E90 Brakes / Finally fixed them...

[Nick M3]

So...

I've always wanted to do this, but StopTech's gigantic price increase a couple months ago got me motivated to really start hunting for brakes before that trickled down into the used market. Because... Wow. List price for a 4 wheel kit is now $9-10k, and the discounted prices are still pushing $7k.

It still feels kind of stupid that I spent $3,500 to get decent pedal feel, but then again, it was kind of stupid to buy an M3 instead of a 328, right?

[Nick M3]

Also, after testing both front only, and 4-wheel upgrades, I can definitely say that it's important to do the rear to get the pedal feel you want. Which makes the G8x brakes that much more unfortunate.

[SCA]

Nice!!

[Josh (PA)]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

Also, after testing both front only, and 4-wheel upgrades, I can definitely say that it's important to do the rear to get the pedal feel you want. Which makes the G8x brakes that much more unfortunate.

What did BMW do with the G*x brake setup?

[JST]

Originally Posted by Josh (PA)

What did BMW do with the G*x brake setup?

In the F80 they went to fixed piston calipers all the way around. In the G80, they went back to sliding rears in order to accommodate an electric parking brake.

Nick, do the F80 units bolt up to the E90 chassis?

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by JST

In the F80 they went to fixed piston calipers all the way around. In the G80, they went back to sliding rears in order to accommodate an electric parking brake.

Nick, do the F80 units bolt up to the E90 chassis?

Which is particularly galling on the $10,000 optional carbon ceramic brakes. Yep. Still a rear slider.

The F80 rears basically bolt up. The F80 fronts require an F80 spindle, which is close enough that you can use it, but requires hack work to the ABS sensor and will raise the front ride height. Also, it costs $2k-$3k to do an F80 retrofit, making it a lousy deal vs. a used stoptech kit. (And the rear calipers are kind of cheesy.)

[JST]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

Which is particularly galling on the $10,000 optional carbon ceramic brakes. Yep. Still a rear slider.

The F80 rears basically bolt up. The F80 fronts require an F80 spindle, which is close enough that you can use it, but requires hack work to the ABS sensor and will raise the front ride height. Also, it costs $2k-$3k to do an F80 retrofit, making it a lousy deal vs. a used stoptech kit. (And the rear calipers are kind of cheesy.)

Ah, yeah, was just reading the various write ups of that.

Do you like the Stop-Tech? Did you do the lines, too?

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by JST

Ah, yeah, was just reading the various write ups of that.

Do you like the Stop-Tech? Did you do the lines, too?

Front lines were required. Rears, I did the easy outer ones. I'll do the rear inners someday when the rear subframe comes down.

The stoptechs are fine. Cost no object, I would go AP Racing, but that wasn't in the budget.

[Nick M3]

The one thing that I don't like about the stoptechs is the bleed screws. The issue is pretty simple: You're putting a steel screw into aluminum and need to tighten / loosen / tighten a lot. All these cycles are not great for the threads.

Turns out that the nice Wilwood insert screws fit the Stoptechs as well. This is WAY nicer as you put a steel sleeve into the caliper and cycle the bleed screw inside of that.

https://www.wilwood.com/linekits/Lin...temno=220-6069

Guess I'll be doing this when I re-bleed the brakes. (I generally find that it's best to re-bleed a week or so after caliper installation with fixed calipers.)

[Nick M3]

I learned that Stoptech doesn’t respect the F80, either. The E90 gets a proper ST40 caliper for the rear axle. The F80 kit has the cheesy ST41 caliper, which has tiny pads and is what they usually put in the discount fixed rotor kits for cars that they can’t charge too much for.