big brakes might be the next upgrade

[crazeetowntatto]

the e36 might be down for a while again and probably longer than ever yet. we were coming down the road last night and merged into the exit lane and some asshole in a older mercedes got up next to us in the shoulder on the right and we tried to stop and not hit the cars to the right or left and we couldnt get her stopped in time and hit a curb at about 45mph. i hope they dont total it but im seeing these cars get totaled for stuff thats easily fixable. im curios of anyone who had a 325is thats been totaled could you let me know what size check you got for your totaled e36. heres pics it makes me sick. i wonder if we had the 4pistons would we have been able to stop her in time. at least i been smart enough to fully insure my beemer and we were in one cause the bottom line is we (wife, 16mo old daughter, and myself) are all okay. thanks bmw for keeping us safe



please dont send any will you sell this or that because no im not parting im fixxing and plan on doing the "ultimate cut me off, totaled, and brought back to life thread" lmfao its either that or be mad

[jijacob]

Eh, that looks pretty minor. Driver front suspension, rack, fender... probably around 3k or so including labor, maybe a tad more if they replace the front bumper.

I don't think a BBK would have made much difference unless the brakes were overheated when you tired to stop... most likely the biggest improvement you could have made would have been more expensive tires (assuming you don't have Super High Performance Summer ones already)

[crazeetowntatto]

i was thinking under a grand to fixx and my tires were shot and i agree that was the major contribution to the nonstopping. i just figure the bigger brakes would be like a couple gorillas with robot hands grabbing the rotor W/ vice grips. im definatly gonna finish painting my motorsport 17s and putting some awesome tires on them. i did hear i could put the spindles and brake assemblies from a same era 7 series on it and have some bigger brakes

[jijacob]

Originally Posted by crazeetowntatto

i was thinking under a grand to fixx and my tires were shot and i agree that was the major contribution to the nonstopping. i just figure the bigger brakes would be like a couple gorillas with robot hands grabbing the rotor W/ vice grips. im definatly gonna finish painting my motorsport 17s and putting some awesome tires on them. i did hear i could put the spindles and brake assemblies from a same era 7 series on it and have some bigger brakes

Unless you have to replace the brakes don't bother. Nice tires and stock brakes will stop you about as fast as nice tires and a BBK. Not worth the $1200 IMO.

[Evil Spoonman]

Big brakes would have made no difference. Good condition calipers, decent street pads, in-spec rotors, and most importantly good tires will stop your car as fast as it could have stopped.

BBKs are about repeatability, confidence, modulation, and pedal feel. This coming from experience:

[crazeetowntatto]

thanks alot for the great info. by the sounds of it im glad to know before i tossed 1200 on an idea that id have stopped faster. whats some good 17 inch tires

[iXguy]

I'm very happy with stock brakes except they get to smelling a bit when I abuse them, making me think I'm overheating them, and I end up warping a lot of rotors.

What's a good option for somebody on a limited budget? Last rotors I put on were brembos....

Generally I'm easy on them but sometimes under the right conditions I let it hang out and it seems like they aren't up to the punishment.

[jijacob]

Originally Posted by crazeetowntatto

thanks alot for the great info. by the sounds of it im glad to know before i tossed 1200 on an idea that id have stopped faster. whats some good 17 inch tires

Well considering your location you have to decide how good you want them vs. how well they perform in the winter. For the absolute best street tire as far as stopping above 50 degrees F, the Pilot Sport PS2 is it. I had those and they were absolutely incredible. Felt like the car was on rails.

Alas, they were wicked expensive and wore out extremely fast (Treadwear of 200), so I talked to a friend in the tire business and he said the Sumitomo HTRZIII was a good budget UHP tire. Bought those and loved em. About 85-90% of what you get out of the Pilot Sport for about 40% of the price.

Of course you'd have to have winter tires to ride on once it gets cold. Both of the above said tires drive like you're on ice below about 40 degrees.

[EThirtySicks]

Evil Spoonman is correct as usual. BBKs don't necessarily make you stop faster - oftentimes the limiting factor for how quickly your car can slow down is the quality of your tires.

[crazeetowntatto]

im gonna check on those sumitomo tires and im gonna get new winter tires for my oem 15s i had a spare on the front so i didnt end up mashing my oem wheels the rear wheel got a chunk out of it so i may source another oem bottlecap out the yard and keep an oem as a spare since i really trashed my spare

[iXguy]

I bought General Exclaim UHP tires, and I'm estatially pleased with them for what was a very, very reasonably priced tire. Beats the Michelin MXV4's they replaced, by a country mile.

Nice agressive side shoulders that stick out from the rims, and they have a very cool looking agressive directional tread. Seem to bite harder the harder I push them. But they do take a cold set when the temperature dips, I'll have to put the winters on shortly.

[crazeetowntatto]

what about falken fk 452? and i have the bmw motorsports 17s the ds 1s i believe anyone know the max safe width tire i can mount on them for back and front

[jijacob]

Originally Posted by crazeetowntatto

what about falken fk 452? and i have the bmw motorsports 17s the ds 1s i believe anyone know the max safe width tire i can mount on them for back and front

Do some research on tirerack. They have a very reliable leaderboard as far as what is the best tire for a certain application.

The Pilot Sport PS2's got 2nd in category, the Sumitomo's got 10th.

Here's the entire chart: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...ireSearch=true

[mikerob97]

I have the e46 330i front brakes and E46 328i rear brakes with Akebono pads - also have bronze caliper guide pins instead of the rubber ones. Very reasonable cost modifcation and the stopping power is fantastic. I have never felt any brake fade - the harder I push pedal the more it stops...

[crazeetowntatto]

daytime shots looks like just the drivers front needs to be overhauled and no frame damage as of yet




friggin airbag might be what totals it 2400.00 if youre trying to avoid a total loss pull your airbag out before the adjuster shows