AP racing BBK replacement rotors

[GewoW]

I am doing some research on options for when I need to replace my rotors. i have the 6 piston F and 4 piston R AP kit for my e92. Calipers are CP5555 F and CP5306 R with 368x36 F and 358x26 R rotors.

I called PFC to see if they offered any options for AP kits...they don't. I was wondering if anyone knew of anything available. I just want to explore my options before deciding on getting rotors from Stillen, whenever that time comes.

thx!

[HP Autosport]

As far as I know. Only AP has the correct rotor rings for their hats.

Let me know if can be of any help.

[lutfy]

Originally Posted by GewoW

I am doing some research on options for when I need to replace my rotors. i have the 6 piston F and 4 piston R AP kit for my e92. Calipers are CP5555 F and CP5306 R with 368x36 F and 358x26 R rotors.

I called PFC to see if they offered any options for AP kits...they don't. I was wondering if anyone knew of anything available. I just want to explore my options before deciding on getting rotors from Stillen, whenever that time comes.

thx!

Google up Coleman Racing (formerly Coleman Machine). Send them your spent rotors and they can mimic you a new one which bolts right up (rings). They make rotors for NASCAR and Prodrive, most of us club racers have used them in the past and I can vouch great service/product.

Make sure you get non slotted/drilled and add for the heat treating which fights fatigue (pre mature cracks). Should have it squared out for $300 for the pair, no need to spend any more for AP branded discs. There you have it

Lutfy

[GewoW]

Originally Posted by lutfy

Google up Coleman Racing (formerly Coleman Machine). Send them your spent rotors and they can mimic you a new one which bolts right up (rings). They make rotors for NASCAR and Prodrive, most of us club racers have used them in the past and I can vouch great service/product.

Make sure you get non slotted/drilled and add for the heat treating which fights fatigue (pre mature cracks). Should have it squared out for $300 for the pair, no need to spend any more for AP branded discs. There you have it

Lutfy

hmmm...very interesting. the only issue with this is the fact that there is a lot of down time with an undriveable car. i may opt to do this after i replace my rotors the 1st time and use this thereafter

[dogbone]

I have the same AP kit on my E90 M3. I just replaced my front rotor rings a couple months ago. I did it myself.

After having gone through the process of replacing them, and seeing how it all goes together, my humble advice is: Don't mess around. Just get the AP rotors.

The Strap Drive system in the front is not just a simple bolt-on-and-go. There's around 130 pieces of metal (washers, straps, bolts, nuts) that connect each rotor ring to each hat.

I don't know anything about other companies that make less expensive replicas of rotors. Perhaps they're great. But after going through the replacement process myself, I say get the real thing. What is more important than your front rotor rings when on the track?

Here's the carnage after disassembling one of the rotors and hats. Nope, I wasn't nervous at all. Nope......not at all......

[klammer]

Originally Posted by dogbone

I have the same AP kit on my E90 M3. I just replaced my front rotor rings a couple months ago. I did it myself.

After having gone through the process of replacing them, and seeing how it all goes together, my humble advice is: Don't mess around. Just get the AP rotors.

The Strap Drive system in the front is not just a simple bolt-on-and-go. There's around 130 pieces of metal (washers, straps, bolts, nuts) that connect each rotor ring to each hat.

I don't know anything about other companies that make less expensive replicas of rotors. Perhaps they're great. But after going through the replacement process myself, I say get the real thing. What is more important than your front rotor rings when on the track?

Here's the carnage after disassembling one of the rotors and hats. Nope, I wasn't nervous at all. Nope......not at all......

Not at all
I would crap myself
These are brakes we're talking about here!!!

[GewoW]

ok then! LOL

[bigjae1976]

Damn, that looks like a mess! I did my stoptech rings which were pretty straight forward. Just took some time.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by bigjae1976

Damn, that looks like a mess! I did my stoptech rings which were pretty straight forward. Just took some time.

hehe that was the old parts taken off. There's just a lot of pieces. It actually is a very straightforward process. Once you figure out the first pair of bolts, there's 11 more sets that are exactly the same. The first rotor took a long time because I had no idea what I was doing. Just taking it apart took an hour. The second rotor was disassembled in 15 minutes. Once I was comfortable with the process, the second rotor took a total of 2 hours. It's not exactly the kind of thing you want to hurry through.....

For me, the results are worth it. The AP kit is simply awesome at all times on the track.

[FR01]

Originally Posted by dogbone

hehe that was the old parts taken off. There's just a lot of pieces. It actually is a very straightforward process. Once you figure out the first pair of bolts, there's 11 more sets that are exactly the same. The first rotor took a long time because I had no idea what I was doing. Just taking it apart took an hour. The second rotor was disassembled in 15 minutes. Once I was comfortable with the process, the second rotor took a total of 2 hours. It's not exactly the kind of thing you want to hurry through.....

For me, the results are worth it. The AP kit is simply awesome at all times on the track.

Your comments were more about assembly, so were you recommending to the OP to by AP rotor rings with new hats (assuming that way the rings to hats came pre-assembled) or rather that the AP branded rings fit better?

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by FR01

Your comments were more about assembly, so were you recommending to the OP to by AP rotor rings with new hats (assuming that way the rings to hats came pre-assembled) or rather that the AP branded rings fit better?

You can buy the hats and rotors pre-assembled from Stillen. I think they charge you another $500 on top of just the rotors. That seemed unnecessary for me. Nothing really goes wrong with the hats and I wanted to do the labor myself and learn the process. But I guess you could buy the whole thing pre-assembled and that would offset labor from a shop if you didn't want to do the work yourself.

Anyway, my comment was that I wouldn't mess around with replica rotors. The AP rotors are brilliant. The strap drive setup is not a simple system, and it's not common, so do you want someone figuring it out the best they can?----just to save a few bucks? They're so damn important on the track. Is that really a place to cut costs? Plus, front rotors probably last around 40-ish track days. That's a pretty long time between replacements, so they do last a while.

I'm about 10-12 track days into my new front rotors. They work awesome. I'm proud I did the job myself. A couple years ago I could barely change a wheel. Now I frequently find myself neck deep in crazy shit that has me removing calipers, rotors, etc.

[FR01]

Originally Posted by dogbone

You can buy the hats and rotors pre-assembled from Stillen. I think they charge you another $500 on top of just the rotors. That seemed unnecessary for me. Nothing really goes wrong with the hats and I wanted to do the labor myself and learn the process. But I guess you could buy the whole thing pre-assembled and that would offset labor from a shop if you didn't want to do the work yourself.

Anyway, my comment was that I wouldn't mess around with replica rotors. The AP rotors are brilliant. The strap drive setup is not a simple system, and it's not common, so do you want someone figuring it out the best they can?----just to save a few bucks? They're so damn important on the track. Is that really a place to cut costs? Plus, front rotors probably last around 40-ish track days. That's a pretty long time between replacements, so they do last a while.

I'm about 10-12 track days into my new front rotors. They work awesome. I'm proud I did the job myself. A couple years ago I could barely change a wheel. Now I frequently find myself neck deep in crazy shit that has me removing calipers, rotors, etc.

Getting into more and more of the maintenance/repair is great!

I need to measure my rotors, I've done 10days so to date.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by FR01

Getting into more and more of the maintenance/repair is great!

I need to measure my rotors, I've done 10days so to date.

Yeah, I enjoy doing these things myself. The mod shops and tech shops I work with have been very kind to let me watch and learn and ask many questions.

You may already know this, but it's still worth noting anyway----when you measure the rotor, you need a caliper that has tips that allow you to get around the outer edge, and let you measure the inner edge. The inside wears more than the outer edge.

[FR01]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Yeah, I enjoy doing these things myself. The mod shops and tech shops I work with have been very kind to let me watch and learn and ask many questions.

You may already know this, but it's still worth noting anyway----when you measure the rotor, you need a caliper that has tips that allow you to get around the outer edge, and let you measure the inner edge. The inside wears more than the outer edge.

Yup thanks.

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Yeah, I enjoy doing these things myself. The mod shops and tech shops I work with have been very kind to let me watch and learn and ask many questions.

You may already know this, but it's still worth noting anyway----when you measure the rotor, you need a caliper that has tips that allow you to get around the outer edge, and let you measure the inner edge. The inside wears more than the outer edge.

Feel free to drop by and finish up mine. Just got the calipers back from IND today.

Then I can finally get back out to the track with ya.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by tom @ eas

Feel free to drop by and finish up mine. Just got the calipers back from IND today.

Then I can finally get back out to the track with ya.

haha! (This would happen to be one of the shops that has taught me a lot.....apparently I'm on the tech staff now! )

Actually, I'm happy to help! Did you get the rotors?

And----c'mon Tom, let's see some pics of those bad boys!!!

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by dogbone

haha! (This would happen to be one of the shops that has taught me a lot.....apparently I'm on the tech staff now! )

Actually, I'm happy to help! Did you get the rotors?

And----c'mon Tom, let's see some pics of those bad boys!!!

Rotors are next. Calipers literally came in a couple of days ago.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by tom @ eas

Rotors are next. Calipers literally came in a couple of days ago.

Ooooooohhh! Fancy!

[drchuck72]

If the extra cost of the preassembled setup from AP just for the fronts is $500, it's worth it to just the rotor rings and have a shop do it for you. My mechanic charged me $250 to change all 4 rotor rings onto the old hats when he did my BBK install (that's over and above the cost of installing the BBK onto the car). Seems fair. Looks like it is time consuming even if you know what you are doing.

[Malek@MRF]

Changing the rotor rings on the AP Strap Drive system is not difficult, just takes a little bit of patience and diligence to make sure everything done properly and all the AP tech specs are followed with the torque sequence and values. It may be a bit cumbersome, but it is a spectacular design.

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by drchuck72

If the extra cost of the preassembled setup from AP just for the fronts is $500, it's worth it to just the rotor rings and have a shop do it for you. My mechanic charged me $250 to change all 4 rotor rings onto the old hats when he did my BBK install (that's over and above the cost of installing the BBK onto the car). Seems fair. Looks like it is time consuming even if you know what you are doing.

That's definitely a fair price for the work involved, and verifying torque values.

[drchuck72]

Originally Posted by tom @ eas

Rotors are next. Calipers literally came in a couple of days ago.

Damn, these are some hot looking calipers.

Show us some pics on the car!

These would have looked so good on my car!