Brembo Big Brake Kit Installed

[ichiban]

piston dia doesn't have much to do with stopping power. It's all in the rotor dia, and pad.

[Evolution Racewerks]

Thanks! They look purdy with our wheels.
No, we did not buy them off the shelf. We worked very closely with Brembo to get these brake developed. As far as I know, these are the very first set out there. They will be available very soon. We need to give them feedback on these brakes.

We worked with Brembo and hassled them constantly to hurry and get these ready for our race car and for everyone else. We were running way too many track event on the stock pads.

Brembo list price is around $3,500 USD. If anyone is interested I will do my best to help out.

Originally Posted by Blacky

Sweet that is a nice set up!
Did you buy off the shelf?
How much and from where?
Thanks in advance!

[Evolution Racewerks]

I believe you can use your stock wheels for emergency/moving the car. If you add a small spacer on the stock wheel, it should clear. The part that hits the caliper on the stock wheel is the inside edge of the outer lip where the 5 spokes start.

I will check if they have an ETA on the brakes. They may even be available already.

Originally Posted by timt

Not fitting under the stock rims may well put these off the list of available options. I just put the Breyton GTS-R wheels on my car so they'd probably fit with those wheels (they are very open for 18"ers) but I was hoping to keep the stock wheels/tires for emergencies etc. Maybe I'll just buy one extra GTS-R front rim and keep for a spare on long trips through barren landscape.

Replacement rotors and aftermarket pad options for the OEM brakes may end up being viable (and cheaper). WIll have to see...

Originally Posted by timt

btw: any word on when these brake setups, front and/or rear, are to be generally available through retailers, Fred?

[Evolution Racewerks]

There is a very noticeable difference in weight between the BBK rotor and the OEM rotor (BBK rotor was considerably lighter). Unfortunately, were in a rush to get things put together for the SoCal Euro Meet this past weekend that I did not weigh them. There was a weight difference as well with the caliper, but it was very small.

Originally Posted by ichiban

i would imagine there is a weight saving to be had with the brembo BBK.

[Evolution Racewerks]

I did not check the piston diameter. The pads are considerably larger than the OEM pad. Sorry, I did not measure, but I did take a picture. I'll try to find it. If I recalled, they were over 1" longer. If you take a look at the 2 calipers, the upgraded Brembo caliper is larger in size. If fact you can see the brake pads in the caliper.

Originally Posted by ichiban

piston dia doesn't have much to do with stopping power. It's all in the rotor dia, and pad.

[partapgti]

Originally Posted by ichiban

piston dia doesn't have much to do with stopping power. It's all in the rotor dia, and pad.

piston dia equals better force distribution on the pads. i designed the brake system on the formula sae car. i will pull up the formula when i get home.

To obtain the greatest force between the brake pads and the rotors you will need the largest caliper pistons you can get coupled with the smallest diameter master cylinder bore that will move the required amount of brake fluid without excessive brake pedal travel. (http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...rake_calc2.htm) good read for brake design.

[timt]

Thanks a bunch - sounds like it would be worth investigating in the spacer. The stock wheels/tires are narrower than will fit within the wheel-well so that may work should the need arise.

I noticed the rotors are slotted, but not drilled/holed. Is that a choice you made, Fred, or did Brembo decide that was the best implementation for this car? The rotors are already light so slotted may well be fine, but I thought Brembo built the holes into the rotor similar to the Porsche brakes (as opposed to actually drilling) meaning that the holes weren't the negatives they are on some rotors.

[Evolution Racewerks]

These are what Brembo sent us. I did not specify drilled or slotted (maybe I did and just don't remember). However, I did prefer the slotted over drilled/hole so I was happy.

Originally Posted by timt

Thanks a bunch - sounds like it would be worth investigating in the spacer. The stock wheels/tires are narrower than will fit within the wheel-well so that may work should the need arise.

I noticed the rotors are slotted, but not drilled/holed. Is that a choice you made, Fred, or did Brembo decide that was the best implementation for this car? The rotors are already light so slotted may well be fine, but I thought Brembo built the holes into the rotor similar to the Porsche brakes (as opposed to actually drilling) meaning that the holes weren't the negatives they are on some rotors.

[Blacky]

Off the topic a little, but is the pad change easy on these calipers?
Noticing the cast cross brace, not sure if this interfers with the removal of the pads.
Thanks

[GQ 135i]

Looks good.

[mkiiieustyle]

Originally Posted by Blacky

Off the topic a little, but is the pad change easy on these calipers?
Noticing the cast cross brace, not sure if this interfers with the removal of the pads.
Thanks

i'm pretty sure the caliper has to come off for pad replacement, but i could be wrong.

[968PORSCHE]

$400 bucks just for pads??? That's over the top! Pads for my cars range from $60 for the Porsche and $86 for the Audi. $400 is nuts. I have to believe the aftermarket will be all over this.

[Evolution Racewerks]

Caliper has to come off to change pads, just like OEM. This really isn't a big deal. It is just 2 bolts that are really easy to reach. Granted this might be an issue if the car is old and they're hard to come off. But brand new car, it's cake, comes off real easy. Just put in high temp anti-seize in now and you shouldn't have a problem later. In fact, this was so easy of a job, it took me about 10 minutes each side to change everything from the OEM Brembo's to the Brembo BBK's. I was taking my time and taking pictures. Sam @ Eurotuner was amazed how fast it took. We had so much time left from the photoshoot, we installed his meth injection kit and upgraded engine mounts on his GTI while he was there.

Originally Posted by Blacky

Off the topic a little, but is the pad change easy on these calipers?
Noticing the cast cross brace, not sure if this interfers with the removal of the pads.
Thanks

[Evolution Racewerks]

Yeah imagine my surprise. We were going to change the brake pads for another set of OEM before our Redline Time Attack event. After I got the quote, I was like "uh yeah, we can go another event with the pads" hehe.

Originally Posted by porschelover

$400 bucks just for pads??? That's over the top! Pads for my cars range from $60 for the Porsche and $86 for the Audi. $400 is nuts. I have to believe the aftermarket will be all over this.

[Blacky]

Thanks for the confirmation

Are you planning on marketing once they are released?

[SV Concepts III]

I'd be interested to see a side by side comparison of the two systems. I am in this dilemma as well with my 1er, not sure if it makes sense to upgrade the brakes or just powdercoat the stock calipers.

[stylinexpat]

Originally Posted by Evolution Racewerks

There is a very noticeable difference in weight between the BBK rotor and the OEM rotor (BBK rotor was considerably lighter). Unfortunately, were in a rush to get things put together for the SoCal Euro Meet this past weekend that I did not weigh them. There was a weight difference as well with the caliper, but it was very small.

When you get the chance I would like to know what the weight savings were if any:iono: Also, Do you feel a huge breaking difference in stopping power and stopping distance? I know you gain a bit just by switching to lighter weight wheels alone.

[ChrisK]

If I remember correctly, the BMW performance rotors are 3.1lbs lighter than stock. I wonder where the Brembo rotors will come in.

[joneffingvo]

guess what i just found! http://www.eurotuner.com/techarticle...all/index.html

[Evolution Racewerks]

I took a few comparison pictures which I will post up later. I used Monica's camera and she loaded it on our FTP site. Unfortunately, I can't save it on my computer to put up on the website database.

At the moment, I only broke in the rotors but not the pads so I haven't tested them out. I thought it was a bad idea going fast and then braking hard multiple times on the street with a car full of stickers. Gonna be hard explaining that one to a cop.

We're going to be taking the car out to the tracks to do some additional testing as well as diagnosis of our limp mode problem. I'll post my feedback then.

There is a noticeable weight savings especially with the rotors. When you pick them up, you can definitely feel the difference. Unfortunately, I was in a rush to get the car ready for SoCal Euro, I forgot to weigh them. Now that they're on the car, I'm too lazy to take it off.

BTW, I scrubbed off the zinc coating on the rotors (the gold color stuff) and now they look even better.

Originally Posted by Nick@Jlevi SW

I'd be interested to see a side by side comparison of the two systems. I am in this dilemma as well with my 1er, not sure if it makes sense to upgrade the brakes or just powdercoat the stock calipers.

Originally Posted by stylinexpat

When you get the chance I would like to know what the weight savings were if any:iono: Also, Do you feel a huge breaking difference in stopping power and stopping distance? I know you gain a bit just by switching to lighter weight wheels alone.

[stylinexpat]

Originally Posted by ChrisK

If I remember correctly, the BMW performance rotors are 3.1lbs lighter than stock. I wonder where the Brembo rotors will come in.

If you can save 3.1 lb.s from the rotor and another 8 lbs. from the wheel then you will have one hell of a car for brakes:biggrin: I think that by just swapping to these rotors and getting lighter weight wheels is pretty much all this car needs. I don't think the Brembo kit will do much more but that is my $.02..

A friend of mine had a BBK Brembo on his 130i but had a larger and heavier wheel on his car and while I had lighter wheels on mine, mine stopped better then his when we compared braking on both cars. One should not underestimate the BMW brakes. They are more then capable brakes especially when one saves about another 8 lbs. on each corner by installing lighter weight wheels.

[gdhm3]

If you're sticking with your OEM 135i brakes, one option probably available soon is Carbotech http://www.ctbrakes.com/about.html I just sent them my pads for them to use as patterns -- they're laser cutting a couple hundred backing plates and I expect their entire line may be available for our cars. They're a top-drawer outfit -- ask for Danny.