[OSK77]

I was planning to replace the front and rear brakes on my E90 335i in April, '11. My original plan was to purchase a non-OEM set of parts from Bavauto.com/Bavarian Autosport in the US. For front and rear slotted/cross-drilled Ultimate rotors along with Cool Carbon brake pads, I am looking at approx. $1000. This price DOES NOT include brake calipers and would assume I use the stock calipers. That's option 1 until I recently visited BMW Mississauga and checked up on prices/compatibility of BMW Performance parts.

Apparently, the BMW Mississauga Parts associate told me that the BMW Performance OEM brake kit from the 135i will work on the 335i. The Canadian retail price for the 135i Brake Kit was obviously stupid at $3500. I checked on Ticher/getbmwparts.com and the 135i Performance Brake kit (see pix below) is worth only $1000!?! Rotors, pads, front and rear along with the 6 piston calipers - the whole damn kit! Quite a steal compared to having to continue using the OEM calipers with option 1. Plus as one starts shopping in the 19" rim category, having the OEM brake set up is just an eye sore.

One thing I have found on the forum is the caliper for the 135i is fixed whereas the 335i has a floating design. @Kol also mentions below there is a 10 MM difference in rotor size btw. the stock 135i rotor (smaller) and the 335i stock rotor (larger). Questions, questions!

So my question is: anyone out there who has actually done this upgrade help validate whether the BMW Performance Brake kit for the 135i will properly fit my 335i without any issues? If there are issues, please outline what I will need to forecast.

My current summer set up is the factory staggered set up on OEM 162's and winter set up is 225/45R/17 all around.

Many thanks!



Along with Cool Carbon brake pads...



135i BMW Performance Brake Complete Kit - see description


135i BMW Performance Brake Kit - Blown up image

[dzenno]

Wondering the same

[kol]

did the research - as I'm thinking of picking these up too.

if you have 335 - FR and RR will work - but you are kind of downgrading as 335 OEM has 348mm rotors and these are 338mm rotors.

if you have non335 - FR will work, RR will NOT

[Keebeen]

Can we just use the caliper on the existing size rotors?

[only1]

So rotors and calipers bolt up to a 335i?

[taichi]

Originally Posted by kol

did the research - as I'm thinking of picking these up too.

if you have 335 - FR and RR will work - but you are kind of downgrading as 335 OEM has 348mm rotors and these are 338mm rotors.

if you have non335 - FR will work, RR will NOT

& if you are automatic and can have the rear work without the e-brake.

[SGxi]

The front will probably fit, the rear is VERY questionable.

[DimSum]

Front will fit, rear will not.

[Bowser330]

Originally Posted by DimSum

Front will fit, rear will not.

on 335i or non-335i???

[iFRANChISe]

Originally Posted by Bowser330

on 335i or non-335i???

X2, can I just buy these and bolt them up without adapters, etc.?

[skinrock]

Anyone try/figure this out?

[0verkill]

I'd be very interested to know as well. 335i brakes work surprisingly well at the track, but surely a 4 or 6 piston setup with slotted/drilled rotors would be a huge upgrade. Also wonder if the new BMW "M" performance kits for the F30's could be retrofitted.

[Dr. G]

Originally Posted by 0verkill

I'd be very interested to know as well. 335i brakes work surprisingly well at the track, but surely a 4 or 6 piston setup with slotted/drilled rotors would be a huge upgrade. Also wonder if the new BMW "M" performance kits for the F30's could be retrofitted.

135i brakes are downgrade for sure over the 335i brakes.
The F30 retrofit is being worked on by one of the vendors, I think it should be done soon.

There's also an upgraded caliper kit coming out for the 335i, where you basically use OEM rotors since they're already pretty good or any rotor of your choice and just put on a big brake style caliper. Similar to what used to be offered before and I think Mr. 5 was running.

[Bowser330]

Originally Posted by Dr. G

135i brakes are downgrade for sure over the 335i brakes.
The F30 retrofit is being worked on by one of the vendors, I think it should be done soon.

There's also an upgraded caliper kit coming out for the 335i, where you basically use OEM rotors since they're already pretty good or any rotor of your choice and just put on a big brake style caliper. Similar to what used to be offered before and I think Mr. 5 was running.

did this upgraded caliper kit ever come out?

[jim.e.]

if I stop being lazy (and it works out), I'll be switching to the BMW 135i Performance BBK for my fronts on the 323i

[Kriston]

you can make the rear work as well, but you have to change your hand brake mechanism in the rear. Also takes some custom fabrication to bolt up the rears on the carriers.

I would advise against it for any 335 owners, you are doing it solely for cosmetics. As many have mentioned its a down grade. Upgrade your pads and get a good set of 2 piece rotors to reduce rotational mass. You will benefit from this more + save some $$.

[BRAISKI]

For me I just want the front callipers.

[Envuks]

Bump this up. Does anyone one if this kit might fit? There's a bunch of conflicting information in this thread. Also, is the 10mm rotor size a big reduction? With the better caliper does it overcome the smaller rotor?

Any insight would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

[Dr. G]

Originally Posted by Envuks

Bump this up. Does anyone one if this kit might fit? There's a bunch of conflicting information in this thread. Also, is the 10mm rotor size a big reduction? With the better caliper does it overcome the smaller rotor?

Any insight would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

The caliper is not better.

[n52330i]

Originally Posted by Dr. G

The caliper is not better.

How do you figure? 6 pot caliper + more surface area pad!

Why do you type if you do not know what you are talking about?

10mm less on rotor means nothing compared to the new surface area and EVEN clamping force of the BMW bbk..

[Dr. G]

Originally Posted by n52330i

How do you figure? 6 pot caliper + more surface area pad!

Why do you type if you do not know what you are talking about?

10mm less on rotor means nothing compared to the new surface area and EVEN clamping force of the BMW bbk..

Before making a bold statement like that at least have basic knowledge of what you are speaking of.

Firstly 6pot caliper means nothing, it's the size of the pistons that you want to look into. The 335i caliper has a larger piston area and will provide a greater clamping force. Your 100-0 braking times will be better with the 335i caliper (vbox verified). The 135i caliper also pushes the brake bias to the rear, which may be undesirable for some.

What's the significance of surface area of the pad do you even know? Surface area has no relevance to coefficient of friction, surface area = kinetic friction. The surface area allows the pad to have a longer life and dissipate heat, but has nothing to do with it's ability to stop the car. What's the point of the pad dissipating heat when the pistons and seals on the calipers melt from heat? Furthermore a 26mm rotor vs a 30mm rotor, HUGE difference in the heatsink characteristics, do you know how to calculate the efficiency of the rotor? If you do please do a calculation and then you'll see what I mean. The ability of the pad to dissipate SLIGHTLY more heat becomes negated by the fact that the rotor can't dissipate as much heat therefore no benefits in terms of brake fade either.

10mm is the difference in rotor diameter, but the brake torque is a function of the clamping point of the piston, so there's an appreciable difference in the brake torque here as well and it becomes a bit more than 10mm based on positioning. The difference between 135i and 335i brakes is about the difference between the 335i and m3 brakes.

SUMMARY:
Performance caliper: less piston area, less brake torque, 4mm thinner rotor, no benefits to brake fade = decreased performance

[n52330i]

Lol. I hope no one believes this bs you post. The piston diameter is larger when you take all 4 piston diameters into consideration.

Pad compounds can be changed to change coefficient of friction. The pistons on the caliper do not melt in the caliper, EVEN used in real race application.

The floating rotor is better on 135 then 335.

The cars come with different pads from factory, so you cannot compare breaking until both calipers have same pad installed.



1 series 6 piston caliper used on race cars, single piston not.

Why you always argue? Can't afford a bbk?