Brake Kit - Advice

[jonneh]

is to keep the correct break bias, (about 61 /39 I believe) .

brake bias is something to definatly get right!!! after swaping compnents between 1.4 and 1.6 without looking hard enought into the differences i ended up with what felt like 10/90. not fun at all when the ass wants to over take the front everytime you brake.

 

[eidolon]

So i disagree that you are understanding both sides of the argument here.

I'm not surprised as you generally only post here to disagree with someone. I can't remember the last time you posted something useful, you normally only post to belittle another forum member.

As an owner of some "monster brakes" I do have some experience of them. I have sensible road pads in them and find them to be a fantastic upgrade for all types of road driving. In the past I've tried all sorts of uprated pads and different types of drilled/vented disks, all of which have had some sort of compromise. My 4 pots don't have any compromise, they're superb from cold, superb when hot, superb from high speeds, superb at low speeds. DreXeL had similar brakes, as does Stonedofmoo and they also highly recommend them.

Steve obviously has the money to spend and wants a brake upgrade, he just wants our opinions (preferably based on owners experience, not something heard from a mate or read in a book) and isn't asking us to analyse his finances. Now I'm well aware that BMW spend large amounts of money on developing their brakes but that's not to say they can't be bettered, AP Racing and Brembo seem to know what they're doing with respect to brakes so I'd hazard a guess that Steve would be in safe hands.

 

[Trojan]

Lets be honest, since when did BMW M models lack solid engineering fundamentals as a whole package.

Brake fade has always been an issue with the M sport models. From what I've read, a couple of hard laps in a standard M3 is more than enough to wilt the brakes.

 

[TomO]

was about to say.

M models are generally regarded as having sub-standard brakes compared to the rest of the package.

the M5 front calipers are single pots! and will also get cooked after a few hot laps.

 

[merlin]

Best Motoring haven't reported brake fade with their M3 CSL adventures.

Mind you - that's probably got uprated brakes I guess?

 

[Serj]

the M5 front calipers are single pots! and will also get cooked after a few hot laps.

Really?

 

[Bear]

Best Motoring haven't reported brake fade with their M3 CSL adventures.

Mind you - that's probably got uprated brakes I guess?

The M3 CSL that came to the last RR day (TaxEvaders ??) had a big old set of APs on, I remember as I was eyeing them up

 

[Tax Evader]

Best Motoring haven't reported brake fade with their M3 CSL adventures.

Mind you - that's probably got uprated brakes I guess?

The standard ones do suffer bad fade - not so much on the road, unless you're being a bit too naughty - but on track they're absolutely hopeless. On the road they stop you very well. Standard brakes will bring the car to stop from 70mph in 34m. That's very good. It's only consistent performance that's the issue.

To tackle the fade on track, uprated pads (eg, Pagid RS19), hoses and fluid help a lot, but the standard pathetic caliper still flexes lots. For absolute consistency I put the AP Racing 6 Pot + 356mm 8G discs on for the perfect setup. Absolutely no fade on track lap after lap after lap, and very good feel.

The setup overwhelms standard road rubber, but with a set of 'slick' Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tyres it breaks your liver

 

[Stonedofmoo]

If you race your car around the track or 'fast road' you will find yourself able to do a much faster lap with good uprated brakes than if you invested that money in clawing a few more bhp from the engine.

The standard brakes on the Pulsar are fine for general road use. Use them hard in a row though and they fade away badly. My larger replacement brakes are very confidence inspiring on the track and on the road and that counts for a lot.

You dont have to spend a fortune. I got my 4pot/300mm setup for £420 second hand, really worth looking around.

 

[Simon]

£1500 is a lot of money for brakes, they are the regarded as the best though I guess.

My brakes cost me about £500 all in as I got the bits required seperately, should pay for itself over time though as pads are only £30-40 a set and disks £49 each. I know some Brake kits have silly prices for replacements (eg £200 a disk! )

 

[DreXeL]

I paid a good price for my Brembo GTs, £740 all-in thanks to a group buy.

 

[Lopéz]

I've recently found that 1.9 calipers fit onto 1.6 hubs and are of a different design so that you don't get the juddering associated with 1.6 calipers. Brake upgrade complete!

In the future if I were to upgrade then I'd probably go for a Wilwood kit with the Dynalite calipers - easy to change the pads, cheap discs, cheap pads.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

I'm not surprised as you generally only post here to disagree with someone. I can't remember the last time you posted something useful, you normally only post to belittle another forum member.
.

Belittle? I was just giving my advice, didnt realise you had a monopoly on it

I just have a little less time than id like to use forums for socialising, so just stick to the techy side where theres an obvious bias and with my succient posting style im not suprised people get a bit narky when i actually post USEFUL info.

Unless you count driving round on the road with race car brakes as useful i suggest you take a look at the contribution you have made and how it compares to mind

You've proved my point anyway, you DON'T have ALCONS or AP's and find them perfectly adequate and therefore spending £1500 on AP's for the road is OTT aswell as having higher servicing costs. Thank you.

I asked a simple question to start with anyway to put the question into context, uprated brakes are all about heat management, not breaking torque and getting anal about tyres as you still being able to lock the wheels with std setups. I was hoping this would put the braking issue into context for a lot of forum users.

I have 4 pots too, but i selected a 75F-900F temp range pad for this, something no one here has mentioned yet. Simply sticking with the bigger is better ideology which as pointed out in the many 'unuseful posts' is generally not true.