Need opinions on bbk

[AlpineEdirty]

The car is an obd1 s52 318is. The stock brakes were barely enough for trackdays when i had the m42 in it. Now with the s52 it is time to upgrade to bigger brakes. I am looking at massive's 300mm kit or the ireland engineering 310mm kit. I have seen couple of possitive reviews of the massive's kit but i can not find anything on the IE kit. Does anyone have any experience with them on track?.

I am leaning towards the IE kit because of the calipers and larger diameter rotors(though it is 2mm thinner). Only thing preventing me from ordering IE bbk is that the caliper brackets look much sturdier with the massive's kit.

Any help is greatly appriciated.

[jlevie]

What pads have you been using? Bigger brakes are always better, but pad choice is critical for track performance.

[SkinnyVT]

The stock brakes were barely enough for trackdays when i had the m42 in it.

I'm calling BS on this, unless you were running street pads and garbage fluid. The entire SpecE30 field seems to make it through race after race on stock components just fine.

[jlevie]

The stock brakes on an E30, with the right pads, are able to generate more braking torque than even R Compound tires can handle. The advantage of a BBK is an increase in swept area and an increase in thermal mass. Both of which help to control rotor and pad temperatures. But even a BBK can't compensate for the wrong pads or poor braking technique. Other than when only needing a brush on the brakes to set the front wheels, all other use of the brakes should be maximum effort (threshold) braking. If the car has a working ABS each brake application should be hard enough to cause the front wheel ABS to cycle. If you don't have ABS you want to be just shy of locking up a wheel. The short hard application of the brakes yields the greatest amount of time for cooling.

Poor braking technique is the one problem that I see with most every student on track. They get on the brakes early and never use them hard enough. If you felt the brakes to be marginal when thew car was a 318, you had the wrong pads, were using poor technique, or both.

[AlpineEdirty]

I dont see any reason why i need to "bs" about my brakes not being enough for the m42...lol. I am not a real racer like spece30 guys but i do enjoy my track time and i like improving myself and my car.
Well, my main problem is brake fade. Towards end of day, i have to press the pedal with all i got to slow it down. I am running street pads with stock rotors, and ate superblue(i think thats the name). I dont think i am braking too early or riding it. Infact i think i am braking pretty late and hard, i could feel the abs pulsing through the pedal. I do catch up or keep up with other cars when braking.
Besides the fade, I see bbk as a performance upgrade. If i could brake later and harder for longer without fade, i think i would enjoy my track time more.
Well, lets not get off topic. Does anyone have experience with IE bbk?.

How long have you been racing in SpecE30, SkinnyVT?. You sound like you are very experienced driver.

[MR 325]

I have to say, I just installed the UUC BBK on my car over the weekend and I love it. Everything was very high quality and went together very easily. Might want to consider that one as well. Another nice thing about the UUC kit is it offers the best caliper to wheel clearance out of the three.

If you're interested contact Levent at Guten Parts. He goes by ZM Blue Devil on the forum.

[jlevie]

A very skilled racer might get away with street pads on a 318, but alot would depend on the track. Street pads and track driving just aren't a compatible mix. Depending on the skill level of the driver and the track run one might get away with a pad like Hawk HP+. But a full up race pad line PFC 06 or Hawk HT-10 would be the better choice.

If you aren't using race pads now, before investing in a BBK, put a set of PFC 06 pads on the car and see how that works on track. The 06 pads are pretty "rotor friendly" and can be used on the street in moderate ambients. With an S52 you may ultimately need a BBK (on all four wheels). But depending on the track run and how hard you can push the car that decision may not need to be immediate.

As to the choice between a 300 or 310mm kit, I'd what to know which rotor is heavier. The heavier rotor has greater thermal mass and would be my pick, all other factors being equal.

[Yngvejos]

The car is an obd1 s52 318is. The stock brakes were barely enough for trackdays when i had the m42 in it. Now with the s52 it is time to upgrade to bigger brakes. I am looking at massive's 300mm kit or the ireland engineering 310mm kit. I have seen couple of possitive reviews of the massive's kit but i can not find anything on the IE kit. Does anyone have any experience with them on track?.

I am leaning towards the IE kit because of the calipers and larger diameter rotors(though it is 2mm thinner). Only thing preventing me from ordering IE bbk is that the caliper brackets look much sturdier with the massive's kit.

Any help is greatly appriciated.

I have IE 295mm kit on my E30. It works very good on the track.
The standard 325 brakes lasted 0.5 lap on Nürburgring before it started to fade. With the wilwood kit I never had any fading, even after multiple laps.
The kit will fit inside most rims, I'm running mine with splitted 16in rims without spacers.

I recommend to buy upgraded pads if you gonna use it on track. the BP10 pads lasted 13 laps on the ring before they were done.

[AlpineEdirty]

Thanks for reply. How does the rear brakes feel?, do you feel that IE kit does not screw up brake bias?.
I am almost sold on the IE kit but the brackets for the calipers are holding me back.
Have you bought replacement rotors since you bought the IE kit?, do you by any chance know how much they go for?.

Thanks

[Yngvejos]

Thanks for reply. How does the rear brakes feel?, do you feel that IE kit does not screw up brake bias?.
I am almost sold on the IE kit but the brackets for the calipers are holding me back.
Have you bought replacement rotors since you bought the IE kit?, do you by any chance know how much they go for?.

Thanks

The brakes feels balanced. I have a wilwood bias valve and yellowstuff pads in the rear.
I haven't replaced the rotors yet, so I don't know the price for replacement rotors.

[MR 325]

Thanks for reply. How does the rear brakes feel?, do you feel that IE kit does not screw up brake bias?.
I am almost sold on the IE kit but the brackets for the calipers are holding me back.
Have you bought replacement rotors since you bought the IE kit?, do you by any chance know how much they go for?.

Thanks

Please tell me why you're sold on the IE kit and seem to not even be considering the UUC kit.

[AlpineEdirty]

I have been talking to Massive through e-mail and he suggested something bigger. I think he actually offers a kit very similar to the uuc kit on e30tech but he recommended the 300x22mm with 4 pot superlite calipers. From what i understand i have to use the spacer that he provides with the kit to prevent the calipers from touching my wheels but i wont be able to run the tire size i want. So i think iam leaning towards the IE kit since their kit uses narrower calipers.

[IminDiegoTriick]

@Yngvejos

Your signature is freakin hilarious haha and clean car by the way.

To OP do an rx7 big brake kit ;)

[euro2fast4u]

ever think about massive lees kit? pricey but nothing but good things

[AlpineEdirty]

Yngvejos, is it necessary to use bias valve?