325is brake upgrades ?

[helalo]

my brakes are stock and im looking to upgrade.

any recommendations ?

[Court M3]

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forumdisplay.php?f=131

Start there, lots of variables to consider

[agent]

Moved to the appropriate subforum.

[stonea]

25mm Master cylinder, slotted rotors, hawk pads, SS lines, and rebuilt calipers.

[e30_world]

25mm Master cylinder, slotted rotors, hawk pads, SS lines, and rebuilt calipers.

I agree except for the slotted rotors. Blanks have more service area to brake and stop better. But they don't look as cool, but hey. If you're interested in getting crazy good brakes look into the RX7 turbo brakes. I just did this on my S50 car and it's amazing! I would never use Hawk pads for a street car. Work great but super noisy! Try StopTech street pads

[nando]

a larger master cylinder isn't really an upgrade at all. It will not increase stopping ability, it will only make the pedal harder and more difficult to modulate.

unless you're seriously tracking your car and overheating them, you don't really need "upgraded" brakes. What really controls stopping distance are your tires, not your brakes. If you can still lock them up/activate ABS, then your brakes are fine. If you can't then refreshing the brake system with rebuilt calipers, new rotors, fluid, and pads would be the best place to start.

If you're overheating them on the street, you're driving like an idiot. If you're overheating them on the track, you need better pads and ducting. If you're actually fast and you still need more, then it makes sense.

[stonea]

a larger master cylinder isn't really an upgrade at all. It will not increase stopping ability, it will only make the pedal harder and more difficult to modulate.

True, although I love mine. It may not be an upgrade, but its a modification to the braking system that I love. I like the way the car feels much better with the 25mm MC instead of the stock 23mm (?) MC

[nando]

yeah I almost did a 25mm MC for a harder pedal. I fought with my brake system for 2 years because it just felt mushy with no pedal feel. I thought my MC had to be toast or something. But it ended up being the horrid Hawk HPS pads - as soon as I swapped them out my pedal feel and firmness came back. I had 2 sets of them and they always sucked, I just hadn't realized why my brakes were so bad until I got rid of them.

[digger]

If you can still lock them up/activate ABS, then your brakes are fine.

Now im not saying a MC swap is the right thing, but that is just misleading and id go so far as to say as not correct, if the travel is long and pedal overly soft the time it takes for you to get the braking force to the point it can lock the brakes is longer and on a street car its down right dangerous in an emergency.
you dont want to have to push the pedal a mile to get enough bite and you want to be able to modulate which is hard when the response to the pedal is extremely non linear. you want to have enough braking and for it be available on demand, not 1 second after you needed it. Only the peak braking is limited by tyres

For an analogy think of an engine with very good throttle response and nice wide torque curve vs a laggy small engine turbo from the 80s with peaky torque curve. its alot harder to get the peaky engine to get the car moving

[redlightpete]

As noted above, pads are the biggest variable. What are you currently using? For the street, factory Jurid or Textar pads are actually very good. They have good pedal feel, good cold bite, are resistant to fading, and don't tend to leave uneven deposits on the rotors ('warped rotors'). The only downside is that they are very dusty.

[squidmaster]

I have two sets of RX7 turbo brakes if you decide you want to go that way. Give me a PM.