why doea the BMW brakes feel so good?

[bassit]

Hi our family own a 95 320i E36 and a 1999 Wrx Sti (2 door)

The 320i brakes are Stock. My sti has stock subaru 4 pot calipers front with slotted rotors. Rears are ventalated. (note these are not the brembos they came out in the model 01 and later). I also got a Master cylinder stopper bracket.


I love the feeling of the BMW brakes. I think they are alot more sensitve and i think they bite alot harder. I havent actually tested if they in fact stop faster though.

Why is it that the 320 feels so much better? I want my sti brakes to feel the same.

do you think it has to do with the brake pads? what are OEM brake pads?


cheers :)

[Def]

Most non-M BMW brakes are way overboosted. Meaning that for a very small pressure on the brake pedal, you get alot more force on the brake pads. This is usually done to appease the soccer moms and old folks who think that more than resting your foot on the brakes means you have "bad brakes." Overboosted brakes tend to not give more braking force when really stomping on them, since they have already given all they can very early in the pedal stroke.

My E36 M3 requires a good deal of pedal pressure to stop, but the more you squeeze, the more braking force you have. When you really push the car on a track, this modulation really helps and allows you to treat the brakes as an analog device, rather than an on-off switch.

So in short, just squeeze 'em harder. STi's have great brakes(even pre-Brembo monsters), so give 'em hell - they were meant to be treated that way.

[Fraser]

I agree, even my tiny little hatchback brakes feel great until you overheat the crap out of them... Definitely designed with lots of power without lots of pedal effort.

BTW, BAD-ASS STi!! :buttrock It is an absolute shame that the best car we got in that body style was the 2.5 rs... Soooo much better looking than the later styles.

[bassit]

thanks guys for the info... once i get my Gtech Competition Pro ... i'll test out whether my Sti stops better than the 320is.

Have you driven the Current VW gof? those brakes are the most sensitive brakes i've ever used, much more than the 320.

p.s i love the current Sti's MY04 model looks wise and features such as Brembo brakes, Intercooler spray, shift light, six speed box (non has been broken on the street), very rigid chasis.

oh and a 2.5l engine hmmmmmm :D

[99bmw740il]

What ever you do dont put rotex kev's on. They turned my bmw brakes into ford f150 brakes!!! BMW OEM is so nice and soft, but damn dirty.

[Dnz]

Overheated brakes sucks, especially on lots of curvy downhill driving.. They wont grip.. and youre left jamming your foot down to get a response.. its pretty scary shit haha

[onrailsm3]

Originally posted by Dnz
Overheated brakes sucks, especially on lots of curvy downhill driving.. They wont grip.. and youre left jamming your foot down to get a response.. its pretty scary shit haha

Brake fade can be combatted by braking firmly in a short duration as opposed to dragging the brakes. Brake late, brake hard and brake for as little time as possible. It should help.

[Dnz]

Excellent. I shall do that next time. CHeers!

[Daved]

The brakes on my 325 work exactly like the M3 brakes Def described. Aren't all the BMW brakes supposed to work this way?

[MrBlah]

bmw has just had more practice with brakes, when everybody else was using drums, they used disks, even back in the late 60's!

[stjobs]

BMW brakes are great until they fade. I think that if you tracked them your STi would continue to stop, fade free, while the BMW was plowing and not slowing down due to fade. BMW's pad compound has a lot of initial bite and is fairly soft- it does feel good, but they dust like mad. Also, they will fade. I have even had it happen in an auto-x situation. Considering upgrades to fix that.