[mocohead]

Does anybody know of any track pads available for the 328i? There are plenty for the e90 but so far I am not finding any for the F30.

Thanks

[brian99997]

I'm not sure I would bother. I just tracked mine today and my rotors turned blue after only two runs. This car basically needs a real caliper because it seems like BMW used an aggressive pad to make up for the weak caliper and it just glazes over.

[mocohead]

Did you experience any fade? We're you running stock tires? What level of experience are you? Which track?

I am working with a friend who builds race cars to fabricate brake ducts as I think that will be most beneficial. Also at some point I would like to swap the OE brakes for 335i calipers and rotors but that is down the road.

[brian99997]

Wicked brake fade, probably about 25% more brake pedal travel and braking distances (confirmed by telemetry) lengthened by about 30% within the 2nd 1:30 long lap. I believe some real brake fluid will help considerably but I'm really looking for a way to adapt some brembo calipers to this car (from the various e46/e90 race cars, these can be found for $2k used) and junk the entire setup. Stock tires, stock suspension/alignment and also I tested the H&R springs the same day with various alignments but that is another post.

I've run a few races in grand am and used to teach regularly before I moved from TX and I have a history of being fairly abusive on car parts.

The track was streets of willow springs ccw, 1:33.7 if you want to base the time on some youtube videos or something.

[mocohead]

Sow is hard on brakes, especially ccw. Braking for the skid pad is brutal. In my Evo x with hawk HT10's and castrol SRF (stock brembos) I was still boiling fluid. Cw isn't as bad there.

I was thinking of just using the stock 335i brakes on the 328i and making some proper ducts. That should help too.

So besides the brakes how was the rest of the car? Any overheating? I'm instructing at ACS infield in a couple of weeks and want to be prepared.

[brian99997]

There were no problems with heat, the gauge seemed to stay just a bit farther than normal highway driving which is just on the far side of the line after 160. The brake pedal still travels much further than before the track day but the car only had 700 miles on it before I did that.

ACS is going to be rough if you don't like the brakes for turn 3 and 11 because the cars power is really quite nice although I have been driving a spec miata lately.

[mocohead]

I am especially concerned about the brakes since I will be running my Hankook Z214's. So much grip...

So some good brake fluid, ducts and better pads. I think I am going to send some backing plates to Carbotech to make me some pads. Yes bigger brakes are better but for now this is an ok answer.

[brian99997]

Oh, you will probably flip over at some point with those tires :P the sport suspension and the h&r springs have crazy roll. not really flipping but you'll have fun for sure

I believe the problem with the brakes is really just the caliper being small/weak and BMW using an overly aggressive pad to make up for it which feels great on the street. When I was doing the springs I noticed that give or take, the entire front suspension is very similar to the e46/e90 so switching to slotted (or bigger) rotors should be easy as well

These pads have to be textar or pagid OEM, there should be fitments around so you don't have to custom make them

[richb811]

OP :

There is nothing out by HAWK yet. They are usually a year behind when it comes to putting out brakes for new models.

They don't even have pads out for the F10 5 series yet. My guess is that they should be out within 6 months or so.

Originally Posted by brian99997

Oh, you will probably flip over at some point with those tires :P the sport suspension and the h&r springs have crazy roll. not really flipping but you'll have fun for sure

I believe the problem with the brakes is really just the caliper being small/weak and BMW using an overly aggressive pad to make up for it which feels great on the street. When I was doing the springs I noticed that give or take, the entire front suspension is very similar to the e46/e90 so switching to slotted (or bigger) rotors should be easy as well

These pads have to be textar or pagid OEM, there should be fitments around so you don't have to custom make them

Yeah I am not really sure what is up with BMW's suspension and wheel design on this new F30. The car is wider, but the rear won't support as wide a wheel as the E90 platform. The poor braking could also be contributed to the larger rotational mass from the taller tires.

I'm sure there will be awesome replacement products in due time