Pricing opinion: BMWP

[az3579]

You'll be fine tracking with OEM pads. Kristen's 135 was tracked a lot. To my knowledge, she still running the original OEM pads

BP knows what's up here. If you change out to a slightly more agressive pad on stock calipers and keep the OEM rotors, she'd be happy. If you felt the brakes fade, you are either using too much braking, or are over-driving your setup. If one dials it back from 10/10ths to 8/10ths, stock pads or upgrades pads should work fine for spirited or HPDE drives.

I don't agree with these statements. OE pads are junk on the track; they fade after just a few laps, and brake fade seriously ruins the fun and increases the poo-in-pants factor tenfold. When I was FIRST starting out, first few times on the track, I was already cooking the stock pads, and even then I wasn't pushing it close to how much I push it now. Since he's staying on the street, OE pads are perfectly fine though, so this is a non-issue.

Well my ZHP is too nice for ME to track. Plus it costs money to set a car up for that, I'd much rather it be set up as a proper spring/summer/fall daily driver

A car does not need to be set up for track use. This is a very common misconception, and I personally discourage the action of "setting up" the car when going to your few few track events. It is best to know what the car can do in its stock form, and even that takes a while to master before ever having to change anything on the car. All you need is a car that will pass a tech inspection (and of course is safe to drive) and you're good to go. Some people don't go fast enough to even cook the stock pads the first few times out, but I imagine in your case your skill level is higher than your average Joe considering your training.

Did you have issues with them? Just curious as I hadn't heard of this until now.

The 135i pistons are notorious for cracking. They are ceramic coated, and with any kind of serious heat, they crack, requiring replacement of the piston. The most common "fix" for this is stainless steel pistons, which is what I had in my calipers before I sold them. Once again, this is not an issue for street-only driven cars 99% of the time.

[UdubBadger]

^correct and no I didn't have issues but I didn't track my 135i and only had it for 18k miles from new.


GoingHAM mobile

[Sockethead]

IDK I still think you be fine on the occasional track day. Not hard core like BP is doing.
Any stock pad is going to fade. It's what you deal with a street car on the track. I still had a blast on the track day I did with stock ZHP brakes and pads...and plenty of brake fade

[derbo]

I don't agree with these statements. OE pads are junk on the track; they fade after just a few laps, and brake fade seriously ruins the fun and increases the poo-in-pants factor tenfold. When I was FIRST starting out, first few times on the track, I was already cooking the stock pads, and even then I wasn't pushing it close to how much I push it now. Since he's staying on the street, OE pads are perfectly fine though, so this is a non-issue.



A car does not need to be set up for track use. This is a very common misconception, and I personally discourage the action of "setting up" the car when going to your few few track events. It is best to know what the car can do in its stock form, and even that takes a while to master before ever having to change anything on the car. All you need is a car that will pass a tech inspection (and of course is safe to drive) and you're good to go. Some people don't go fast enough to even cook the stock pads the first few times out, but I imagine in your case your skill level is higher than your average Joe considering your training.



The 135i pistons are notorious for cracking. They are ceramic coated, and with any kind of serious heat, they crack, requiring replacement of the piston. The most common "fix" for this is stainless steel pistons, which is what I had in my calipers before I sold them. Once again, this is not an issue for street-only driven cars 99% of the time.

The 135i piston has a ceramic cap on the piston that touches the brake pad. Under normal street driving, these caps are fine but when exercised with aftermarket pads that hold more heat than OEM, the caps can become brittle and ultimately crack under stress. This has been a known problem since the 135i guys started tracking with aftermarket pads. Dust boots will ultimately always melt on most of these calipers so I never really cared about that. The heat retention in these 135i calipers is terrible and I was able to cook them on a mountain cruise (at least what I think is a cruise). LOL

Regardless, the jewelry as someone said, it will be fine. On the track or even spirited driving, they suck. BP rebuilt his and he had nothing but problems. I hated the design for replacing the brake pads with ease and they just never had the bite I wanted even with track pads. Ultimately I outgrew them and went to Stoptech because they are pretty and thats about it.

[Karl Lazlo]

BP rebuilt his and he had nothing but problems.

For the record, BP doesn't own the set anymore; I do. After taking possession of the calipers and brackets, I rebuilt with the provided SS pistons, new seals and dust boots. They have been installed on my 03 since May with nary an issue - with only some "spirited" driving locally. No fade, decent bite with Stoptech rotors and pads. But, the proof will come this spring with a few HPDE and Lapping days. If they suck and turn into a huge heat sink, they will go away.

[derbo]

For the record, BP doesn't own the set anymore; I do. After taking possession of the calipers and brackets, I rebuilt with the provided SS pistons, new seals and dust boots. They have been installed on my 03 since May with nary an issue - with only some "spirited" driving locally. No fade, decent bite with Stoptech rotors and pads. But, the proof will come this spring with a few HPDE and Lapping days. If they suck and turn into a huge heat sink, they will go away.

When BP owned it, he had issues with it. With your new rebuild I'm sure you will have less problems. I've owned mine for a few years with a fair share of HPDE events on them. I took proper precautions with brake ducts, titanium brake shims and excessive cool down laps and pit laps to lower the chances of the ceramic boots destroying on me. Ultimately mine needed a rebuild too and I opted out. I do miss the OE yellow calipers look cause it sure was pretty.


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[az3579]

When BP owned it, he had issues with it. With your new rebuild I'm sure you will have less problems.

He'll have no problems, up until he starts tracking it. It was always fine the three times I rebuilt them; the problems always came after I started tracking them again.

Anyway, we've already established multiple times that this is irrelevant to the OP.

[derbo]

He'll have no problems, up until he starts tracking it. It was always fine the three times I rebuilt them; the problems always came after I started tracking them again.

Anyway, we've already established multiple times that this is irrelevant to the OP.

Hahaha


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[Karl Lazlo]

And if they turn into a bag of snakes this season, they will be de-installed.

/drops mic.

Edit to add: I want to ensure that everyone knows that BP fully disclosed his issues with the kit before I bought them from him. None of the experiences he posted here are or were a surprise. He is a stand up guy.

[az3579]

He is a stand up guy.

Except for when I'm sitting down, which is most of the time.

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