Track forum general chit chat.

[kyippee]

Originally Posted by M3 Number 86

WHO IS THOS IMPOSTER 86?!?!

Somebody had to fill in while you're out tiger woodsing the world

[Bartledoo]

Originally Posted by Ximian

Last week I've driven from the Slovenian mountains to Sirmione then to Venice. And this morning I drove from Venice to Croatia. Lots of narrow lanes in "construction" zones and high(ly legal) speeds. Honestly, just driving on the highway can be fun enough. The VW Passat diesel doesn't have much power but you can practice some momentum driving on the mountain roads.

Lol

[SQ13]

Replaced rear calipers after experiencing a RR caliper failure at COTA, finally rebuilt parking brakes (**** those springs), stiffer rear springs









Also discovered that inside section of rear rotors were cracked. Glad I caught it before catastrophic failure

[Chris_PDX]

Took the E92 out to the track today to give rides to sick/disabled kids and adults for charity. Yesterday everything was fine, was keeping up with a new NSX and a GT350...

... then this happened today on the warm up lap.

[Grillpt]

It looks newer, had u recently replaced it?

[roastbeef]

Looks like it broke off the shock body... that blows.
I would think the system as a whole would be designed for the end links to be the weak link. Sort of like a fuse... too much of anything and the endlink breaks instead of ripping the mount off the shock body or the swaybar off the subframe.

[redpriest]

Originally Posted by Chris_PDX

Took the E92 out to the track today to give rides to sick/disabled kids and adults for charity. Yesterday everything was fine, was keeping up with a new NSX and a GT350...

... then this happened today on the warm up lap.

Oh hey that sucks. I had the exact same thing happen to me at Laguna Seca; ripped the endlink right off the shock body of my JRZs. I had to have JRZ replace the entire shock body, and that took months since it was summer and their Dutch factory was on half-shifts. Newer design shock body has more reinforcement there.

[Chris_PDX]

Originally Posted by redpriest

Oh hey that sucks. I had the exact same thing happen to me at Laguna Seca; ripped the endlink right off the shock body of my JRZs. I had to have JRZ replace the entire shock body, and that took months since it was summer and their Dutch factory was on half-shifts. Newer design shock body has more reinforcement there.

Ugh. Yeah hopefully MCS can turn it around quick.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by SQ13

Also discovered that inside section of rear rotors were cracked. Glad I caught it before catastrophic failure

thats a nasty crack. i'd hate to see the damage if a rotor let go like that. makes me wonder what the hell people are thinking putting one piece rotors on the e9x m3 when the rotors are already the weak point.

[Exclusivs]

Originally Posted by Chris_PDX

Took the E92 out to the track today to give rides to sick/disabled kids and adults for charity. Yesterday everything was fine, was keeping up with a new NSX and a GT350...

... then this happened today on the warm up lap.

Odd coincidence...are those Dinan Endlinks @chris_pdx ? I know Redpriests were.

[SQ13]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

thats a nasty crack. i'd hate to see the damage if a rotor let go like that. makes me wonder what the hell people are thinking putting one piece rotors on the e9x m3 when the rotors are already the weak point.

Yeah, now I’m really glad my caliper failure wasn’t too catastrophic and that it gave me a chance to look over all of the rear brake components. I’ll be doing a through inspection of the front brakes as well as the rest of the car, including retorquing hardware just to be safe.

Unfortunately we don’t have many stock size rotor options for the E46. The rotors we get are one piece, ZCP drilled and floating, and PFC DD. I have an extra set of ZCP rotors, so I might give the rears a try on track.

[Richbot]

Jesus

My mcs didn’t break but I cheated and had a stock lower spring perch. Those little tabs are kind of cheesy compared to the stock arrangement, the Sachs Performance strut uses an entire giant heavy machined chunk of stainless that threads on to the coil over strut just to accept the upper end link Heim joint

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by SQ13

Yeah, now I’m really glad my caliper failure wasn’t too catastrophic and that it gave me a chance to look over all of the rear brake components. I’ll be doing a through inspection of the front brakes as well as the rest of the car, including retorquing hardware just to be safe.

Unfortunately we don’t have many stock size rotor options for the E46. The rotors we get are one piece, ZCP drilled and floating, and PFC DD. I have an extra set of ZCP rotors, so I might give the rears a try on track.

The PFC DDs are sweet. I have a set for the E46 that has been sitting in the attic for years

[SQ13]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

The PFC DDs are sweet. I have a set for the E46 that has been sitting in the attic for years

I have PFC DD rotors on my blue car. Two sessions on track, and they already have large cracks. I wouldn’t mind if replacement ring costs weren’t really expensive.

Do you still have the silver E46?

[dparm]

Originally Posted by SQ13

I have PFC DD rotors on my blue car. Two sessions on track, and they already have large cracks. I wouldn’t mind if replacement ring costs weren’t really expensive.

Really? Post a pic. Some cracks are normal. Did you put any of the thermographic paint on the vanes to see how hot it's getting?

[dparm]

Okay, would someone care to explain why I should spend an extra $250+ on different sway bar end links when I'm already going to be spending $400-700 on new sway bars? I'm a bit confused on what benefit these offer over an OEM setup. Most aftermarket bars seem to allow use of OEM end links or a design like these.

Talked to a few friends and they said it's overkill for a mostly stock car, and that they tend to be noisy.

https://www.hotchkis.net/product/che...&md=440&sm=485

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by SQ13

I have PFC DD rotors on my blue car. Two sessions on track, and they already have large cracks. I wouldn’t mind if replacement ring costs weren’t really expensive.

Do you still have the silver E46?

The silver E46 is sold and now on to a second owner as a track-only car. I get to see it every now and then, I miss it but not enough to buy it back hehe.

I've only been able to do direct comparisons of the PFC rotors vs the Stoptech ones, although now I can also do them vs the AP rotors as well. I'll die of a heart attack from the surprise if the AP ones last longer than the PFCs

[Chris_PDX]

Originally Posted by Exclusivs

Odd coincidence...are those Dinan Endlinks @chris_pdx ? I know Redpriests were.

Yeah, Dinan end links.

I just got back from the shop, had to take the race-car in this morning for something else. The mounting point on the damper was bent in addition to the crack/shear that broke it off. They think something was flexing/twisting when it shouldn't of been and weakened it over time.

We'll be replacing the entire shock with a new unit they already have en-route from MCS and will still troubleshoot to see if any of the bushings or ball joints need replaced.

Also, when one of your M3s is in the shop, it's important to bring the other one in so they don't get lonely:

[Exclusivs]

That's interesting. Two of the same failures using Dinan end links. The new shop AR built looks great & Dan Is the man!

[dparm]

Originally Posted by Exclusivs

That's interesting. Two of the same failures using Dinan end links. The new shop AR built looks great & Dan Is the man!

Is Dinan even making those end links? From what I understand, there's really only one or two manufacturers, everyone just puts their own name on them...it's why they all look so similar.

[Exclusivs]

No idea just find it interesting to happen with the same endlink. The Dinan ones are extremely stout (possibly not a good thing in this instance when combined with adjustable stiffer spring suspension?)

[Chris_PDX]

Originally Posted by Exclusivs

No idea just find it interesting to happen with the same endlink. The Dinan ones are extremely stout (possibly not a good thing in this instance when combined with adjustable stiffer spring suspension?)

The thing is the end link itself is intact. The failure point was on the MCS shock housing itself. That said, they are thinking that there was some torsional forces through the end link that was stressing the connection to the shock body, and that was the weakest point of failure.

The guys at AR seem to think it's got something to do with the links / sway bar setup and not the damper quality itself. I mean, they run MCS on dozens of track and race cars and have only seen this failure once or twice before and it was also with Dinan bars and links.