Replacement Brakes, performance options

[catimann]

Aftermarket or performance replacements.
What are people happy with?
Actually found some great info in the FAQ "CHECK THIS THREAD BEFORE POSTING: The Ultimate Thread For FAQs"

and in this section Are M3 front BRAKES WORTH THE SWAP?

Lastly the PO had TEXTAR pads. I have never seen pads that would leave as much dust behind. I'd wash the car and drive 10 miles and have very noticeable black dust on the fronts.

[FiberFast]

I looked through 8 pages of “Breaks” threads but didn’t find one about aftermarket or performance replacements.
What are people happy with?

That is most certainly because they are Brakes, upon which there is tremendous a resource or wealth in this forum. I just upgraded to M3 brakes on my 325is, there are about 20 different manufacturers of big brake kits for these cars, expect to pay more for the brake kit than you did for your car. An M3 front brake upgrade kit is between $2200-$2800 for just the fronts. I managed to do the fronts and rears off of rebuilt components purchased on craigslist for about $500 including rebuild parts. Hope that helps.

[pbonsalb]

E46 330i front caliper assemblies and rotors bolt on to 328i hubs and maybe 325i hubs and offer performance that should be as good as M3 brakes (which don’t fit 325/328). Fronts do most of the braking so leave the rears. But if you must do something with the rears, E36 328 convertible rear brakes use vented rotors from what I recall and would be a slight upgrade because 325/328 have solid rear rotors. M3 rear calipers do not fit — you need M3 rear trailing arms and those require M3 rear axles.

Aftermarket big brake kits are expensive and offer no gains except for extreme use. Better pads and fluid are the bang for the buck. Lots of people have raced these cars with stock calipers and rotors.

[Thoragaverung]

Breaks.. yeah

[spyderg0d]

Just get e46 330 brakes and rotors. Same price as stocks in some places. Last longer, dont heat up as quickly.

[XnWarden]

Im a big fan of ebc brakes, they perform exceptionally and they color code their pads to make it simple. Im running their red pads, but next time around ill probably go with yellow. Ive tried numerous offerings and they are my favorite so far. No need to get fancy rotors, just slap some good pads on fresh stock rotors and call it a day.

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk

[FiberFast]

E46 330i front caliper assemblies and rotors bolt on to 328i hubs and maybe 325i hubs and offer performance that should be as good as M3 brakes (which don’t fit 325/328). Fronts do most of the braking so leave the rears. But if you must do something with the rears, E36 328 convertible rear brakes use vented rotors from what I recall and would be a slight upgrade because 325/328 have solid rear rotors. M3 rear calipers do not fit — you need M3 rear trailing arms and those require M3 rear axles.

Aftermarket big brake kits are expensive and offer no gains except for extreme use. Better pads and fluid are the bang for the buck. Lots of people have raced these cars with stock calipers and rotors.

Why DO THEY NOT FIT? I am running them right now, M3 fronts and rears. Bolted right on to my 325IS trailing arms no problem.
Edit, I do not have my parking brake hooked up at the moment. That is the ONE problem you run into.

[xxxxxxx]

Unless you're overworking your stock brakes, there is no reason to upgrade.

OEM brake systems are designed such that the front and rear brakes apply specific amounts of pressure to work together, thus maximizing braking. When you start installing random parts, you start throwing off brake bias and stand a good chance of making braking worse.

That being the case, unless you're building a serious race car, I'd go for either new rotors and pads, or swapping in M3 brakes. You will need various other parts for the M3 brakes to fit.

[pbonsalb]

Why DO THEY NOT FIT? I am running them right now, M3 fronts and rears. Bolted right on to my 325IS trailing arms no problem.
Edit, I do not have my parking brake hooked up at the moment. That is the ONE problem you run into.

Right. You don’t have fully functioning brakes. I can’t recall all the details of what you did, but have some vague recollection there was another issue as well, maybe involving the dust shields. Figure those issues out easily and inexpensively and you will have a conversion that can be recommended to others. My driveway is on a slope. I need parking brakes. Parking the car in gear won’t hold it.

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OEM brake systems are designed such that the front and rear brakes apply specific amounts of pressure to work together, thus maximizing braking. When you start installing random parts, you start throwing off brake bias and stand a good chance of making braking worse

People have calculated the biases for most of the brake conversions that have been done. If you do some searching you can find them and study them if that interests you. I have seen them and for the most part there is no issue, but if you are considering some oddball combination it would be worth looking into.

[FiberFast]

Right. You don’t have fully functioning brakes. I can’t recall all the details of what you did, but have some vague recollection there was another issue as well, maybe involving the dust shields. Figure those issues out easily and inexpensively and you will have a conversion that can be recommended to others. My driveway is on a slope. I need parking brakes. Parking the car in gear won’t hold it.

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People have calculated the biases for most of the brake conversions that have been done. If you do some searching you can find them and study them if that interests you. I have seen them and for the most part there is no issue, but if you are considering some oddball combination it would be worth looking into.

You just need to make a custom dust shield and modify a set of m3 parking shoes. I haven't ordered them yet cause I am a cheap ass.

[pbonsalb]

I may have a used set of M3 parking shoes I would donate to the cause if you want me to check.

[FiberFast]

I may have a used set of M3 parking shoes I would donate to the cause if you want me to check.

Shit man that would be cool, pm me and lmk.