B21
Lifer
The general feedback from most folks is that the stock brakes on the E89 are 'adequate'..that is no one complains about the brakes, certainly for everyday use..
However they are not the prettiest and if you start to push things harder then some of the limitations of the stock systems appear.
Of course twiddling with pads does have some effects, but there's no free lunch..pad design is a trade off between cost, wear rates, performance envelope and wear and tear on the discs.
One option for the 18i,20i and 23i is to swap the front discs and calipers from 300 x 24 mm to 330 mm x 20..rears are 300 mm by 20 mm for all non 35i/35is E89s.
You can even go to the 35is (35i in some markets) 348 mm x 30 front and 324 x20 mm rear as all brakes are fully interchange-able on the E89 range.
All these brakes are single sliding calipers...effective but not exactly sexy.
The E89 shares more or less the same front suspension as E90s..
A simple and cost effective brake kit is BMW's own 'Performance Brake' option, this is two 6 pot Brembos in a fetching gold colour with 338 by 26 mm discs ..retails in the UK for around £1,200..and its almost pure plug n play bar a brake pad sensor change..
https://www.schmiedmann.com/en/bmw-e90/1942080-new?product=SCM909133826BBK
This has been used by a few E89s owners with no reported issues.
In my case I went with a 330 mm BMW 28i/30i caliper / discs upgrade to my 20i following its jump to 300 BHP and then used the Performance Brake...
I later transferred this same brake system to my 35i after I started tuning it.
Although everything works fine I had this nagging issue as I approached 550 BHP about maybe revisiting this issue.
To get one thing out of the way, its close to impossible to upgrade the rear brake beyond the 324 mm x 20 mm rear from a 35is (Euro 35i)..only one recorded attempt was made and it was a major effort.
The electronic parking brake is the issue..very difficult to retain that function and upgrade the calipers /discs..
The only known solution is to usw PB company in Taiwan which starts at £2,400 plus VAT and import duties.
https://www.pbbrakes.com/bmw-z4-e89-09-up-rear-big-brake-kit.html?srsltid=AfmBOoqQ9wICtASvgiYWfnvN3bxpqg-38dYH9eCO0T5_AxJOU8Hoxn3E
So having covered the basics and groundwork attention then moves to other options.
There are no shortage of BBK kits for the E89 from various suppliers, prices start at around £2,000 for something that may be an improvement over BMW's own Performance Brake kit..and quickly gets into the £3k area.
With the F series BMW started offfering as both standard fit and as an option a range of brake options based on the Brembo/BMW 4 pot design that addorns many F and G series cars.
Normally blue colour with a distinct 2 obvious externally facing pistons and mounted vertically.
The key point is that these calipers can bolt on to E89 and E90s pretty easily as well as their sister brake rotors.
What’s not so clear is there are two versions of this caliper (excluding colour choices) and 3 sizes of disks..
So that’s a 340 mm caliper , a 370/380 mm caliper and 340mm/370/380 mm discs..
By default on F series its a 340mm caliper with 340 mm by 30 disc or a 370/380 caliper with a 370 mm by 30 mm disc.
If you have an M series car you would have the 370/380 caliper with a 380 mm by 30 mm disc (different offset from 370 mm disc)
If you have the M series you can have a carbon ceramic disc n pads instead of steel..but since the pads and discs retail for around £10k we will skip that one.
In addition various third parties have made adapter brackets to allow various options..
I have the much cheaper 340mm caliper (which is identical to the 370/380 caliper apart from mounting location) and some adapter plates that allow the M4 380 mm discs to be bolted on an E89…
I sourced the calipers from Autodoc..I used ABS whose business is refurbed parts and used Zimmerman 380 mm by 30mm two piece rotors with stock Textar pads.
The calipers came in bare metal as do BMW's OE parts as an option..so I've used a rattle can and sprayed them phoenix gold to match the rears..and the outgoing Performance Brake.
A few pictures to break this post up!
First pick is rear 35is brake pad vs new F series front pad..
However they are not the prettiest and if you start to push things harder then some of the limitations of the stock systems appear.
Of course twiddling with pads does have some effects, but there's no free lunch..pad design is a trade off between cost, wear rates, performance envelope and wear and tear on the discs.
One option for the 18i,20i and 23i is to swap the front discs and calipers from 300 x 24 mm to 330 mm x 20..rears are 300 mm by 20 mm for all non 35i/35is E89s.
You can even go to the 35is (35i in some markets) 348 mm x 30 front and 324 x20 mm rear as all brakes are fully interchange-able on the E89 range.
All these brakes are single sliding calipers...effective but not exactly sexy.
The E89 shares more or less the same front suspension as E90s..
A simple and cost effective brake kit is BMW's own 'Performance Brake' option, this is two 6 pot Brembos in a fetching gold colour with 338 by 26 mm discs ..retails in the UK for around £1,200..and its almost pure plug n play bar a brake pad sensor change..
https://www.schmiedmann.com/en/bmw-e90/1942080-new?product=SCM909133826BBK
This has been used by a few E89s owners with no reported issues.
In my case I went with a 330 mm BMW 28i/30i caliper / discs upgrade to my 20i following its jump to 300 BHP and then used the Performance Brake...
I later transferred this same brake system to my 35i after I started tuning it.
Although everything works fine I had this nagging issue as I approached 550 BHP about maybe revisiting this issue.
To get one thing out of the way, its close to impossible to upgrade the rear brake beyond the 324 mm x 20 mm rear from a 35is (Euro 35i)..only one recorded attempt was made and it was a major effort.
The electronic parking brake is the issue..very difficult to retain that function and upgrade the calipers /discs..
The only known solution is to usw PB company in Taiwan which starts at £2,400 plus VAT and import duties.
https://www.pbbrakes.com/bmw-z4-e89-09-up-rear-big-brake-kit.html?srsltid=AfmBOoqQ9wICtASvgiYWfnvN3bxpqg-38dYH9eCO0T5_AxJOU8Hoxn3E
So having covered the basics and groundwork attention then moves to other options.
There are no shortage of BBK kits for the E89 from various suppliers, prices start at around £2,000 for something that may be an improvement over BMW's own Performance Brake kit..and quickly gets into the £3k area.
With the F series BMW started offfering as both standard fit and as an option a range of brake options based on the Brembo/BMW 4 pot design that addorns many F and G series cars.
Normally blue colour with a distinct 2 obvious externally facing pistons and mounted vertically.
The key point is that these calipers can bolt on to E89 and E90s pretty easily as well as their sister brake rotors.
What’s not so clear is there are two versions of this caliper (excluding colour choices) and 3 sizes of disks..
So that’s a 340 mm caliper , a 370/380 mm caliper and 340mm/370/380 mm discs..
By default on F series its a 340mm caliper with 340 mm by 30 disc or a 370/380 caliper with a 370 mm by 30 mm disc.
If you have an M series car you would have the 370/380 caliper with a 380 mm by 30 mm disc (different offset from 370 mm disc)
If you have the M series you can have a carbon ceramic disc n pads instead of steel..but since the pads and discs retail for around £10k we will skip that one.
In addition various third parties have made adapter brackets to allow various options..
I have the much cheaper 340mm caliper (which is identical to the 370/380 caliper apart from mounting location) and some adapter plates that allow the M4 380 mm discs to be bolted on an E89…
I sourced the calipers from Autodoc..I used ABS whose business is refurbed parts and used Zimmerman 380 mm by 30mm two piece rotors with stock Textar pads.
The calipers came in bare metal as do BMW's OE parts as an option..so I've used a rattle can and sprayed them phoenix gold to match the rears..and the outgoing Performance Brake.
A few pictures to break this post up!
First pick is rear 35is brake pad vs new F series front pad..
