it looks like it should be repairable. Just cut the section, replace and weld it again. You can paint it with high temp paint to help with rust and stuff too.
Messaggero
it looks like it should be repairable. Just cut the section, replace and weld it again. You can paint it with high temp paint to help with rust and stuff too.
Messaggero
Does someone know if there is a way to raise the front suspension like you can on the rear with thicker spring pads? It doesn't look like BMW makes thicker pads for the front struts. I thought about putting spacers between the mount and the strut tower, but that wouldn't increase suspension travel so I'd rather not. My goal is to achieve the same stance as the Alpina B3 using Pro Kit springs, without spending 2k on the Alpina FE 3 suspension package.
Basically like this:
330i Base | Mysticblau | Slicktop | 6MT
Messaggero
Has anyone had tapering brake pads before? At first I thought the left front wheel had significantly less pad than the right side, but it turns out the left was just severely tapered on the trailing (top) edge. My hypothesis is that since I did ~60ish laps on a right-handed track, there was just more load on that caliper which may have caused it to heat up. Both caliper slide pins on the bottom are completely striped so they don't tighten up, so perhaps the left side is binding under heavy braking? Another thing is that when I installed the pads, one of the inners was stubborn to clip into the piston, so I (stupidly) pushed it in a few times before realizing the end of the clip was going into the dust boot. No leakage but I might have damaged the dust seal on that caliper, so that may also be a potential cause?
The pedal also feels like complete crap now. I'm thinking it could be due to the fact that I swapped pads left and right, and now the right pad has some "springback" as it only contacts the pad on the leading edge, until you step on the pedal really hard and it forces the pad flat on the rotor. I'm going to try bleeding the brakes and see if that will help as well.
2004 BMW 330CI ZHP (well, technically ZAM)
Messaggero
I should probably know this due to your extensive thread but did you replace your calipers? It looks to me like the caliper is binding on one of the pins. You are supposed to replace the pins when doing a brake job. If you are still on original calipers the bushings are definitely done for as well. I was amazed at how much my new calipers slide around compared to my sticky old ones.
330i Base | Mysticblau | Slicktop | 6MT
Messaggero
No, calipers are all-original, but I had no perceivable taper on my old no-name street pads. Yeah that's what I'm thinking too with the stripped guide pin, it's just odd how it seemed to bind on the top, where the top guide pins aren't stripped, and it's only on the left front. At least bushings are cheap, I may start with thatOriginally Posted by Galapolis
2004 BMW 330CI ZHP (well, technically ZAM)
Messaggero
You don't really need new calipers if you get the rebuild kit. If you're gonna replace the bushings you might as well grab the kit from FCP as well. Much cheaper than new calipers and basically the same result. Your seals are most definitely toast too and I wouldn't be surprised if the piston is causing uneven wear because it's applying force unevenly.
330i Base | Mysticblau | Slicktop | 6MT
Messaggero
Does someone know if there is a way to raise the front suspension like you can on the rear with thicker spring pads? It doesn't look like BMW makes thicker pads for the front struts. I thought about putting spacers between the mount and the strut tower, but that wouldn't increase suspension travel so I'd rather not. My goal is to achieve the same stance as the Alpina B3 using Pro Kit springs, without spending 2k on the Alpina FE 3 suspension package.
Basically like this:
Have you tried double stacking the upper spring pads? Should be able to stack them on top of each other to make them thicker.
Messaggero
I've thought about that, I just wasn't sure if stacking pads was the best idea or if it would seat properly but I guess there isn't really much else I can do. I think I'll try two bottom pads and two upper pads. Should give me around 10mm more height.
330i Base | Mysticblau | Slicktop | 6MT
Big Earner
I may have some used ones in the garage if you want to try them
Enforcer
So I’ve run into this before, and it’s a multi piece puzzle. You have floating calipers, which aren’t as rigid as a fixed caliper, your guide bushings are shot, and your guide pins are stripped.
Your calipers are definitely in need of a rebuild, and I strongly recommend you do them yourself. I rebuilt the 330i calipers I put on my sedan, and you can source the pistons and and piston seal from Rockauto, you want the centric brand for the seal. For the guide pins and bushings, you want to go to the brass guides. Bimmerworld and FCPEuro offer these, here’s a link: https://www.bimmerworld.com/Brakes/C...-Calipers.html
The beauty of the brass guides is that they deflect much less under heavy constant load, such as a track environment, preventing your tapered brake pads. It’s about as close as you can get our floating calipers to fixed calipers.
I wouldn’t do another track event with your current brakes, and I strongly suggest you keep a dedicated set of brake pads for only the track.
If you have any questions on rebuilding them, let me know, I’ve done it a couple of times now so I’ve gotten pretty good at it.
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