-Sports as there have been very good reports of these in this forum and others.
Ordering
The main K-Sport UK site is http://www.ksport.co.uk
The guys at Apex Performance is the company sitting behind this. If you look on the website you will see that there is a front set listed for the Z4M but no rear set. We decided that the E46 M3 kit should fit but I asked that if it didn't, I could return the total kit which was agreed.
So the order was:
Front 8-pot 356mm Rotor
Rear 4-pot 330mm Rotor
Keeping as close to the existing rotor sizes as possible.
I decided to go just with the K-Sport street pads, and at the moment, I am glad I did
By the time I paid for expedited shipping it came to around £2,400.
It came packed well in four big boxes. Two boxes for the rotors and two had the other parts, calipers etc. You get a brief guide to help you fit it that was good enough for me.
Tools
Removing the old and fitting the new brakes is a fairly simple process if done with care. The problem I had is that although I have a garage with a pit, it seems to be made for something the size of Noddy's car so I would have to do the work outside on my drive. The weather of the last six weeks has been so bad you can imagine what a pain this has been.
Assuming you already have some good socket sets, hex also, hydraulic jacks and stands, addtional bits that can make the job easy are listed here.
Power bleeder - Sealey VS820
http://www.sealey.co.uk/PLPageBuilder.asp?id=20&method=mViewProduct&productid=9320
Accurate Low end torque wrench for bleed nipples and banjo bolts
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_178843_langId_-1_categoryId_165469
High end torque wrench, wheel nuts and big bolts. I had an old one that had seen better days so bought one in Lidls for £16.99
Lug bolt guide
http://www.reverselogic.us/ReverseLogicLimited/Lug_Bolt_Guides.html
Anti sieze grease
http://www.carlube.co.uk/index.cfm?product=121&product_title=Carlube Anti-Seize Grease
Brake Cleaner (1 can per axle should do)
http://www.holtsauto.com/products/print_view/repair-and-maintenance/professional/holts-brake-cleaner
Prize for the most useless tool goes to the Draper brake clamp. The existing BMW rubber hoses are just too tough so don't bother with it.
Rotary tool like a Dremel for cutting the dust shields
Some large washers to put between lug bolts and new rotor.
Some pairs of rubber gloves to protect you from the brake fluid.
I chose to use ATE Super Blue as my replacement fluid as I wanted to flush the system through and see when it was coming out.
Rear Brakes
I will refer to the diagrams on Realoem
http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=BT92&mospid=49344&btnr=34_1285&hg=34&fg=10
http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=BT92&mospid=49344&btnr=34_1424&hg=34&fg=12
http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=BT92&mospid=49344&btnr=34_1500&hg=34&fg=17
The existing rotor and caliper came off very easily. I removed the two large bolts (3 in the caliper diag) holding each rear caliper on. Because the rotor had little or no lip, I just slid the rotor off then supported it. I had no problems with the small hex bolts that hold the rotor on being siezed but I had given all bolts a spray with WD40 the night before. A slight tap with the rubber mallet and off came the rotor.
To fit the mechanics of the new brakes you have the caliper bracket, rotor and caliper to put on in that order. Give the existing hub a good clean first. I used a drill with wire brush attachment. You must get off any crap so the new rotor sits on the hub nicely.
You will need to cut the existing dust shield with the rotary tool so the new caliper and bracket will fit.
Test fit everything, put a few lug bolts in and tighten up a little as per instructions, and have a look to see if the caliper is sitting across the centre of the rotor. It shouldn't be far off. Measure the caliper to rotor surface distance inside the caliper and compare it with what your eyes are telling you. To adjust you can put up to 2 extra washers between the old caliper mount and new caliper mounting bracket. Of the four wheels, I fitted one washer for three of the four corners. Rotate the rotor and see how well its tracking.
Follow the instructions for torquing all the bolts up, then fit the brake pads. I put a small smear of copper grease at every point where metal touched metal, the rear and sides of the pad and the anti-rattle clip. Be careful not to get any on the pad surface.
So now it should look like this.
Now, problems
Above you can see the rear caliper and brake line
Above, a selection of hoses, small original caliper to intermediate bracket hose shown.
The flexible brake lines provided will just not work at all. They are the wrong length and will not fit into the bulkhead to mate with the metal brake line.
Spoke to Kev Duckworth at Apex Performance and he asked for Hel to make some up to my spec free of charge and send them to me. Having a measure with some string I asked for 740mm total length and sent a picture of the existing hose bulkhead end. These were the right length and fitted fine. Probably could have got away with 720mm I think. Its hard to estimate with the banjo fitting.
As you can see from the picture of the old caliper and hoses, there is a bracket in the middle. It is supported twice in its journey from bulkhead to the caliper, once by a plastic clip and also by the metal bracket. I bought some of 6mm rubber lines brake P clip supports off e-bay like this
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/P-CLIPS-B...icle_Parts_Accessories_ET&hash=item5649007ce6
To support my new brake line, I took the rubber out of one P clip and used it in the existing plastic cable clip then used one P clip underneath where the old metal bracket used to be. I think it works pretty well.
Pics of new cable path below
The new brake pads dont have a place for the pad sensor to slot into so I just tied these back out of the way with cable ties.
Now I was able to bleed the rear brakes and drive the car.
Stay tuned for fun with the fronts!
