[AK]

I´m considering replacing my stock brake system for the BMW Performance system, but my dealer says it´s not available for my car, which is a 01/2007 build, because: "those brakes are only available for e90s produced post March 2007". I´m not 100% sure if he´s right though. Does anyone know if this is true or not?

Thanks-

[martieg]

I'm interested in the answer to this question as well.

[dukevi]

me too bump..

[AK]

[ENINTY]

So I asked this same question to Jason at getbmwparts.com today. The Performance brake kit (both front and rear brakes) does not fit the '06 E90 325i because the rear brakes are different between the '06 325i and the '07 328i. However the front kit does fit the '06 E90 325i.

I was trying to decide to buy the performance kit or just replace the stock pads and rotors. According to Car and Driver's testing the '06 E90 325i stops from 70 MPH in 161 feet; the '08 135i (which is basically the performance brakes upgrade for the E90) stops in 157 feet from 70 MPH. However track use for the performance brakes may be beneficial as they probably take more heat than the stock E90 setup.

[AK]

Thank you

Maybe I should focus on the Performance suspension rather than the brakes.

[GeekinE90]

Just did a quick check on RealOEM and the rear brake assembly seems identical for an 05 E90 325i vs. 08 E90 328i in terms of part nos (Europe spec). Both cars are spec'ed only for Front BMW Performance Brakes from ETK, but I've seen pics of the rear performance brake being fitted on an 06 325i as well.

[martieg]

Originally Posted by ENINTY

So I asked this same question to Jason at getbmwparts.com today. The Performance brake kit (both front and rear brakes) does not fit the '06 E90 325i because the rear brakes are different between the '06 325i and the '07 328i. However the front kit does fit the '06 E90 325i.

I was trying to decide to buy the performance kit or just replace the stock pads and rotors. According to Car and Driver's testing the '06 E90 325i stops from 70 MPH in 161 feet; the '08 135i (which is basically the performance brakes upgrade for the E90) stops in 157 feet from 70 MPH. However track use for the performance brakes may be beneficial as they probably take more heat than the stock E90 setup.

Would you know if the same applies to 2006 330i (vs 07 335i)? THanks!

[remmib]

Originally Posted by AK

I´m considering replacing my stock brake system for the BMW Performance system, but my dealer says it´s not available for my car, which is a 01/2007 build, because: "those brakes are only available for e90s produced post March 2007". I´m not 100% sure if he´s right though. Does anyone know if this is true or not?

Thanks-

I ask for price ones, and they never said anything about not fitting the pre 03/07 (mine is 02/07).
But I only ask for the fronts.

One think I'd actually like, is to get 335 brakes on mine, but I don't know if it's possible or the costs!?!?

[ENINTY]

Originally Posted by lecatrache

Would you know if the same applies to 2006 330i (vs 07 335i)? THanks!

[Autobot]

I have them installed on mine with no issues and mine is a January '07 Build I believe

[AK]

Originally Posted by Autobot

I have them installed on mine with no issues and mine is a January '07 Build I believe

Did you have them installed by a shop or something or did you do it yourself?

[Autobot]

I installed them myself

[jbass524]

I think you have to ask yourself why you're buying the brakes: ease of pad change, better performance, cooler looks?

This is just my opinion from track experience with both the 335 brakes and the performance brakes both with stock pads. This was at Laguna Seca. I drove a 135 with the performance brakes for a day and I own a 335 which I've driven at Laguna twice before.

Performance Brakes (PBs) to 335 Brakes Comparison:

1. Neither brake are top loaders so pad changes are difficult
2. The PBs fade just like the 335 brakes with little difference. In fact I had never lost brakes in my 335 and I did in the 135 (into turn 11), 3 times.
3. Better pedal feel on PBs until they're gone
4. PBs look a little cooler

NET = no good reason to buy

If you're tracking your car and are using up the stock brakes get track pads and rotors or just track pads then bed them in. Use the high temp brake fluid of your choice.

[blue2fire]

^ Agree, too much for what they are.

[GeekinE90]

I think the lesser powered N52's E9x's will benefit from the brake upgrade. The 335i brake discs are already bigger than the performance brakes, and for the N52 in my case 325i with stock 300mm rotors the upgrade should yield better results. Hopefully the lighter N52 engine (~60kgs) will also put less punishment on continous hard braking for the N52 causing less fade. Anyway I'll find out soon enough.

[GeekinE90]

I just found out that the rear BMW performance brakes should be mated with at least 330i rear brake dust shields. The 325i rear brake dust shield is a different part no and is smaller which will not clear the bigger rear discs. The front BMW performance brake disc comes with the dust shield as well in the kit.

Also DSC has to be recoded based on the instructions as a safety measure.

[GeekinE90]

Here's more info on the DSC recoding once the brakes have been upgraded on our cars. Its in both the safety information literature and install instructions.

[GeekinE90]

If you are looking to fit the full PBK on a E90 325i N52B25 instead of the 330i, you'll need to check the rear parking brake size. 330i and 325i (with extra payload configuration) uses a 185mm parking brake while a normal 325i uses 160mm. This means that when the rear PBK discs are fitted, the hub of the discs are too large, and the parking brake cant engage. You'll need to swap our the rear parking brake shoes, springs, brake dust shields and clips to the 330i or the 325i with extra payload configuration parts.

The calipers, discs etc are a direct bolt on otherwise. I have these parts on order for my car at the moment. Tried fitting on the front and rear and discovered this fact, so I'll have to leave the fronts for now till the rear ebrake parts arrive for the rear before fitting the rear PBK calipers and discs.

The existing 325i rear brake shields just clears/fits the new 324mm rear PBK rotors (stock is 300mm), but doesn't look good. The original 135i and 330i rear brake shields look a lot nicer when mated with the 324mm rotors.

Some pics of the car...with the existing old brake shields which has to be replaced.




The rear discs barely clearing the stock dust shields. Looks odd..


Pics of the new PBK rear discs vs. Stock 325i discs. Note the difference in hub diameter..


The pics of the Front and rear brakes on the car..

[GeekinE90]

Just an update. The rear parking brake from the 330/335i does NOT fit the 325i due to location of the parking brake cable going through the wheel carrier and the new placement of the expanding lock pin which has to be moved lower to accommodate the bigger ebrake shoe. The expanding lock needs to rest on an metal extension from the wheel carrier and the placement of this differs. In essence, you'll need the 330 or 325i (extra payload) wheel carrier + wheel bearings and looks like drive shafts to get this to work.

Gave up on this and got a precision engineering shop to fab a spacer to insert and lock it into the new rear brake discs hub so that the inner diameter now measures 160mm in line with the stock ebrake. Its a real pain, but finally everything works beautifully. Bad news is each time I change rear discs I'll have to get the shop to fab the spacer again. Its not ideal, so don't try this mod for the faint heart. The mod affects the parking brake only, which is a good thing.

[ENINTY]

So I think you have to ask yourself, considering the small amount of braking rear brakes actually provide (30%), is it worth having a machine shop add inner diameter to the parking brake drum to get the praking brake to function. I'd fit just the front PB kit and leave the rears stock. Impressive persistance on your part though. Excellent info.

[GeekinE90]

True. However, if you already can source for a precision engineering shop in the area to do it for you its quite a bolt on install to the car once they are able to modify the rear discs. For my case, the shop charged me ~USD77 for this mod. I would have much prefer going with all matched parts like the bigger eBrake, springs, clips etc from the 330i being fitted. So for my case its just a workaround.

Here are pics of the inner drum of the modified discs with the spacer installed.



Here's how they secured the spacer. They bolted it down to the drum and then repainted the drum after. This pic was taken before the repaint and shows the position of the bolt which was inserted.