Massive 280mm street kit - any reviews?

[static]

Hi

My brakes need a refresh, figured it may be an opportunity to just upgrade to something with a better feel/feedback.

Anyone written a review on Lee's 280mm street kit with dynapros comparing it to stock?

Cheers

[Massive Lee]

Anyone written a review on Lee's 280mm street kit with dynapros comparing it to stock?

There are about two dozen street kits out there. Someone will probably start commenting... Fiddle was one of the first ones, and he runs an M52 motor. Fiddle?

[ZM Blue Devil]

Best product put there from what I found. Will be ordering a set soon.

[DaveSmed]

They look great on my car that doesn't move..... :p

[jackbenny]

They look great on my car that doesn't move..... :p

Same here :D

[sharky]

Looking at getting the brackets and the rotors, what is a good caliper to use? I want to get new so can someone point me in the direction of a good piece/price. dynapro,dynalite/superlight etc is getting confusing just need a definitive answer

[Fidhle007]

I have an S50-powered 325is with coilovers and some other mods and I've been running one of Lee's street kits since early this spring. Try as I might I have honestly found no fault with the kit and have loved it more than most other mods I've done. I used mine with a 25mm master cylinder and no ABS. I also replaced the stock pressure limiter with an adjustable prop valve from Tilton but I've yet to ever adjust it.

Pedal feel and modulation is amazing although I think one would probably be better off with a properly sized master. My biggest problem was lockup on my 215 azenis but once they were warm that wasn't really a problem in controlled environments. I'd recommend keeping the ABS system intact for street use, especially given the added braking power you'll be adding with this kit. It's fine without it on the track though, possibly better. One of my instructors at the last track day I went to was running the same kit with upgraded pads and he said he was in the ABS way more then he cared to be and figured he was probably under-tired and over padded.

Summary: You're stupid if you don't buy this kit. For a few hundred dollars more then buying fancy pads and rotors you can solve the fundamental issues that plague the E30's braking system.

Cheers and good luck!

[z31maniac]

They look great sitting on the floor of the computer room.....

Fixed for me

[Toms73NovaSS]

Fiddle,

Do you have front and back kit?

If just front, what size pistons in front claipers?

[Fidhle007]

There isn't a rear kit available due to the lack of an adequate rotor. I forget the piston size, probably 1.38" but that's really a question for Lee. If you order the whole kit from him he'll size it right for stock rear brakes and you won't be spending any extra on anything as far as I can tell.

[der affe]

Fixed for me

well put them on!
choppy chop!

[static]

good review Fidhle, thanks! have to gather the dough now

[kuzimmer]

I have an M50 with S50 cams, E20 Brake booster and 25mm MC, and SS lines everywhere. Let me first say that I moved to this kit from the Ireland BBK, so my experience will not correspond to someone moving from stock brakes. For me, so far, the biggest change, is improved pedal feel. It wasn't a huge improvement over the the Ireland kit, but it is better. Given how spongy I remember my stock brakes were, this will be a major improvement over stock.

The first track day was a bit of a disappointment as the Wilwood polymatrix B pads deposited an uneven wear layer, resulting in a pretty serious shudder, I also used up 1/2 of my pads in one day. I have brake duct cooling and it was only a mid 70's day so there is some thought that I was actually over cooling the pads. This was at Portland where turn 1 is notoriously hard on brakes. The rotors looked to suffer from some pretty serious heat checking as well.

Before my second day, at Thunderhill, I turned the rotors removing only about 1mm of material total. This removed most of the heat checks, so the checking wasn't nearly as bad as it looked. I also ran Raybestos ST43 pads, and I taped over 3/4 of my brake duct. Running in low 90 degree weather, this was a much better experience, though I found that I needed to be very careful with the initial engagement. If I applied the ST43s too quickly they would immediately put me into ABS, which you don't want to have happen on an E30. Once I got the hang of the initial engagement, I found modulation to be quite easy. The heat checking appeared again, but my pads looked hardly used after one day at Thunderhill. Of course, Thunderhill is much easier on brakes than Portland, and since I had students in the faster groups, I only had free time to run with intermediate students, who held me up a lot, so I don't consider this a full test. I'll be back at Portland next week, with an instructor run group, so we'll see how the ST43's wear there.

Overall, I'm happy with the kit, if I can get some decent wear out of the pads and rotors they will be cheaper to run than the Ireland kit, which was one of my reasons for switching. In terms of overall braking ability, there is really not much difference between the kits. I still want to try some other pads to see if I can get longer wear and reduce the heat checking on the rotors. PFC 01s and Carbotech XP10s (if they are making them for the dynapro) are next on my list. That is one nice feature of this kit, pads are relatively cheap, so you can afford to try different compounds to see what works for you.

[everlast]

^^ great detailed feedback kuzimmer. :)

[SkinnyVT]

kuzimmer, I've been running the Wilwood H compound (per Lee's recommendation) on my Sport kit and they have performed pretty flawlessly. Fairly minimal wear on both the pad and rotor after 5 days on them in 80°+ ambient temps with no ducting. I think the PFC01's are gonna be the next pad I try.