330 Front Brake Retro. Pics, Impressions, Etc.

OK so with the immense help of Stuart (330i_ZHP) I undertook a front 330 brake upgrade on my 325 last weekend. Decided to go with Powerslot slotted rotors from Tirerack, with Hawk HPS Street pads. Everything bolted up perfectly, all you need for the swap is new 330 Caliper and Carrier, which I was able to get from a local shop for $177 shipped to my door. that is the only cost of the upgrade, as the rotors and pads are pretty much the same cost between the 325 and 330. The 330 rotor is ~1.5 inches larger in diameter.

Here are the old Zimmermann X-Drilled rotors and Axxis Deluxe pads. This setup was prone to warping badly, but provided decent stopping power, low dust (pretty grey dust), and decent bite. I was overall disappointed with the setup, mostly because I lived with warped rotors for ~15k miles. FTL.


Front. Yay rust.




Rear.




So off come the calipers. Moar rust.




Yay I stripped a rotor retaining bolt. 1 trip to the dealer and $3 later (well $11, I bought an F1 mouse pad), and we were back in business.




Brake parts strewn about. Calipers and carriers.




Size comparison, the 3.0 calipers are def. beefier. Look nice with the Duplicolor caliper paint on them (applied after grinding off much of the rust and dirt, though it still chipped pretty easily. Whatever, looks good for now).




Nice looking stainless steel brake lines from Ebay... 1 sprung a leak as we were bleeding the system. More on that later.




Car. Effed up bumper.




So here is the finished product, installed up front. 3.0. Compare the size of this rotor to the brake dust shield, then look at the 2.5 above.




And retaining 2.5 in the rear. To swap over the 3.0 rear brakes, which are def. massive in comparison required new trailing arms etc. to get the e-brake to work. Took the easier route.




And the 3.0 brakes behind my Doublespoke 1's (browned out... these things never get cleaned ) Maybe have 2mm clearance to the wonderfully placed wheel weights, but it works.





Impressions:

Well I have a mushy pedal thus far. We did a brake bleed, but it might not have been sufficient. We also had 1 stainless line leak on us, so in replacing that, we may have let more air into the system and not properly bled it. Going to solve this with a visit to my shop in PA on the 30th for a full brake fluid flush.

So that was it, went out and bed the brakes with a series of brake applications from 35, 45 and 60mph. Been driving on them for 5 days now, maybe put on ~130 miles, and the braking is quite consistent, and they really stop once you get your foot into it. The initial inch and a half of brake application is mush and the brakes really aren't there. No bite.

We are using Valvoline DOT3/4 fluid. Should I switch to something else? Really hoping this flush (and installation of the 4th SSBL) does the trick and I get some bitier brakes.

Again, thanks Stuart Lookin forward to our next project, whenever that is

looks great - oh yea, i took the pics

"Mush" is almost exclusively air in the system. What you're feeling is the hydraulic effort being put in to compressing the air in the system rather than pushing the pads against the rotors. The good news is that since you didn't report seeing the ABS warning light it doesn't sound like you got air in the control unit (for which you'd pretty much have to go to the dealership to get corrected). More bleeding/flushing should take care of the mush issue.

Originally Posted by simsima325

The initial inch and a half of brake application is mush and the brakes really aren't there. No bite.

I'll be replacing my brakes soon too.......but definitely don't want to loose any bite--

Nice write-up

Nice writeup!
So what exactly has to be replaced when going with larger brakes? Discs, calipers, pads and carriers?

please tell me you didnt actually paint your brake rotors / get spray paint on the face of them. ??? ? ?




dont drive anymore and hope you can get it off of it. as for your brake pads, no clue if you can still use them as is.


thats basically a royal screw up. NOTHING is supposed to be on the brake rotor faces. thats why brake cleaner is super "clean" and leaves absolutely no residue. you're brakes will never work their best and may continue to stay crappy because of that.

highly doubtful, i know many who have used this method while painting hubs and had no ill effects, the bedding process itself takes the top layer of the rotor off as it is!

I'm not guessing on this. it may not be a total failure but like i said, it wont be what it could be. you contaminated the pads, got unnecessary crap on the rotor.

i know this is just a crappy video, but its a clean install of how it should be done



I'm just trying to help you get the most from your brakes, thats all. by getting paint on the face you put something unnecessary between the pad and the rotor-which is completely against the point of braking.

i guarantee that if we remove the pads right now - the paint will be gone on the pad material and we can already see that the paint has been 100% removed from the braking surface on the rotors

If a "loss" is there it is negligible

nice upgrade man.. how's the stopping power no?

That Valvoline brake fluid you used should be pretty cheap. Buy a liter of ATE Super Blue and when you go to your shop, have them use the Super Blue for the flush.
At the least, it is an easier visual indicator for when you have cleared the old fluid from the line. Chances are you have some air in the system.

When I did my brakes a few months ago, I was working the calipers while my friend was on the pedal. While at the time I though we did a good job, I'm almost 90% sure there is some air in the system. I have a pretty mushy pedal on initial depression which could be from the air, or from my crappy Axxis Deluxe pads. I was going to have my shop bleed the system with their power bleeder.....but I crashed my car last week.

i dont get why you painted the rotors?!

Originally Posted by VillanovaGrad

i dont get why you painted the rotors?!

to prevent rust? painting the rotor has absolutely no effect on braking. it will come off as you drive.

I've done this mod a lil while ago but just got around to doing full brakes with BREMBO blanks(no holes)

front(325) vs front (330)


rear vs front(330)


front one behind my 18" M wheels


after proper bedding, nice golden brown color

the rotors were painted for 2 reasons, 1 to prevent the rusting that you see on my old setup, and 2, I run black wheels, and the bright silver hub of the Powerslot rotors was something I wasn't interested in.

Originally Posted by simsima325

the rotors were painted for 2 reasons, 1 to prevent the rusting that you see on my old setup, and 2, I run black wheels, and the bright silver hub of the Powerslot rotors was something I wasn't interested in.

but from my experiences the rust comes off after you drive around and used the brakes a couple times

I have been debating this mod for a little while. It would look cool, but you also increase the unsprung weight on the wheels when you do this. I'm supercharged, so it shouldn't be as big a deal, but I still don't know if the positives outweigh the negatives. Is someone smarter than me able to say whether the weight gain is negligible, or if that's something I should consider?

thats the rust you get after a wash on the surface of the rotor. I was referring to the hub rust. take a look at the first picture


BMW Chuzo- braking power is good, after the initial mushy pedal travel, which I hope to resolve. not a night and day difference, but for what it is, i am pleased.

norcal- sorry about ur car ya i am being super careful not being used to the extra travel. def. going to go ATE blue with the flush. the valvoline is clear, and my old fluid came out quiiiiite brown, ha.

Originally Posted by simsima325

thats the rust you get after a wash on the surface of the rotor. I was referring to the hub rust. take a look at the first picture

i see ...
interesting...

zeshon, i have a slow little 325 and haven't noticed any difference.