K-Sport 8 pot BBK

AndyBeech

AndyBeech

Senior member
 Wiltshire
Looking around at potential BBK options for the M as a possible winter upgrade and weighing up costs with what's available.

Pretty much (for me) comes down to the AP kit and K-Sport (356mm), one is obviously the benchmark while the other seems to offer braking performance that's almost up there at nearly half the cost. (Could be wrong about that but its the impression I get from a bit of research). I guess the build quality between the two isn't going to be the same but probably not a million miles off either.

So I've seen lots on the AP kit, but has anyone got any recent experience with the K-Sport kit on our cars? Only seen one thread from quite some time back. Would be good to get some opinions on them!

I know there's others available like Alcon, Stoptech etc. but at their price points would probably just go for AP's.

So is the K-Sport kit a genuine bargain as BBK's go or is it a false economy?

Likely only looking at fronts and keeping the OEM rears.
 
You're looking for street use or a dedicated track setup?
For street use, get a kit that has external dust seals or your calipers/seals won't have a long life
 
GuidoK said:
You're looking for street use or a dedicated track setup?
For street use, get a kit that has external dust seals or your calipers/seals won't have a long life
Click to expand...

Would be half and half. Car goes off the road for winter months so about 7 months use a year. Around 6-7 trackdays a year at an estimate. I did read about the dust seals but also read its not too much of a problem and a lot of BBK kits are the same. No idea what the below means :lol: but sounds reasonable!

K-Sport brake calipers have forged aluminum brake pistons with a Hardcoat coating. Other manufacturers use steel piston, this rust then with the aluminum caliper together trought humidity. Steel and aluminum do not get along, since a local cell develops (electrochemistry) and the base metal is oxidized. The material mating, the Eloxal of the calipers and the Hardcoat coating of the forging pistons prevent a fixed rusting. Further the pistons of other manufacturers are equipped with only one sealing ring, these seal the brake fluid outward. The K-Sport forging brake pistons are equipped with two seals. The internal sealing ring serves the brake fluid (the system keeps close) for sealing, the outside sealing ring prevents the penetration and a determining of dirt.
This building method is most innovative and compact. Conventional dust shield seals are useless with K-Sport brake calipers.
 
AndyBeech said:
the outside sealing ring prevents the penetration and a determining of dirt.
Click to expand...

That is an external dust seal.

You could also take a look at D2 brakes. They are pretty nice. I know a few who have them.
http://www.d2brakekits.co.uk/
 
I don't have experience with either of those (i've got a Stoptech front/rear BBK on mine) but as long as the K-Sports have a good selection of pads available then I guess you should be OK with those. Best of luck with whatever choice you make!
 
Buy AP,

Had them fitted to my e46 m3 track car, they must of done 60 plus trackdays with upto hour sessions with no issues at all. wouldn't hesitate to buy them again.
 
bradz said:
Buy AP,

Had them fitted to my e46 m3 track car, they must of done 60 plus trackdays with upto hour sessions with no issues at all. wouldn't hesitate to buy them again.
Click to expand...
But what would you but if you only had 50% of the budget :poke:

If money were no object, I'd have custom-made Alcons with carbon discs :thumbsup:
 
I’m pretty sure Neil who hosts the Shepshed Zedfest has K sport on his supercharged 3.0 Si, might be worth giving him a Pm Andy.
 
GuidoK said:
You could also take a look at D2 brakes. They are pretty nice. I know a few who have them.
http://www.d2brakekits.co.uk/
Click to expand...

I don't remember if was D2, but it was a very similar "chinese" BBK kit with good site configurator at the time (like 2010/2012), and varius caliper size (4/6/8 pot).
This kit was used in Italy in the time attack chiampionship on a 350Z with really good performance and reliability :wink:

but, k sport are monobloc calipers??
 
Cheers for the all the opinions, I can’t justify splashing out on AP’s right now to be honest so I’ve gone against the flow a bit and giving the K Sports a try. At just over £1000 with a Black Friday deal, they should offer decent value. Black Friday always seems to be quite a good happy hunting ground for performance parts, got some bargains last year as well so worth keeping an eye out in future for anyone on the hunt around that time. Got some Ground Control camber plates as well for a healthy discount.

Will be fitting them in the new year and will report back after I’ve done a few sessions with them. They certainly look the part though, although not a massive fan of the K Sport logo but can’t win them all! Went for a maybe slightly boring black but I'm not convinced red looks that great against blue having had the standard calipers painted that colour for a while so played it safe!

Will be using them with some Pagid RSL-29 pads front and rear (though keeping standard rear calipers for now). Having grooved front discs and the standard rear drilled discs is going to do my OCD no favours though :cry:

And yes they are monoblock Frentz

78F2313B-9DF9-47CE-AC81-1C636D1E6C9C.jpeg9FAD8889-5075-426D-8B9C-3284F748BA60.jpeg
 
AndyBeech said:
Got some Ground Control camber plates as well for a healthy discount.
Click to expand...
When you set them up, make sure you increase the caster rather than the camber. This increases dynamic camber and gives better self-centring steering. :thumbsup:
 
Taiwan has come a long way as far as car stuff are concern. Many branded rims are Oem there.
A friend did mentioned to me even Brembo too have some of the stuff Oem there as well.
 
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