95% street / 5% track BBK recommendedation.

Street+ / LTW track BBK recommendation?

I'm looking to upgrade my oem brakes. this car is 95% daily driver and likely 4 to 5 track days a year. i love the oem brakes but am upgrading for 3 reasons.

1. Aesthetics - let's face it. bbk looks nicer
2. Track day brake fade - oem gets squishy
3. DD brake distance - just better perf
4. Brake Dust - try to minimize brake dust though this might be more pad/rotor issue

Any recommendations?

I got ST40s for $1327 new and the only real advantage is on track and better pedal feel.

If your OEM brakes are getting squishy it’s the fluid or your pads smearing, and the pads included in the BBK will smear as well. OEM brakes more than outbrake average tires on an average pad compound.

Like 3/4 of these can be addressed by getting Castro’s SRF fluid and a better pad, except the stock rotors don’t have enough heat capacity for anything more than a 20 min session.

I say just go for aesthetics but I would recommend Stoptech over Brembo because the pad window is seriously useful. Spend another $220-300 to get a track pad compound and you can swap it out in 3 mins flat.

Do you own a set of rims with R-compounds?

M2 comp brakes front and rear

If you want cheap then freaky parts makes the 4 pot brembo for the oem rotors. They have really good reviews!

Stock rotors vs ST40. A lot of people say to avoid going with retrofit kits and I'd be inclined to agree with these stock rotors.

The StopTech rotors don’t look much better than stock.

I have ST40's on all 4 corners, they look and play the part on the track.

chocstraw wrote

I got ST40s for $1327 new and the only real advantage is on track and better pedal feel.

If your OEM brakes are getting squishy it’s the fluid or your pads smearing, and the pads included in the BBK will smear as well. OEM brakes more than outbrake average tires on an average pad compound.

Like 3/4 of these can be addressed by getting Castro’s SRF fluid and a better pad, except the stock rotors don’t have enough heat capacity for anything more than a 20 min session.

I say just go for aesthetics but I would recommend Stoptech over Brembo because the pad window is seriously useful. Spend another $220-300 to get a track pad compound and you can swap it out in 3 mins flat.

Do you own a set of rims with R-compounds?

thanks. if I understand you correctly, main benefit of stoptech is better heat soak behaviour with track use, easily swappable and better aesthetics.

when you refer to pad compound vs r compounds- you mean brake pad vs tires correct or are they both referring to brake pads.

Drifter2090 wrote

If you want cheap then freaky parts makes the 4 pot brembo for the oem rotors. They have really good reviews!

Good tip, I didn't know about these. Would strongly consider if they made a front and rear kit.

Iyzmi wrote

Drifter2090 wrote

If you want cheap then freaky parts makes the 4 pot brembo for the oem rotors. They have really good reviews!

Good tip, I didn't know about these. Would strongly consider if they made a front and rear kit.

There's a thread for them on here, I think called "cheap brembos", freakyparts was commenting that their working on a rear set as well

Drifter2090 wrote

There's a thread for them on here, I think called "cheap brembos", freakyparts was commenting that their working on a rear set as well

I have their fronts and badgered them for like 2 months about a rear caliper for our cars, even offered the be their guinea pig and put the deposit down to fund the project, eventually they stopped responding. Said that the most viable rear option would be a 2-piston 350z rear caliper with the optional Brembo kit. I got tired of waiting, swapped in the pads I wanted and painted to match the fronts. Must not be enough money in it to be worth their while.

Look in the classifieds for used sets.

The stock rotors will last a few braking zones and then fade. They do not dissipate heat well. Plus the stock system uses rubber lines which will make the pedal mushy and perhaps hit the floor. Don't change the caliper to Brembo and leave the stock rotor that is cool for car shows but not the track.

chocstraw wrote

I got ST40s for $1327 new and the only real advantage is on track and better pedal feel.

If your OEM brakes are getting squishy it’s the fluid or your pads smearing, and the pads included in the BBK will smear as well. OEM brakes more than outbrake average tires on an average pad compound.

Like 3/4 of these can be addressed by getting Castro’s SRF fluid and a better pad, except the stock rotors don’t have enough heat capacity for anything more than a 20 min session.

I say just go for aesthetics but I would recommend Stoptech over Brembo because the pad window is seriously useful. Spend another $220-300 to get a track pad compound and you can swap it out in 3 mins flat.

Do you own a set of rims with R-compounds?

Source for brakes? That's a good price.

Personally I wouldn't buy used brakes, tires, wheels or probably suspension. especially if they are being shipped. Wait for a holiday sale.

imserious wrote

chocstraw wrote

I got ST40s for $1327 new and the only real advantage is on track and better pedal feel.

If your OEM brakes are getting squishy it's the fluid or your pads smearing, and the pads included in the BBK will smear as well. OEM brakes more than outbrake average tires on an average pad compound.

Like 3/4 of these can be addressed by getting Castro's SRF fluid and a better pad, except the stock rotors don't have enough heat capacity for anything more than a 20 min session.

I say just go for aesthetics but I would recommend Stoptech over Brembo because the pad window is seriously useful. Spend another $220-300 to get a track pad compound and you can swap it out in 3 mins flat.

Do you own a set of rims with R-compounds?

Source for brakes? That's a good price.

+1 on source

SAMM3Y wrote

Personally I wouldn't buy used brakes, tires, wheels or probably suspension. especially if they are being shipped. Wait for a holiday sale.

Did you buy your car used?

5% track you can easily get away with an OEM pad upgrade with stainless brake lines.

Conzyo wrote

+1 on source

Brakes were on a once-in-a-few-years kind of sale at buybrakes.com. I was told that this is below cost of goods for the retailer and this kind of sale was rare.

I guess what I'm saying is that I don't know that these are worth even $1327 if being used purely for street. The included pads still smear from hard street driving and they squeal sometimes when they're cold.

Our new AP Racing by Essex Radi-CAL Road Brake Kits would be perfect for your intended usage. They aren't the least expensive option, but you aren't going to find anything nicer that balances road and track use. You can see more in this thread here on the forum.


Front AP Racing by Essex Radi-CAL Road Brake Kit for the e92 M3

Rear AP Racing by Essex Radi-CAL Road Brake Kit for the e92 M3

Why does the road setup use such a gigantic rotor?

Richbot wrote

Why does the road setup use such a gigantic rotor?

We went bigger on these vs. the Competition Kits, because some people want to fill up larger wheels and are as interested in styling as they are performance. There's nothing wrong for wanting to have your car look bad@ass while going fast. Many road cars today are coming with 19-21" factory wheels, and 380mm isn't all that huge these days. For example, our Road Kit is smaller and considerably lighter weight than the OEM brake package that comes on the F87 M2 Competition, while the new Mustang GT500 is rocking 420mm discs from the factory! :O