My AP racing kit is fitted.... NOT happy :( => NOW happy :)
- Thread starter Franzino
- Start date
ChawenHalo said:
Last week my car was on a bridge an I took some pictures of the AP calipers to check if the numbers are indeed correct. On the rear there are no numbers. On the front I found these numbers on the back of the calipers (CP 5270-101C)
Can anyone confirm these are the correct numbers for the Z4M? On the AP racing site is says the following for the Z4M. Front: CP 5575-1010BK.G8 / Rear: CP 5144-1004.G8
Indeed! That is what worries me... I was thinking the number would be on the caliper. On my boxes in were the AP calipers and rotors are delivered the numbers are exactly the same as on the AP website. On the box it says the fronts are Z4M and the rears are e46 M3 (which is how it's suppose to be).Beedub said:
This is great news that you think they are rubber hoses...Beedub said:
Why? Braided hoses are not allowed for MOT in my country. So we got some braided steel hoses that look like rubber ones and fitted those. To make the calipers stand out less, the yellow AP logo is now black and this makes everything look more OEM.Franzino said:This is great news that you think they are rubber hoses...Beedub said:
arhh thats very cool ;-) rubber coated braided units!! awesome!!
Beedub said:Franzino said:This is great news that you think they are rubber hoses...Beedub said:
arhh thats very cool ;-) rubber coated braided units!! awesome!!
Mine are also rubber coated braided ones both the Goodridge ones i had before and the Stoptech ones i have now, it's just that the rubber outside is translucent. Aren't yours like that Beedub?
ga41 said:Beedub said:Franzino said:This is great news that you think they are rubber hoses...
arhh thats very cool ;-) rubber coated braided units!! awesome!!
Mine are also rubber coated braided ones both the Goodridge ones i had before and the Stoptech ones i have now, it's just that the rubber outside is translucent. Aren't yours like that Beedub?
Yeah I guess they are, mine are just see through.... Never seen black ones however, they look oem. Very stealth.
Last month; I have changed my Pagid RS4-2 brake pads (all round) into Pagid RS14 (front) and RS4-4 (rear). Why the different set-up front and rear? You can find the reason in another topic. http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=41152Franzino said:The brakes performed absolutely great, never had any fading and always the same stopping power. I could brake the same as a race prepared Mini and brake later then a 996 Porsche GT3 (or maybe I had less fear of doing so). After the last track day...it hit me and I thought damn these brakes are great and I can brake really late. Strangely; they now brake even better then they did before the track days. I have more initial bite then I had before the track days. For the moment the brakes squeal a little less then before, but they still squeal with normal road use (could some copper grease on the back of the Pagid pads make this better?). If this would stop or be a little less then the brakes would be awesome instead of fantastic
The new brake pads are now a couple of weeks on my car. Since that time I did the Pagid bedding in procedure, a week of normal slow street driving and 3 trip's to the Nurburgring. The brakes are now awesome..! I use to think my AP set-up was great....now I think the complete AP set-up is really awesome! With changing the brake pads I now have everything on the 100% "I like" level. Everything I wanted more about the AP brakes is now there. I have an increase in initial bite (on street and track), a little more braking power, higher working temperatures on track (650°C => 800°C), slightly better modulation and less ABS interference!
At this moment the new brake pads are not silent anymore
. They were silent before the bedding in, after the bedding in, on the street, on the track…… I was filled with joy and it was to good to be true! But one day after the Nurburgring trip, they started to make the same squealing noise as the blue ones did. I have let my shop file of the edges (advised by Pagid) and put a really small amount of copper grease on the back of the pad where the pistond thouch the pads (did the same thing with my previous set of blue ones). I was worried that the RS-14 would not brake well when being cold on the street, but this is not the case...Because stock brakes can only take so much heat. The major point of a big brake kit is more thermal capacity. More stamina. In certain cases the different pad size offers more aftermarket pad compound options than stock as well.
I'd done all the peripheral braking upgrades, expensive fluid, stainless steel brake lines, different pads (OK, they weren't track pads but still they handled heat more than stock) and i still got a soft pedal after a single track session. With the big brake kit I can do the whole day without the pedal feeling soft or mushy at all. And that's with worse fluid than i had before. Sure the brake pedal is a bit easier to modulate and "feels" nicer as well but the major reason i bought them is because i simply wanted one less thing to be worried of when tracking it and the BBK gave me that.
I'd done all the peripheral braking upgrades, expensive fluid, stainless steel brake lines, different pads (OK, they weren't track pads but still they handled heat more than stock) and i still got a soft pedal after a single track session. With the big brake kit I can do the whole day without the pedal feeling soft or mushy at all. And that's with worse fluid than i had before. Sure the brake pedal is a bit easier to modulate and "feels" nicer as well but the major reason i bought them is because i simply wanted one less thing to be worried of when tracking it and the BBK gave me that.
BMW does makes brakes that work on there cars....if you stay on the street! On a track it's a totally different story and the OEM BMW M brakes are not up to the job (even on a purpose build car like a M3 CSL= same set up Z4M). Remember; there are only a small amount of M owners who drive their cars on a track; so why would BMW put more expensive brakes on their cars? From a commercial view there is no point for BMW. It will only make the cars more expensive and not everyone needs brakes that also work on track. It's true; other brake pads and high temperature brake oil will improve the standard OEM brakes. But a BBK is another cup of tea and brings the braking to a higher level (no fading, brake balance, better modulation, etc). It all depends how much you are willing to spend and how much trackdays you do. In my case; I do at least 1 trip to the ring a month (+ additional trackdays). IMO the investment in a BBK is only worth if your car sees a lot of track...TINO said:
100% correct! Exactly the reasons why I fitted them also... What pads are you using these days on your BBK?ga41 said:
TINO said:
why did i change....... how about 200hp+ more than stock......... i cant realistically expect the stock items to live with that...... the APs take the extra power easily.. infact the car feels over-braked imo..... i recon a 4pot front and a 2 pot rear is more than enough
Anybody that really uses the car regularly on the track will know why some of us decide to swap these out....