Emma - 2005 BMW 330ci ZHP 6MT Estorilblau Individual
Sportline 8s 18x8.5F - 18x9.5R | APEX ARC-8 18x8.5 Square | aFe Intake | 135i Brembo F/R Calipers | 26mm Front/20mm Rear Sway Bars | Z4 Mirror
M3 Dead Pedal | Lexus ES300 Yellow Fog Light Retrofit | Koni Yellows/H&R Springs | Llumar CTX 40% | Coby Tri-Stitch Wheel & Boots
Awaiting Install: M3 Wing Mirrors
Aesthetics-wise, these are amazing looking calipers. It is one of the reasons I purchased these way back in 2011 or 2012. I used the ECS tuning kit as they were one of the first out with the kit. If all you want is some nice looking calipers and won't do much HPDE, these calipers are awesome. I ultimately went to a Stoptech BBK and should've done it sooner with all the track stuff I do..
My personal observations as a HPDE guy:
- Caliper is fixed and requires removal to replace brake pads. Pain in the butt to swap brake pads on the fly. (Stoptech has bridges to swap pads without even removing the caliper.)
- Caliper piston boots have ceramic caps on them. These become brittle and crack if used with aftermarket brake pads that retain higher heat temperatures. (Racingbrake.com has replacing SS pistons to remedy this issue, but is somewhat costly.)
- Brake pedal feel does not really feel any better than a stock 330i caliper. (IMO, if you spending for this, the pedal feel should improve.)
- Uses a stock 330i rotor, so replacement rotor discs has many options.
- Uses a stock 135i brake pad size, so ordering brake pads would follow 135i options.
Pictures for attention: lol.
All very good points. I do plan to get this car into HPDE-worthy condition, so I will be upgrading the pistons later this year or early next year. I didn't say it in this thread, but I did when I first posted about buying them: I paid $152 total for all four calipers (with reasonably fresh pads, which I'll be replacing when I rebuild them). For that price, rebuilding with the stainless pistons is a no-brainer.
Also, because I haven't updated the thread yet, I removed the weights in order to clear the wheels (which is now moot because I'm running spacers for clearance).
Emma - 2005 BMW 330ci ZHP 6MT Estorilblau Individual
Sportline 8s 18x8.5F - 18x9.5R | APEX ARC-8 18x8.5 Square | aFe Intake | 135i Brembo F/R Calipers | 26mm Front/20mm Rear Sway Bars | Z4 Mirror
M3 Dead Pedal | Lexus ES300 Yellow Fog Light Retrofit | Koni Yellows/H&R Springs | Llumar CTX 40% | Coby Tri-Stitch Wheel & Boots
Awaiting Install: M3 Wing Mirrors
For that price, its a decent upgrade. Brake bias and pedal feel are two other items to be concerned with. Maybe an M3 master cylinder might help with this? I'm not entirely sure on the math to calculate it. I had a stock 330i MC + front 135i calipers only so my brake bias moved forward a bit.
I suggest speaking with Botond regarding the rb SS pistons. He had it on his car and did HPDEs long after I got rid of mine.
My attempt to workaround the heat problem:
Titanium Brake Shims, Cooling ducts, extra long cooldown laps around the pits.
FYI, I had nothing but problems with these calipers even after rebuilding them. I replaced the pistons with custom stainless ones that Chad fabricated and used RacingBrake's higher temp seals, but the seals kept leaking. I've replaced the seals twice on the set, and they still leaked fluid. Since Ray purchased them from me, he says he hasn't had any issues. Go figure...
The stock seals never leaked. The problems only started after I put in the RB seals.
I've since switched to Wilwoods. Personally I can only recommend the Perf calipers for a street driven car given my nightmarish experiences with getting these track ready.
I put about 30k on them but have since removed them for Wilwoods. I am halfway though the Wilwood install (rears are a royal PITA) and the BMWP BBK is now sitting in a plastic bin in my kitchen as I try to decide what to do with them. For what's it's worth, I didn't have any of the BP issues with them.
Results seem to vary widely; I'm not too worried about it yet. And as I said, I paid $152 for these. Add brackets, new rotors in back, and new SS lines, and I'm at $500 for a four-corner "sort of BBK." Even if it's only temporary, that's a steal.
We all know Brembo is hardly the best for the track, but I think they'll be just fine for my needs in the short-medium time horizon. And they look awesome.
Emma - 2005 BMW 330ci ZHP 6MT Estorilblau Individual
Sportline 8s 18x8.5F - 18x9.5R | APEX ARC-8 18x8.5 Square | aFe Intake | 135i Brembo F/R Calipers | 26mm Front/20mm Rear Sway Bars | Z4 Mirror
M3 Dead Pedal | Lexus ES300 Yellow Fog Light Retrofit | Koni Yellows/H&R Springs | Llumar CTX 40% | Coby Tri-Stitch Wheel & Boots
Awaiting Install: M3 Wing Mirrors
I read in Sankeakur's thread on e46Fanatics that some other things that can be considered is to have a machine shop cut 2 or so mm off the radius of the M3 discs, as the pad does not make contact with that portion of the disc. He also stated that this will also give more clearance between the disc and the calipers.
I'm looking to do this part at the moment which is what has stalled my retrofit for the time being... that and other immediate priorities that have come up recently...
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showpost.php?p=16009864&postcount=39