[jritt@essex]

Originally Posted by Ant Man

Hi Jeff,

great to see function over form. The dynamic performance and weight saving strongly appeals, though I couldn't understand your point re winter roads / salt. I have a few questions that I would like answering pls.

Primarily my car is used on the road with a few track days throughout the year. How will your kit compare to the standard AP Racing system with regards to corrosion resistance and longevity, particularly during the winter months?

Thank you. As with just about every aftermarket BBK on the market, we are selling our kit for off-road use only. I'm not sure which specific AP Racing kit to which you are referring, but as mentioned above, just about any aftermarket BBK will share the same issues with regards to winter corrosion resistance...primarily road salt. The disc hats are susceptible to having salt wedged between them and the hat. That's the biggest area of concern. Salt can also cause problems with the brackets. Painted calipers would have a bit more resistance to foul weather than anodized ones. Dust boots would be a nice thing to have if you never tracked your car and there was no chance of burning them up or damaging them. Once they are fried and torn, they're useless however.

Under load, does your kit make more noise that OEM?

If you look at the hardware pictures above, the anti-knockback spring clip eliminates pretty much all of the rattling noises associated with a two-piece disc, while still allowing it the iron disc to expand nicely when heated to track temps.

Sometimes there is a slight bit of knock with brake pads in aftermarket calipers. Typically that happens when you reverse the car, then go forward. The pads shift forward slightly when moving backwards, then shift towards the rear of the car when you move forward. That produces a clunk or knocking sound when the pads bump up against the abutment plates. Part of that issue is that every pad manufacturer makes pads that are slightly different in size. They typically range a couple of mm in size, even though they are considered the same 'shape.' Some pad manufacturers allow for more expansion under heat, so they start out with a slightly smaller pad cold. Others worry about interference on different calipers from the various manufacturers. Some just don't have as tight of tolerances in production. Therefore, different pads from different manufacturers will fit differently in the calipers. Some will be more snug than others and will make less noise. Finally, any race pad is going to make more squealing and scraping noises than an OEM pad due to the nature of the material...that's regardless of what calipers they are in however, factory or aftermarket.

Specifically under load, the J Hook discs tend to make a slight whirring noise, just like a drilled disc would. That's related to one of their functions...more leading edges for the pad to bite into, without the stress risers created by the drill holes. You get the benefits of a drilled disc, without the downsides, but they are slightly louder than a straight or curved groove on the face of a disc.

Does your kit includes pads and stainless brake lines?

Pads are a very personal choice, so we don't include them. Some other 'track' kits on the market include a cheap set of street pads. We took that cost out of our kit, and didn't want to sell a 'junk' set of pads with such a high-end kit. Therefore we just offer our customers 50% on a set of pads of their choice at the time they purchase the kit.

Our kits include a beautiful set of Spiegler SS brake lines. You can read about them on our website. They use the finest components, with stainless steel fittings made in Switzerland. The owner of Spiegler is a meticulous German engineer, and is very picky about what he puts into his product! I like to call them the Swiss watch of brake lines.

We also sell the Spiegler SS Brake Lines separately for the OEM E92 M3 caliper fitment.

Front Spiegler Stainless Steel Brake Lines for E92 M3 OEM caliper

Rear Spiegler Stainless Steel Brake Lines for E92 M3 OEM caliper

What pad options are there that would suit the way I use my car (as per above)?

Just about every pad manufacturer makes pads in the shape we're using, in all of their compounds. That's one of the reasons we chose the caliper. Our customers will never have trouble finding a pad. You can see the list of pads we offer here. Again, please keep in mind that our list is not an exhaustive list, and that there are many other pad compounds available in this shape from other manufacturers.

You've specifically mentioned the north American market. Will you sell to UK buyers?

Due to our contractual agreements with AP Racing, we can only ship to North American retail and wholesale customer addresses.

I think I covered all of your questions. Please let me know if you have any others. Thanks.