Check out the 135i 6 piston brake and OEM LSD

[StealthBimmer]

Check out this great thread with pics showing the details of the 6 piston brake and OEM LSD.

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1960

[1996 328ti]

It's just going to make rebuilding the calipers that much more money.
They better fix the cooling issues first.
From what I understand, 335s can't do more than a 20 minute track session before overheating.

[Mallard]

did anyone notice the diff?

looked like a e30/compact arrangement ? :)

[larryn]

It's just going to make rebuilding the calipers that much more money.
They better fix the cooling issues first.
From what I understand, 335s can't do more than a 20 minute track session before overheating.

How do you know they haven't fixed the cooling issues? I'm planning on tracking the bujebuz out of mine, when I get it. Sports package gets the oil cooler.http://www.e90post.com/forums/images/smilies/character0182.gif

I'll take those brakes. :biggrin: Would you rather it had single piston front and rear?? Remember, you get free service (including brakes) for the first 4yrs/50k miles.

Btw, there is no factory delivered OEM LSD option. The 135i does have an "electronic LSD" though, that brakes the spinning tire using ABS and Traction Control circuitry. There is a BMW performance catalog floating around that states they will be selling aftermarket cams and a true mechanical locking differential, along with coilovers/sways/etc. I find that very strange. Almost like they are breaking their relationship with Dinan in the USA.

[1996 328ti]

Almost like they are breaking their relationship with Dinan in the USA.They probably want the money for themselves, very much like Jim Cooper Works for the MINI.

[aceyx]

6 pots doesn't mean a damn unless the rotors can absorb/dissapate that energy.

I'm also willing to bet tracking the car (other than a few select driver training courses) will void your warranty.

[larryn]

6 pots doesn't mean a damn unless the rotors can absorb/dissapate that energy.

I'm also willing to bet tracking the car (other than a few select driver training courses) will void your warranty.

The 135i has no fog light option because there is a large brake duct there instead. :)

The local dealerships sponsor track days and autocross events. It doesn't void the warranty, unless you turn your car into a track car and expect it to be covered as you stress components.

I've had one friend get a service denied for "operation beyond intended use", because he had his track tires on the car. I told him to swap the tires out at that dealership and have it towed to another, where he got covered without an issue. :D

[cali-ti]

Check out this great thread with pics showing the details of the 6 piston brake and OEM LSD.

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1960
wow, i just read that whole thread and they argue as much or more than people here do :)

[96cali]

I find that very strange. Almost like they are breaking their relationship with Dinan in the USA.

They are not technically doing that but are creating their own in-house brand of upgrades. Obviously this cuts into Dinans business hugely but it's not well publicized. Dinan is WAY exposed when it comes to market channels having basically one customer. Not sure if it's up to the individual dealer or if BMWNA dictates what can be sold but I bet Dinan is a bit worried at being reduced to any old aftermarket supplier.

[AKBimmer]

I'm not a big fan of any motor that you can't check the oil in it. From an interview in Bimmer (I think) they have no plans to ever put a dipstick back on their motors. It's all fine and good but electrical crap goes bad a whole lot more often than a dipstick. I may be off base but I'll pass on the new BMW's and just stick with e46 and older.

Craig

[thesk8nmidget]

i like the little ipod usb port and hideaway pouch and red leather!

and yeah the rear end looked a lot like out setup!

[mohaughn]

335i's still have tracking issues. Your normal inexperienced driver at a DE doing 12-25 minute sessions will probably not have a problem. They are not up to doing 30 minute sessions at the hands of a very skilled driver that can push the car to the limit. They heat soak, lose a lot of power, then overheat and go into limp mode. I've seen one guy really pushing his 335 at the track and it turns out he did have an aftermarket intercooler and tuning. From posts over at the track section on BfC people were seeing failures this past year at the east coast BMW CR events.

As for Dinan.. They deserve to lose their business. Their products are overpriced "designer" items. You can easily buy better, more affordable parts from vendors like Bimmerworld, RRT, Turner, etc... There is no need to spend what Dinan charges for their products.

[larryn]

There were a lot of 335is with no separate oil cooler. The ones that don't have it overheat and go into limp mode. Newer 335is are all equipped with the auxilliary oil cooler and do not have this issue (supposedly). I'm hoping that they don't repeat history, especially with the 135i being more of a trackable car than a 335i (M Sports bits, 6 piston calipers, lighter, enhanced differential, a bit quicker...). That was some serious bad press with the limping twin snail cars..

[autoxerwgn]

I'm not a big fan of any motor that you can't check the oil in it. From an interview in Bimmer (I think) they have no plans to ever put a dipstick back on their motors. It's all fine and good but electrical crap goes bad a whole lot more often than a dipstick. I may be off base but I'll pass on the new BMW's and just stick with e46 and older.

Craig

It's not like anyone checks it anyway. BMW transmissions have been without dipsticks for how long now? There is no warning light for fluid level and when was the last time anyone checked that? I'm not saying that I like the idea of not having a dipstick but it makes sense to make a car that way. Why waste money to add extra parts to the engine that 95% of people will never touch?

[autoxerwgn]

There were a lot of 335is with no separate oil cooler. The ones that don't have it overheat and go into limp mode. Newer 335is are all equipped with the auxilliary oil cooler and do not have this issue (supposedly). I'm hoping that they don't repeat history, especially with the 135i being more of a trackable car than a 335i (M Sports bits, 6 piston calipers, lighter, enhanced differential, a bit quicker...). That was some serious bad press with the limping twin snail cars..

All of the early 335i's with an automatic trans (with or without the Sport Pack), and non-sport pack manuals did NOT have the oil cooler. Even with the oil cooler, the oil temps are still pretty high, about 230-250 degrees. In my opinion, the problem isn't if you have an oil cooler or not, it's that the oil cooler isn't big enough even if you do have one. Instead of being installed in the fender area, they should have made it much larger, like the one on an E46 M3.

According to people at BMW, unofficially, they expect that the 135 will be used for motorsports, and be driven much harder by their owners than any of their other cars. This is why they are upgrading many of the parts such as the brakes to be able to handle the abuse. I too hope that they have added a much larger oil cooler to be able to cope with the heat that the turbos are putting out.

[bullmand]

I was just looking over the information that's up on BMW's new site and the Build Your Own feature for the 1 Series. It doesn't look like the fancy brakes or the LSD made it to production. If they did, they're keeping it a secret. It's not mentioned on the features list or in the model highlights.

[aceyx]

I was just looking over the information that's up on BMW's new site and the Build Your Own feature for the 1 Series. It doesn't look like the fancy brakes or the LSD made it to production. If they did, they're keeping it a secret. It's not mentioned on the features list or in the model highlights.
Maybe they're part of the factory performance upgrades?

[larryn]

The 6 pot calipers are standard on the 135i, but the LSD is an electronic LSD that uses brakes to keep the inside wheel from spinning. it seems to work okay, from the drifting videos coming out on youtube from test drives...

There is a performance catalog that BMW has published that states there's an actual locking diff that you will be able to buy from them aftermarket.

[bullmand]

The 6 pot calipers are standard on the 135i

Is that on bmwusa.com somewhere? I couldn't find it? Why wouldn't they make a bigger deal of it in the advertising?

[kelso]

has anyone ever heard of a car using the brakes as a locking diff? i have only heard of cars using the brakes as a traction control system, where whichever tire was spinning go the brake applied to stop it.... im not trying to discredit, just saying ive never seen this before on a car

and 6 piston is a bit much for a small car. i hope its true, but in reality i dont see bmw putting that to production

[larryn]

Is that on bmwusa.com somewhere? I couldn't find it? Why wouldn't they make a bigger deal of it in the advertising?

To be honest, I've only seen it in print on their ordering guide for the 135i. If you complete "building your 1" on the configurator, you get brought to a link where you can download the PDF guide, that clearly states it.

Also, I've seen and touched a US spec 135i in the flesh, and it had 6 piston calipers front, dos pistones in the rear.

[larryn]

has anyone ever heard of a car using the brakes as a locking diff? i have only heard of cars using the brakes as a traction control system, where whichever tire was spinning go the brake applied to stop it.... im not trying to discredit, just saying ive never seen this before on a car


No problem. The Porsche Cayman utilized a similar soft LSD, using brakes to stop the inside spinning wheel too.

See page 5 of this document (http://jon.bimmerfest.com/bulletins/1seriespresselease.pdf) for more information on the eLSD.

[kelso]

so anyone have any first hand driving experience with one of these E-lsd's? thanks for the example, but now i want some opinions on how they feel if anyone on here has driven something with it

[larryn]

Maybe this will help.

LFCB2GvKrVc

It's a video of a person on an unaccompanied test drive in Germany. An open diff could not do this.

the reviews that I've read (that mention the eLSD) state that it's a very good attempt, and let you get the butt out if you want to, but a mechanical one could probably do better. For 99% of the people out there, it will suffice.

[kelso]

better than nothing, doesnt the 335 have an open diff?

that was pretty impressive but it looked wet... not something would do on a test drive in the rain lol but still nice control

[larryn]

The eLSD is new, and not on the 335i. If you've ever autocrossed a 335i, you can't do what that car does in the youtube video (rain or not).

[kelso]

negative i have not driven a 335i hard yet. i did see one guy take one to an autocross but he wasnt one of the top drivers out that day...

but i was just saying i wouldnt be doing a big onramp drift like that in the rain if it was a test drive. id rather drive the car for a while and see how it responds in big open areas. how ****ty would it be to smash up the car on your first drive lol

[DocDuvi]

looks good but im thinking for that amount of money i think ima go with an e46 M3

[larryn]

You know, I tossed that idea around.. a ZCP in Interlagos Blue, but they all were around $45-50k, and barely (or no) warranty left.

I have my production number on my Alpine White with Terra Brown 135i, and will be taking delivery on 3/22. I would've done the suspension and tires on either the M3 or the 135i, but after I do that, I'm adding a tune to the 135i which they are getting close to 450hp/450lbft (at the crank) out of these days. It'll be a beast. :D

Getting rid of the e90, and keeping the 'ti though.

[DustenT]

You know, I tossed that idea around.. a ZCP in Interlagos Blue, but they all were around $45-50k, and barely (or no) warranty left.

I have my production number on my Alpine White with Terra Brown 135i, and will be taking delivery on 3/22. I would've done the suspension and tires on either the M3 or the 135i, but after I do that, I'm adding a tune to the 135i which they are getting close to 450hp/450lbft (at the crank) out of these days. It'll be a beast. :D

Getting rid of the e90, and keeping the 'ti though.

Please post your thoughts, pics, etc...

[larryn]

My thoughts:

The car is faster than I thought it would be, and I am ordering a tune already for it. The thing just goes where you point it, with little or no lag when you step on it. The 300ftlbs torque starts so low (at 1500rpm) that it's like a train, and it steadily pulls up to 5500, before slightly starts to depress you from your seat back, you downshift and you're pinned again.

If it had a fault, it did push, ever so slightly, in hard and fast corners, but you can do one of two things... throttle oversteer it, which it does very easily, or give it some more negative camber up front, which I already did, also with a H&R Sport drop. The thing just plain grips, even with the 215's up front. The eLSD seems to work pretty darned well, and I could easily do donuts in it, which the e90 cannot do with it's open diff. It can also squeeze throttle on in corners and make the back step out, both wheels a spinnin'.

The brakes are incredible too. R&T just tested the car, and recorded 60-0 in 102feet. That's just plain dental-ripping-out insane.

Here's a pic of it before I dropped it (sorry, it's a bit big):
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=4872&stc=1&d=1206207539

and here's a couple after I dropped it on Monday:

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5386&stc=1&d=1206992565
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5387&stc=1&d=1206992565

If any of you get a chance to, most dealers have a black 135i available for test drives.. the only thing is that it's steptronic.. but go check it out.

I cannot wait to get this out on the track and run it at autocross. The 332ti was classed as a mod car, and it couldn't compete that well against completely prepared M3s that well. This car is more reasonably classed.

It's fun to hop out of one car and drive the other, back to back.. they both have such great driving abilities. It's strange to see how much the marque has progressed in a decade.

Sorry for the longish post.

[mohaughn]

Those things have some serious power... Be careful with the extra tuning. A guy in the local BMW club blew out his driveshaft at Homestead in his 335. Not sure exactly what tune he has.. I also think he tends to really abuse his car.

[ATF]

M
Here's a pic of it before I dropped it (sorry, it's a bit big):

Sorry for the longish post.

I don't think we mind :biggrin:
Congrats on the car

[StealthBimmer]

Great news on the delivery of the 135i Larry! :biggrin: Will be seeing you at the auto-x this year. Nice review on the new bimmer. Have to catch up with you for test rides in both beasts! ;)