Upgrading early 98 ti M-Tech with 99 vented

[Bill Strong]

I love the way the stock brakes on my 98 stop. They exceed the stopping power of my track setup 86 MR2.

What does concern me is that the stock rotors do heat up very fast. They do recover quickly, but on very fast downhill fast road drives they do get weak towards the bottom, which can be un-nerving.

I have researched the many big brake options out there.

Having been doing this car thing for the last 25+ years I know \how fads are and what to stay away from.

One of them is the fact that a car as light as the ti with under 150hp, and only used on public roads does not need huge brakes to staop safely. I also Know that bigger brakes can also add to unsprung weight which can slow the car, which I want to stay away from.

So knowing all of that, I have not been able to find vented vs. unvented front brake setups. basically early 98 vs late 98/99 brakes.

My car stops just fine. With proper pad selection and fresh undrilled/unslotted rotors the car can make my ears pop when stopped.
Upgrading to the vented rotors and wider calipers -

1. Does it help on prolonging brake fade due to rotor heat build up? In theory it should, but in real world does it?

2. What are the parts required to do this? I am pretty certain that the Calipers (and maybe the caliper brakets - unless the stock 98s will work) pads and new rotors are required.

3. Pads. I use Porterfield pads on all of my performance cars. I wont use any others, unless they are OE pads from BMW. Has anyone compared the two?

4. Direct real world and track comparrisons of the unvented rotors vs. the vented rotors?

5. I will be replacing all of the Rotors(BMW), and brake pads(BMW or Porterfield) on my 98 ti m-tech. What else should be changed when this job is done? I see mention of sensors. Can I have more info on these and why they should be changed?

thank you in advance

Bill Strong
Racing Strong Motorsports

[cali-ti]

steven will likely be able to answer most/all of your questions as he changed to e36 32x vented front brakes (stock rear) in his 328ti and has no problems with brake fade during track events. i think he might even use the porterfield pads, i forget.

#2) calipers, brackets, rotors ... i think the pads might even be the same. used e36 32x calipers and brackets are pretty damn cheap used (like $50 - $100 for the pair). might want to rebuild before install just so you know what you're working with.

#5) the only reason to replace the pad sensor is if there's a problem with it or if your pad sensor light came on in your dash before replacing the brakes. the wires can get damaged, sensor head break when inserting into the new pad or something like that warranting replacement as well. you shouldn't need to do it with every pad/brake change. there's one per side front and rear (two total).

[1996 328ti]

Yeah. This is one of my pet peeves when it comes to brakes.
Most people thing bigger is better.
I have no problems with stock vented rotors up front.
I have 15" snow tires so nothing else will fit anyway unless I buy new wheels and tires.
If I had to do it over I'd probably go with the 330 front rotor setup.
Either way you need new rotors and calipers and bracket.
Larger rotors will probably prolong fade but not by much.
I can get 3 weekends at the track on Ate brake fluid.
Acutally 2.75 weekends. The last 2 sessions of the 3rd weekend I start to get some fade.

Discussing brake pads and tires is worse than religion.
I am a Carbotech fan. Bobcats for our MINI and ti for the street. PantherPlus on the track. I would not use stock pads unless you like cleaning brake dust. I don't know now experience with Porterfields but have liked Ultimate Axxis pads for the street.

As Cali said, you don't need to replace the brake sensor. I keep mine tied to the struts and still have to replace them occasionally because they get frayed.

#1 factor in stopping distance is tires.

[Bill Strong]

I can get reman calipers from www.rockauto.com for the 328ic for $28, plus a $50 core. I would still need to get the mounting brackets.
http://www.rockauto.com/ref/Cardone/...tml?191618.jpg

I need to find a local junk yard in the Lynchburg/madison Heights area of Virginia. I am new to this area so don't know all the junk yards yet.

[clex2]

Bill,

I did this on my stock 95 ti, and I don't recall needing any mounting brackets. I got used Z3 (same as 325 or 8) calipers, new brembo vented rotors, pads, and senors for about $250 from Zionsville. The caliper was incusive of #1 and #2 in the picture. BTW, http://www.zionsvilleautosport.com/store/shop.mv? is a goos source for used parts.

[cali-ti]

#2 is the bracket