My black Friday shopping

[lpcapital]

I guess a junkyard is not really a "store" most people go on Black Friday... well, unless you maybe own a Z3... ehehehe

I found my "big brake" kit off of a E46 325i. So it's a 300mm vented rotors setting same as the Z3 3.0i: I'm sure it will be a nice upgrade from my 286mm solid.
I got a complete set (complete caliper for both side) with about 80% left on the pad for $162, which I think is a good deal, at least from the prices I saw on eBay.

Now I need rotors, so we're looking at vented 300mm rotors for a Z3 3.0i and was checking out Tirerack and here's what they have:

Brembo (plain): $118 a pair
Cryo-Stop Rotor (plain): $130 a pair
ATE PremiumOne Slotted Rotor: $146 a pair
Brembo Sport Slotted Rotors: $151 a pair
Power Slot Power Slot Rotor: $182 a pair
Brembo Sport Drilled Rotors: $195 a pair
Power Slot Cryo-Treated Rotor: $244 a pair

What would you guys recommend? Go ahead and suggest others.

Will post some pix tomorrow...

[RidingSimple]

Nice find.
I would go with either the Brembo blanks or the ATE Slotted.
You know Tire Rack has those Brembo Sport Slotted's for our ti's for $47 a pair?! Makes me want to stay with solid.

[cooljess76]

I bought a set of Zimmermann crossdrilled rotors and PBR deluxe pads for my M3 caliper swap from these guys: http://www.importrp.com/ and I think I paid about 175 bucks for the rotors and about 40 or so for the pads. I also bought a set of steel braided brake lines from an ebay vendor, but one of them had two female ends. Those went in the trash and I'll probably order a set from Turner Motorsport or somewhere. Anyway, you might want to give those guys a shout. It's better if you place your order over the phone so there's no confusion. They'll give you a pretty nice deal if you mention that you found them on bimmerforums too.

The guy I talked to on the phone was Mike. He hooked up a pretty good deal on shipping as well. They also have a bunch of other stuff that isn't listed on their website, so if you need something not listed, just give them a call.

[lpcapital]

Thanks for the link!!! They have very good pricig and great selection.

I'm still undecided between the slotted ATE and solid Brembo. The concern I have about drilled is the reduced breaking surface. I also have feeling a lot of the hipe around drilled is more so because "they look cool"...

[RidingSimple]

Originally Posted by lpcapital

Thanks for the link!!! They have very good pricig and great selection.

I'm still undecided between the slotted ATE and solid Brembo. The concern I have about drilled is the reduced breaking surface. I also have feeling a lot of the hipe around drilled is more so because "they look cool"...

Stay FAR away from both reccos above. PBR Deluxe are the single worst pad I have used to date (stock Jurid's blow them out of the water in all areas other than dusting). And cross drilled is worthless.

Truly, Brembo blanks, and some Hawk or Porterfield pads and you are golden.

[cooljess76]

Originally Posted by lpcapital

Thanks for the link!!! They have very good pricig and great selection.

I'm still undecided between the slotted ATE and solid Brembo. The concern I have about drilled is the reduced breaking surface. I also have feeling a lot of the hipe around drilled is more so because "they look cool"...

Since when is looking cool a bad thing Besides, you're increasing your braking surface anyway by upgrading to vented e46 brakes. Zimmermann is a reputable brand like Brembo. As long as you buy quality rotors that were drilled during manufacturing, you shouldn't have any problems. The concept makes sense to me, better cooling=less brake fade. But if it's still a concern to you, then the Brembo solids or ATE slotted are both safe choices. That being said, any combination of the upgraded e46 brakes will be a huge improvement over the solid Ti rotors.

[lpcapital]

Originally Posted by cooljess76

Since when is looking cool a bad thing Besides, you're increasing your braking surface anyway by upgrading to vented e46 brakes. Zimmermann is a reputable brand like Brembo. As long as you buy quality rotors that were drilled during manufacturing, you shouldn't have any problems. The concept makes sense to me, better cooling=less brake fade. But if it's still a concern to you, then the Brembo solids or ATE slotted are both safe choices. That being said, any combination of the upgraded e46 brakes will be a huge improvement over the solid Ti rotors.

Yea, I heard a lot of good things about Zimmerman, and heard some people have issues with Brembo drilled because they buy the cheap stuff on the eBay that are plain Brembo drilled by the seller. Both Zimmerman and Brembo have a long racing heritage so I'm sure they know their stuff.
As a matter of fact I'm planning on using Zimmerman crossdrilled in the rear since there's no vented option that I know of. I'm also planing on pulling the calipers from the Z4 and see what happens when I put the on the Z3...

Anyway, Bimmerbum is having a great deal on a set of Brembo Slotted: he's selling 2 300mm rotors for $146 shipped... Origianl price was close to $300. He's having a closeout because I think Brembo discontinued them. I know he's a reputable seller...

Regarding the pads, I still have a good 20% on the pads I'm using now, and the one that came with the "new" calipers are pretty much new so I'm gonna use them. I know it's not the "best" to use old pas on new rotors, but I feel bad tossing them. I'm sure the rotor will survive the shock.

[aceyx]

Originally Posted by cooljess76

The concept makes sense to me, better cooling=less brake fade.

The laws of physics disagree with you.

Cross-drilling and slotting are both solutions to problems that don't exist with good, modern pads (off-gassing and glazing, respectively).

Braking gets better when you can more efficiently (quickly) change kinetic energy to thermal energy, which is going to be dependent on the mass of the rotor.


Anyhow, bigger rotors (even cross-drilled) will achieve that.

[lpcapital]

Bought the rotors today: is gonna be 300mm Brembo Sport slotted. I also got 1 liter of ATE SuperBlue Racing to flush brake and clutch. Will post pix once I get them

[lpcapital]

I got the rotors last night and sure enough is the real deal. Here's some pix.









And since I haven't post them yet, here's a couple pix of the caliper set I got.



I'll post some more once I get them installed

[lpcapital]

Saturday I finally installed the new brakes.

Here's how they compare with the original:



Here's the before:



And here's the after:



I have more pix but I haven't got a chance to upload them yet... I'll do it tonight and share them.

Overall the impression is good. The purpose for me was not to increase braking power which is enough as it is, but to reduce brakes fade and improve heat dissipation.

Theoretically the braking torque should have increased about 5%, but I can't really noticed it. However this morning it was raining on my way to work and I did noticed the brakes react more quickly: I would guess the slots help dissipate the steam and the pads float less...

I haven't got a chance to test them under stress, hopefully I'll get to drive Mulholland downhill soon: that's where the old rotors lost significant braking power half way through...

[tiFreak]

looks good, did you take pics of two different rims or were the calipers relocated to the other side for some reason?

[lpcapital]

Originally Posted by tiFreak

looks good, did you take pics of two different rims or were the calipers relocated to the other side for some reason?

Oh, no... The before is the passenger while the after is the driver... Good catch

[lpcapital]

Here's a couple better pictures of the brakes installed