Simple brake cooling aid?
- Thread starter Argenta
- Start date
I think the only issue with that is that part of the stone guard's job is to actually shield the track rod end ball joint from the heat of the disk.
How important that is though I don't know.
eta, a quick google seems to suggest it is important to shield the ball joint.
http://www.300cforums.com/forums/uk-europe-regional-forum/97103-loose-broken-brake-disc-back-plate-advice-needed.html
further googling
"what most people don't realize is that brakes cool kind of like a turbine sucking the air in from the inside center of a rotor and exiting out the out side top of the rotor . removing the backing plate takes away from the ducting in coming air . if you look at all GT ,GTP, LMP , F1 and so on you will see they all have and use backing plates of some kind ."
How important that is though I don't know.
eta, a quick google seems to suggest it is important to shield the ball joint.
http://www.300cforums.com/forums/uk-europe-regional-forum/97103-loose-broken-brake-disc-back-plate-advice-needed.html
further googling
"what most people don't realize is that brakes cool kind of like a turbine sucking the air in from the inside center of a rotor and exiting out the out side top of the rotor . removing the backing plate takes away from the ducting in coming air . if you look at all GT ,GTP, LMP , F1 and so on you will see they all have and use backing plates of some kind ."
Agree - like lots of these diy mods that seem great on the surface but undermine what experts designed and built I into car
A
Anonymous
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Not sure about other models
But on the M we have the ducts for the brakes on front bumpers above fangs
I've cut out the rest of the sections available to cut to basically double the vent size going to brakes
But on the M we have the ducts for the brakes on front bumpers above fangs
I've cut out the rest of the sections available to cut to basically double the vent size going to brakes
Liverpool
I thought the consensus (I think Exdos explained it all) was that these are actually aero aids and not for brake cooling - although I did the same as you and removed the 1/2 blanking plate that was in there.D4dawg said:Not sure about other models
But on the M we have the ducts for the brakes on front bumpers above fangs
I've cut out the rest of the sections available to cut to basically double the vent size going to brakes
Because the OEM Z4M brake ducts are not the greatest in cooling the brakes I looked for something extra. I never had fading with the AP & Pagid set-up. But on some tracks the Pagid brake pads and AP disc were getting really hot. Sometimes I had a vibration steering wheels after some intensive hot laps (the brake pads get a little to hot and some pad material got stuck on the AP discs) . The extra cooling helps to address this problem… Even with my full AP racing kit the extra brake cooling had some really positive effect (on track)… At the picture you can see my extra cooling holes beside the original ones.
A
Anonymous
Guest
mmm-five said:I thought the consensus (I think Exdos explained it all) was that these are actually aero aids and not for brake cooling - although I did the same as you and removed the 1/2 blanking plate that was in there.D4dawg said:Not sure about other models
But on the M we have the ducts for the brakes on front bumpers above fangs
I've cut out the rest of the sections available to cut to basically double the vent size going to brakes
I agree with you totally buddy there not just there for cosmetic reasons
And if rotors backing sucks in air this can only be aided by more cold air coming into wheel arch
D4dawg said:mmm-five said:I thought the consensus (I think Exdos explained it all) was that these are actually aero aids and not for brake cooling - although I did the same as you and removed the 1/2 blanking plate that was in there.D4dawg said:Not sure about other models
But on the M we have the ducts for the brakes on front bumpers above fangs
I've cut out the rest of the sections available to cut to basically double the vent size going to brakes
I agree with you totally buddy there not just there for cosmetic reasons
And if rotors backing sucks in air this can only be aided by more cold air coming into wheel arch
You may well push more air into the wheel arch but you upset the aero configuration of the wheelarch and from there the entire side of the car. If you look a the lower edge of the wheel liner there are lips there too to reduce air entering the wheel arch.
You might just put more air onto the brakes and I would not be convinced, but certainly sacrifice a lot of other performance elements.
cj10jeeper said:D4dawg said:mmm-five said:
I agree with you totally buddy there not just there for cosmetic reasons
And if rotors backing sucks in air this can only be aided by more cold air coming into wheel arch
You may well push more air into the wheel arch but you upset the aero configuration of the wheelarch and from there the entire side of the car. If you look a the lower edge of the wheel liner there are lips there too to reduce air entering the wheel arch.
You might just put more air onto the brakes and I would not be convinced, but certainly sacrifice a lot of other performance elements.
Exactly, after thinking about it I left them in. It occurred to me that BMW would hardly restrict the airflow there on purpose to reduce the amount getting to the brakes. That wouldn't make much sense. I'm no aerodynamicist but it would make more sense to me that these restrictors actually speed up airflow into the wheel arch area thereby creating a low pressure area and causing more air to be drawn in from outside the wheel arch area?
A
Anonymous
Guest
Tbf I don't rag my car to that extent
But I could employ a skater to come along side and blow on them
But I could employ a skater to come along side and blow on them
Obviously I was thinking of removing bits of the shield - not the whole piece!
Coming from italian cars mainly, the shields has covered less - but with extra protection steel plate for the ball joint (Fiat Coupe).
There has never been any issues with water, pebble's etc.
Covering the full back of the brakes should certainly not help cooling anyway even if the cooling air goes in by the hub then out radially.
My bumper inlets are already fully opened (with removable blanking plates).
Coming from italian cars mainly, the shields has covered less - but with extra protection steel plate for the ball joint (Fiat Coupe).
There has never been any issues with water, pebble's etc.
Covering the full back of the brakes should certainly not help cooling anyway even if the cooling air goes in by the hub then out radially.
My bumper inlets are already fully opened (with removable blanking plates).
TomK said:
I know this thread is about M models but after reading this I've realised there's probably some learning in here for those of us with pre-facelift cars that are/looking to upgrade to 325mm 3.0si/330 brakes. I don't think any one generally changes the backplates for the larger Si/330 ones, perhaps we should be.
I wouldn't worry about that. I did this conversion and the existing backplates cover the entire disk. Avoids the need to strip off much more than the disks by keeping the originalsMACK said:
The ones on the zed are dust shields, have a look at them, no fancy aero design to be seen.
Have a look on a GT3 or similar to see what a proper brake cooling setup looks like.
I've removed them on previous cars for track work and it makes a noticeable difference to cooling. Clearly properly designed ducting and plates will be better though
Have a look on a GT3 or similar to see what a proper brake cooling setup looks like.
I've removed them on previous cars for track work and it makes a noticeable difference to cooling. Clearly properly designed ducting and plates will be better though