Brake Upgrade Teaser

[Ryans323i]

I'm upgrading my 323i brakes to 330i brakes all around.

Parts List:
2002 330i Calipers & carriers (front and rear)
Centric Premium Drilled/Slotted Rotors (Thank you Brake Your Self!)
StopTech Street Performance Pads (Thank you Brake Your Self!)
ATE Super Blue Racing Brake Fluid (Thank you Brake Your Self!)
Brake pad sensors (Thank you Brake Your Self!)
Stainless Steel (coated) brake Lines (ECS)

Just pics for now. DIY thread coming later.

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm142/aprilsmom04/1-1.jpg
(Just one front and one rear caliper pictured)

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm142/aprilsmom04/2-1.jpg
(Old front caliper (left), New front caliper (right))

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm142/aprilsmom04/3-1.jpg
(New rotor (left), Old rotor (right))

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm142/aprilsmom04/4.jpg
(Old front setup)

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm142/aprilsmom04/5.jpg
(New front setup)

[ZSP-Mafia]

Nice! Those are going to look and feel so much better.

[Smilez]

looking sweet :D. should have painted calipers silver :shifty

[mimalmo]

Looks great!

[Ryans323i]

looking sweet :D. should have painted calipers silver :shifty

Yeah, that would've matched perfectly. :shifty

[danewilson77]

Looking good girlie.

Droid! Srs Legitness!

[Alphatek45]

Noice!

[kayger12]

Like!

Droid X. Tapatalk. Use it.

[pyreguy]

Excellent!! I like the way that turned out.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Like.

[SkrApUNB]

Looks Great Ryan... mind if i ask you how much this cost you for the parts? and What are the benefits to jumping to 330 brakes besides the obvious dramatic aesthetic improvement.

[danewilson77]

More braking surface area, I would think would be an effect all around on bite, fade, etc....

Droid! Srs Legitness!

[Hornung418]

Will need DIY for late in the summer...Don't think stock 328 brakes would do very much good with an additional 140hp...

[adb1028]

Yummy.

[Ryans323i]

Looks Great Ryan... mind if i ask you how much this cost you for the parts? and What are the benefits to jumping to 330 brakes besides the obvious dramatic aesthetic improvement.

I picked up all 4 calipers for $150 shipped from a salvage yard in GA, which IMO is fantastic. The SS brake lines were $100 from ECS Tuning. and the rest was around $520 from Brake Your Self.

I did a lot of reading before I decided to do the upgrade. I really only wanted to do the fronts, because with the rears I'd have to modify the parking brake shoes. Then I read about evenly distributed braking vs undistributed braking, and how that could lead to more wear and tear on parts and possibly less effective braking. Then I thought about just getting better 323i parts all around, but the setup looks so wimpy behind my 18" wheels. The brake master cylinder was also a concern, "would mine be powerful enough?". Both the 323i calipers and 330i calipers are single piston and relatively the same size, and the two models' master cylinder are nearly the same as well (since my car has DSC, yes that matters). So the only choice was upgrade all around. As Dane mentioned, I believe the greater surface area of rotor and pad will create more friction and help the car slow more quickly. A neat addition is, my car's curb weight is 3153lbs, the 330i is 3285-3362lbs, so logically speaking (with my upgraded suspension) I should be able to stop better than the 330i. (not sure about the zhp, but that doesn't matter, it's not special anyways)

I really like the idea of this setup because it's a cohesive system that BMW designed. It helps with the theme of "BMW's e46 m3 sedan concept" I'm going for, rather than just throwing a Wilwood or Brembo BBK on her. (And yes, it was cheaper.)

[danewilson77]

Well done. Great write up Ryan!

Droid! Srs Legitness!

[SkrApUNB]

Great write up for sure!!!! looks great as well. i will definitely be looking into this in the upcoming year! Thanks A lot.

[Ryans323i]

Thanks guys. Look for my DIY coming soon.

I've had to significantly modify the parking brake shoes, so I must first see if they still work. If not, I have another plan.

[az3579]

I've had to significantly modify the parking brake shoes, so I must first see if they still work. If not, I have another plan.

What's this "other plan"?

[Ryans323i]

Hopefully it doesn't come to that. I'd have to buy 330i parking brake shoes, cut the bottom mounting area off, cut the bottom mounting area off my 323i parking brake shoes, and weld the 323i mounting area to the 330i upper shoe area. Like in this picture LINK (http://community.webshots.com/photo/fullsize/2917920020103170214BVGjYZ) (Sorry, can't import the pic.)

[Ryans323i]

Well everything got finished up on Saturday, but it's been raining since so no final product pics yet, but they do look sexy. Took her for a quick test, and the brakes were horrible. When I got back they were smoking and I could smell burnt oil. Then I remembered, "duh, you handled them like crazy with your dirty nasty fingers". Since then, I've driven a total of 6 miles, and the brake feel is much better. I'm planning on bedding them in, when? I don't know. I'd prefer clearer weather.

I need to adjust the parking brake, right now it's not quite catching. But it looks like my mod worked, and with a little adjusting things will be perfect. I adjusted the cables at the hand brake, but that wasn't enough. I need to take the wheel and rotor back off to adjust the little ( I don't know what it's called) gear like piece between the e-brake pads. Planning on doing that tonight. Rainy days make me so unmotivated.

[danewilson77]

Goood work. Gurl like you outta have her own shop.

Droid! Srs Legitness!

[kayger12]

This might help with the parking brake. You should be able to get to it without taking the rotor off.

Parking Brake Adjustment

Step i: The parking brake adjuster resides in the parking brake assembly which is located inside of the rear rotors. The adjustment for the parking brake shoes is done from a small adjustment wheel that is accessible through one of the wheel bolt holes on the rotor.

Step ii: Turn the rotor so that one of the wheel bolt holes is at 12:00. Using a light, you should be able to look into the bolt hole which is immediately down and to the rear of the car and see the adjustment wheel.

http://www.bimmerdiy.com/diy/e36brakesystem/ebrake1.jpg

http://www.bimmerdiy.com/diy/e36brakesystem/ebrake2.jpg

Step iii: Insert a flat screwdriver into the hole and spin the adjusting wheel as follows:

* On the passenger side of the car, spin the adjusting wheel downwards
* On the driver side of the car, spin the wheel upwards

Step iv: Continue spinning the adjusting wheel until it cannot be turned any more. At this stage, the parking brake adjustment for that wheel should be fully expanded and the rotor should not turn if you try to. If the rotor spins, the adjusting wheel is not expanded to its fullest position.

Step v: Turn the adjusting wheel in the opposite direction 4 times.

Step vi: Do the same procedure on the other wheel (noting the difference in directions from the opposite wheel). This assumes that you have similarly disassembled the brake on the other side of the car.

Step vii: When these steps are completed, both rotors should spin freely (as much as is normal) and the parking brake handle should only "click" about 4-5 times when lifted.

[Ryans323i]

^^^Thanks! I didn't realize I get to it through the rotor, that's awesome. A lot less work.

Thanks for the complements Dane. I could not have my own shop though. I couldn't do much of anything w/out a little help from my bf and he doesn't like to work on other people's cars. I also suck at breaking bolts loose (Imma wimp :(, I even have a 30" breaker bar. ). And the whole liability thing. lol.