Installing F30 Grey Brembo Calipers on E82 128i

[$iriu$black]

For anyone who have the F30 calipers on their 128i, has anyone experienced any scoring of the inside barrel of their wheel?

So I have BW TA16 17x8 ET 40 wheels and track the car heavily. I’ve noticed that the inside barrel has been scored and I suspect the calipers to be the culprit. I’m thinking the calipers heat up and expand, thereby hitting the inside of the wheel. The thing is when installing the wheel, it does clear with some breathing room to spare.

I’ve noticed this as I rotated my track wheels recently. The fronts have some rubber marks on the inside and I was thinking the rubber boogers from track got caught in the wheel, melted and then put a layer of rubber in there. But after my latest event, the fronts (which came from the rear), which had a clean barrel than the previous fronts, had been scored. This is only on the left front so far as I have not checked the front right. Again, the wheels come on easily, no fighting or anything.

Am I missing something here? I’m sure the space inside of the wheel barrel “changes” as sometimes I feel that when I’m trail braking on a turn, there is some sound I hear from the wheels but I figured this was just the brake pads on the rotors. I might likely be wrong w that assumption but hey at this point everything is suspect.

[WDE82]

Originally Posted by $iriu$black

For anyone who have the F30 calipers on their 128i, has anyone experienced any scoring of the inside barrel of their wheel?

So I have BW TA16 17x8 ET 40 wheels and track the car heavily. I’ve noticed that the inside barrel has been scored and I suspect the calipers to be the culprit. I’m thinking the calipers heat up and expand, thereby hitting the inside of the wheel. The thing is when installing the wheel, it does clear with some breathing room to spare.

I’ve noticed this as I rotated my track wheels recently. The fronts have some rubber marks on the inside and I was thinking the rubber boogers from track got caught in the wheel, melted and then put a layer of rubber in there. But not after my latest event, the fronts (which came from the rear), which had a clean barrel had been scored. Again, the wheels come on easily, no fighting or anything.

Am I missing something here? I’m sure the space inside of the wheel barrel “changes” as sometimes I feel that when I’m trail braking on a turn, there is some sound I hear from the wheels but I figured this was just the brake pads on the rotors. I might likely be wrong w that assumption but hey at this point everything is suspect.

Do said score marks have depth (catches fingernail)?

Have you measured the clearance between the caliper and the wheel?

The calipers do grow but we're talking in the thousandths of an inch and hot wheels also grow a bit. Wheels do flex under load as does anything so a certain amount of clearance needed.

[$iriu$black]

Originally Posted by WDE82

Do said score marks have depth (catches fingernail)?

Have you measured the clearance between the caliper and the wheel?

The calipers do grow but we're talking in the thousandths of an inch and hot wheels also grow a bit. Wheels do flex under load as does anything so a certain amount of clearance needed.

I’ve checked in the dark of my garage earlier today and if I believe my eyes, they do have some depth to them. This is only on the front left so far. If you check my post, this started w the rubber layer “mark” left on the fronts (that are now the rears. I’m just a bit frustrated at this point. I mean the wheels are expensive it it’s a track car so if it’s not pretty and shiny all the time I’m ok w it. I just don’t want it to be a safety hazard if the caliper hits the wheel or if the gouge becomes a crack and so forth…

Was not able to measure and don’t have equipment to measure the clearance, all I know is they do clear and the wheel spins freely.

[WDE82]

Originally Posted by $iriu$black

I’ve checked in the dark of my garage earlier today and if I believe my eyes, they do have some depth to them. This is only on the front left so far. If you check my post, this started w the rubber layer “mark” left on the fronts (that are now the rears. I’m just a bit frustrated at this point. I mean the wheels are expensive it it’s a track car so if it’s not pretty and shiny all the time I’m ok w it. I just don’t want it to be a safety hazard if the caliper hits the wheel or if the gouge becomes a crack and so forth…

Was not able to measure and don’t have equipment to measure the clearance, all I know is they do clear and the wheel spins freely.

Why don't you try feeling the marks with your hand???

You can use anything to try to measure the gap. Find objects of various thickness and then measure how thick that is. Any person doing track days should have some calipers to measure things.

[$iriu$black]

Originally Posted by WDE82

Why don't you try feeling the marks with your hand???

You can use anything to try to measure the gap. Find objects of various thickness and then measure how thick that is. Any person doing track days should have some calipers to measure things.

I’m that guy without the graduated calipers or feeler gauges unfortunately. I did feel them w my fingertips and did feel they had some depth. I will do so tomorrow once there’s better lighting.

[spidertri]

In my experience running wheels/calipers with tight clearance it's more likely to get a stone or other debris trapped and that ends up scoring the wheel.

[$iriu$black]

Originally Posted by spidertri

In my experience running wheels/calipers with tight clearance it's more likely to get a stone or other debris trapped and that ends up scoring the wheel.

This is what I thought too, a pebble getting caught there or something.

[Anon1]

Has anyone been able to run the calipers with the BMW Style 141 ET 47 wheels?
They don't fit with a 10mm spacer.

[gds52]

Originally Posted by WDE82

Read the thread. Lots of good info.

The rear calipers and rotors will not fit a 128i. I opted to use 328i rear calipers to help the brake bias. They have a 2mm larger piston.

A new MC is highly recommended. Coding help me but it wasn't great. The 135i master cylinder made it an amazing upgrade.

I think is misread this thread a bit.
So rear F30 335 base caliper is not direct for?
Is it because of size mismatch or due to hand brake.

I just mounted front grey brembo calipers successfully this weekend and not rear because the vendor sent wrong pads. I didn't check the fitment for rear. I do not have hand brake, so wondering if I shd cancel the new pads for rear, if they don't fit

[gds52]

Originally Posted by Anon1

Has anyone been able to run the calipers with the BMW Style 141 ET 47 wheels?
They don't fit with a 10mm spacer.

I'm running style 256 17" wheels with 12.5mm spacers upfront and it's clear.

[WDE82]

Originally Posted by gds52

I think is misread this thread a bit.
So rear F30 335 base caliper is not direct for?
Is it because of size mismatch or due to hand brake.

I just mounted front grey brembo calipers successfully this weekend and not rear because the vendor sent wrong pads. I didn't check the fitment for rear. I do not have hand brake, so wondering if I shd cancel the new pads for rear, if they don't fit

The rear blue calipers and rotors definitely don't fit. Idk about the traditional single piston sliding caliper from the F30. I used a pair from an E90.

[gds52]

Originally Posted by WDE82

The rear blue calipers and rotors definitely don't fit. Idk about the traditional single piston sliding caliper from the F30. I used a pair from an E90.

Thanks for the response
Looks like I'm the chosen one to figure it out for y'all

[Ric in RVA]

Originally Posted by Kgolf31

Any weight of the 128 calipers versus current configuration?

new weight caliper/ rotor TOTAL 35.20 lb Per side.

4.6 lbs per side heavier

ALL of the mass is in the rotor. The caliper is actually lighter.

This is good from an energy storage/ dispersion stand point. You can load more heat into the heavier rotor before it gets too hot and with better cooling vanes it should shed heat better.

This is bad from a gyroscopic stand point and it is more spinning mass to accelerate and slow (ie a bigger "flywheel").

From a real world perspective the benefits far outweigh any draw back of heavier rotors.

[underwatervans]

So wanted to memorialize this for future people putting f30 335i brakes on when you have stock style 264s. You'll need at least a 10mm spacer. I went to 12mm because 10 was sooo close. I couldn't find that info anywhere - so now here we are letting the people know.

[Ric in RVA]

Originally Posted by underwatervans

So wanted to memorialize this for future people putting f30 335i brakes on when you have stock style 264s. You'll need at least a 10mm spacer. I went to 12mm because 10 was sooo close. I couldn't find that info anywhere - so now here we are letting the people know.

10 mm spacer to clear 261's.

No spacer for Sparco 17"

No spacer for arc aero 7's

Pics here...

https://www.1addicts.com/forums/album.php?albumid=19683

and here...

https://www.1addicts.com/forums/album.php?albumid=20125

[carscatscoffee15]

What is the ideal set up for the 128i then? F30 fronts/rears (M Sport/Performance) or go the E9x 335i fronts/328i rears?

Would a 370x30mm rotor clear these wheel specs?

OEM Style 496
18 x 7.5" ET49 Front
18 x 8.5" ET52 Rear

Sorry if this has been answered many times... I'm looking to do this soon as my whole brake system needs a refresh.

[carscatscoffee15]

Bump ^

[bender128]

I ordered a set of front gray/unpainted 4 pot calipers. Should these be paired with f30 rears or the e90 328i rears (since both are single piston and e90 are hassle free swap)?

Also considering just keeping the oem 128i rears but they got really hot on my last track day so would rather not.

[mhullihan]

Does anyone have experience comparing the e90 vs f30 (340mm) 335i fronts for track use? The f30 calipers obviously look better but you pay for it. Which is better for pedal feel? cooling? Heat capacity? Searching the forums I see mixed comments about how the rotors handle heat.

By a little excel mathing, the f30 fronts look worse for brake force but closer to stock brake bias as a result.

I track my car a couple times a year and plan to pair one of the above with e90 328i rear calipers and a 135i or M3 M/C.

Thanks in advance.

[spidertri]

I'm running F30 fronts (caliper and rotor), 328i rear calipers on the stock 128i rotor, 135i MC. I've beat the heck out of them this year and just swapped back to my street pads for the winter. I don't really have a plan right now to upgrade the rears again.

I've previously run floating calipers with brass bushings and the swap to the F30 caliper was an immediate increase in pedal feel, it is considerably better than the floating style fronts.

Rotors are 348 x 30 for the 335i fronts and 340 x 30 for the F30 fronts. In terms of heat capacity, the larger 335i rotor will have more, but at the same time your braking technique greatly impacts how much heat you put into the rotor.

Cooling is probably a wash because you need to remove the backing plates, or cut away as much as possible to even begin letting air get to the center of the rotor more effectively and these are OEM rotors so

I think either set up is going to be plenty for only doing a couple track days per year. The bias shifts forward about the same amount for the 128i performance brakes, 335i fronts, or F30 fronts. Make sure to code in the +spbr option and the DSC module will handle the bias shift.

[mhullihan]

Thanks a ton for the advice. This is the great thing about this forum. The first hand experience is so valuable!

I got a set of F22 340mm calipers off eBay and test fit them last night with my kosei K1s. That wheel is 17x8.5 et40. I think apex sells an arc-8 in the same specs. Anyway, I want to say they actually fit better than the e90 330i calipers. Pictures attached. I love the look of the wheels so I’m glad I can hang onto them.

[carscatscoffee15]

Looks great! Is there a way you can take a picture of the wheel from the side to see the fuller rotor/wheel?

Want to see if I can squeeze the 370mms on an 18in wheel 🤞🏼