brakes

[SA E30]

Rape and Murders are just as common as red necks over there.

I was making a direct reply to jlevie's post, where he states states along the lines that std brakes are fine for an e30, re reading his post, I think he was talking in the context of the thread and not of absolutes.

My bad.

Oh, and BTW 300hp e30's are pretty common over here.

[rwh11385]

It depends what the car is used for...

I mean do you really think that the std brakes would stand up to a continuous race pace for say 1-2hr's in a with a 300hp engine, R Comps... blah blah blah ?

I say no, but for many of the "boulevard" cruisers they are fine

most DEs here are 20 minutes sessions, and rarely people have 300hp engines.

maybe that is common over there, but so are rapes and murders, so not everything is the same between the continents.

[jlevie]

I mean do you really think that the std brakes would stand up to a continuous race pace for say 1-2hr's in a with a 300hp engine, R Comps... blah blah blah ?

Probably not with that kind of power under the hood. But I assumed we were talking about an E30 with the stock engine. In which case extreme measures w/regard to brakes just aren't needed.

[nando]

probably not, but I think that's the point - few of us have a dedicated race car that we track for hours at a time. most of us are just taking out street car or our weekend/fun car to the track for a few 20-30 minute sessions. I know for my own purposes, a BBK would be way overkill - would it improve my braking situation? certainly. But so would some nice race pads and a couple hundred dollars in maintenance.

[SA E30]

I'm with Ranger... Use track pads all around (and good technique) and you should not have any problems. Different MC's, a BBK, etc., simply isn't needed on an E30!

It depends what the car is used for...

I mean do you really think that the std brakes would stand up to a continuous race pace for say 1-2hr's in a with a 300hp engine, R Comps... blah blah blah ?

I say no, but for many of the "boulevard" cruisers they are fine

[nando]

I need to qualify that... I know it fits the booster and the regular e30 lines.

I have no idea if the e34 MC fits the reservior...

pretty sure it would - the 7 series MC and resivior is pretty much the same as the one in my ix.

nice info on the M5 MC though. I'll be looking at my options on that - 200,000+ miles on an original MC and track days don't really mix very well. it's been getting mushy for a while anyway.

[matt]

I need to qualify that... I know it fits the booster and the regular e30 lines.

I have no idea if the e34 MC fits the reservior...

[rwh11385]

Yeah, I didn't read all your posts Chris before posting. If you are dead set on two sets, go for it. It didn't make time/economic/effort sense for most of us in the first year or two of events. Braking like you should and good fluid you shouldn't have an issue with HP+'s.

There's a lot to worry about in the several first events and changing up to track pads wasn't one of the things I was interested in.

I was eventually going to run Carbotech after people's recommendation, or Porterfield, or HT-10s. Jack is probably directing you towards the best choice among those, so pick up the R4 pads if you are down to swap out pads. Just be sure they are new, or have a spare set if you have an anal-retentive inspector. ugh. Cheaper multi purpose compromise pads come in handy then.

[Elephant]

I'm with Ranger... Use track pads all around (and good technique) and you should not have any problems. Different MC's, a BBK, etc., simply isn't needed on an E30!

Those other things are nice and are good ideas at the right time I think but there is a lot in the stock system. Especially given how fast the E30 can be by using less brake! ; )

Cheers.

[Elephant]

I run stock E30 brakes and I've been running Ferrodo's for about 8 years. I can't remember the exact pad but I buy them from a small company that advertises in Roundel.

My car has an S50, GC setup with Koni SA, etc. etc. It's setup for autorcrossing. It would be a track car if it wasn't a cabrio.

Years ago we ran a set of DS3k's and DS2.5k's on the E30 M3 (then JS) that I now own. We'd been running Hawks exclusively for a couple years at that point. The first thing I noticed about the Ferrodos was they did not have nearly the initial bite however the torque curve seemed pretty linear so they worked nearly as well, just needed to get used to the initial difference.

However, they burned up more than half way in a single weekend. And they were more expensive. For more money I expect at least the same performance and wear but in this case it was way worse. Sold the other new sets and never looked back.

Just my single experience. Cheers.

[Elephant]

HP+ are still a street pad though right? I don't really need two sets of stret pads :p

the set I used on a buddy's car a couple years ago was pretty nice for autox though!

Yes, the HP+ is still a street pad. I've run them on the track and they work but it's not a track pad plain and simple. For tracks that are easier on brakes it won't be as big of a deal. Of course skill level matters too.

One can almost always get away with street pads but a track pad is always better and there is no changing that.

Cheers.

[Elephant]

I was looking at your site for the HT-10s actually, the best deal I could find anywhere...

as far as the MC - are you saying the 25mm from the 7 series (whatever it was - 740 or something) won't work? It looks the same as my MC on the outside but I gave away my spare core before the price quadrupled (doh!) so I can't compare it to the stock ix part. I suppose there's always a rebuild kit...

The HT-10's are very good in the E30, run a lighter pad in the rear unless you have a way to bias the brakes, otherwise the rears will be grabby or you will not have much in the way of trailbraking. If yer not trailbraking an E30 then yer missing a lot.

Seriously, I'd highly recommend trying a set of R4's front and rear, you will love them. You can drive to/from the track on them without issue. They wear well, are easy on rotors, and are very forgiving. The 1st time I ran track pads way back in '99 or '00 I ran these on my iX. They were fabulous. I actually was lazy and didn't remove them after that event and drove them on the street for over a year. Naturally that is not recommended as they wear fast, cause dust like crazy, and squeal like a garbage truck (which I thought was kewl). But even in the winter I never had problems.

Not sure on the MC, I was thinking of the E32 750 that M3 guys put in. It seems Matt from TRM has indicated the E34 M5 MC is a direct fit, I think many iX owners would love to know this!

E34 M5 MC @ Elephant Motorsports

Certainly seems like a much better deal than the stock iX unit!!!

Cheers.

[rwh11385]

you have a point but you also shopping cart race and they help there too.

and you can drive to the track with HP+s more safely than HT-10s, and not have to worry about changing pads but rather just getting situated at the track in the morning.

having one pad with multiple sets instead of one set of track / one set of street helps if you have a tech person wanting you to run new pads, then you don't have to buy two boxes of HT-10s and then also have your street pads. you could just run your HP+'s on the track and DD them to death. 10s also have a $20 premium (I dunno how differently they would wear on track though) so $180+sh for 2 sets of HP+s or $220+sh for 2 sets of HT-10s.

and no need to store spare rotors all with one type of pad.... but from other posts you seem to have tons of parts lying around anyway so not a big deal.

[nando]

I think it's more of a compromise actually, if you only want to run one set of pads - they probably work great. but the HPS is I have are already a nice street pad and I have a lot of life left in them, so buying another set of street/race pads (that I will use on a track maybe 2-4 times a year) while compromising daily driving (squealing/lots of dust) isn't something I'm terribly interested in. ;)

[rwh11385]

Charlie used HP+'s for years at the track and they did fine, same story with Dave and I. HT-10s is a true track pad but you lose the usefulness on the street.

HP+'s are fine for street use, albeit a bit loud