[E30M CW]

Hi All,

I'm prepping a e90 330i for use on track and was hoping to get the thoughts of some members who've tracked their car more frequently about the correct track brake pads.

Is braking performance better if the compound for the front and rear brake pads are the same? Alternatively, since the brakes are completely stock and it still has the stock pressure limiting valve for the rear brakes, is it better to use a more aggressive compound for the rear brakes than the front brakes as a way of increasing the proportion of braking being performed by the rear brakes?

[FROSTBURN2020]

Originally Posted by E30M CW

Hi All,

I'm prepping a e90 330i for use on track and was hoping to get the thoughts of some members who've tracked their car more frequently about the correct track brake pads.

Is braking performance better if the compound for the front and rear brake pads are the same? Alternatively, since the brakes are completely stock and it still has the stock pressure limiting valve for the rear brakes, is it better to use a more aggressive compound for the rear brakes than the front brakes as a way of increasing the proportion of braking being performed by the rear brakes?

The golden mperformance brake will solve your problem. 335i brake will also be an perfect alternative.

[E30M CW]

Thanks for your comment. My car already has the mperformance brakes. I'm trying to understand how to match the brake pads front to rear to optimize braking performance.

[charlie_m]

Originally Posted by E30M CW

I'm prepping a e90 330i for use on track and was hoping to get the thoughts of some members who've tracked their car more frequently about the correct track brake pads.

I can't speak to pad compounds or mixing F&R, but I've read there are a number of BMW 'nannies', nominally designed to keep you safe, that actually suck on the track. Some are related to braking. Maybe you know about them already, there are a number of threads:
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1216639

Someone will chime in with details (like at what driver experience level the nannies should be addressed). I was certainly surprised to learn of them.

[edycol]

Ferodo DS2500, EBC YellowStuff, HAWK HPS+ are street/track pads. I would go these if you don't want to change pads once you are done.
If you looking specific track pads look Pagid RSL, PFC, HAWK DTC.

[Biginboca]

Originally Posted by E30M CW

Thanks for your comment. My car already has the mperformance brakes. I'm trying to understand how to match the brake pads front to rear to optimize braking performance.

My thoughts are if you are using stock braking hardware then use matched compound fr/rr.

If you are not on stock hardware (calipers and rotor sizes) then you might want to start playing with different compounds to even out what you changed.

Based on what you have stated I would use matching pad compounds. I’m not an expert by any means. And definitely code out the nannies they will all be far to aggressive intruding when you have track brake pad compounds and fluid.

[dominancex]

I took out my E90 stage 2+ with street summer tires out during practice before a race at NJMP Thunderbolt. I was braking down from 130mph to about 60mph going into turn 1 from the straight. I was out there for about 20 minutes at a time and driving the car at about 90%.

I used the Ferodo DS2500 pads front and rear from FCPEuro, I was very happy with them. I didn't notice any fade. (ambient temps were low 40s F). I don't think I would run a more aggressive pad as they require some usage to get warmed up in street driving. I drove to and back from the track on them.

Here is a good idea of the track if you're note familiar with it for a frame of reference:

https://youtu.be/obadK3JgJKI

[dmytro98]

I also had the ds2500 pads but my experience wasn't as good on the track. I have 335i front brakes and 328i rears on my 128i and my pads would start to feel gummy after about 3 hot laps, but this was with threshold braking with a lot of hard brake zones. Also from this day, I ended up destroying my rotors from brake pad deposits that turned into hot spots causing horrible vibration. This was also around 5k ft of elevation which I think also reduces brake cooling making it even harder for the brakes.

[Biginboca]

Originally Posted by dominancex

I took out my E90 stage 2+ with street summer tires out during practice before a race at NJMP Thunderbolt. I was braking down from 130mph to about 60mph going into turn 1 from the straight. I was out there for about 20 minutes at a time and driving the car at about 90%.

I used the Ferodo DS2500 pads front and rear from FCPEuro, I was very happy with them. I didn't notice any fade. (ambient temps were low 40s F). I don't think I would run a more aggressive pad as they require some usage to get warmed up in street driving. I drove to and back from the track on them.

Here is a good idea of the track if you're note familiar with it for a frame of reference:

https://youtu.be/obadK3JgJKI

I just had a track day last week with DS2500 pads front and rear for the first time. I have brake pulsating in the pedal and steering wheel after 2 x 20 mins sessions and felt nervous pushing the car for my last 2 sessions. In the aftermath I have ordered some DS1.11 pads to try and clean the deposits off my rotors and which I’ll use for the track from now on.

DS2500 is a fine street pad IMO but not really suitable for tracking. If you Google “DS2500 Pad Deposits” there’s a ton of hits that come up with similar to my experience.

For the record I’m on 255 PS4S tires and F30 Brembo front brakes and stock E90 rear brakes, car is about 260whp and 3100lbs so not even heavy or powerful.

[dominancex]

Originally Posted by Biginboca

I just had a track day last week with DS2500 pads front and rear for the first time. I have brake pulsating in the pedal and steering wheel after 2 x 20 mins sessions and felt nervous pushing the car for my last 2 sessions. In the aftermath I have ordered some DS1.11 pads to try and clean the deposits off my rotors and which I’ll use for the track from now on.

DS2500 is a fine street pad IMO but not really suitable for tracking. If you Google “DS2500 Pad Deposits” there’s a ton of hits that come up with similar to my experience.

For the record I’m on 255 PS4S tires and F30 Brembo front brakes and stock E90 rear brakes, car is about 260whp and 3100lbs so not even heavy or powerful.

I did do the recommended bedding in process by Ferodo on a set of OE spec Brembo brand rotors (Blank) that were previously running with Hawk Street 5.0 pads.

I have the stock 335i brakes. I haven't had any pad deposits yet but it's also not my daily driver. I'm full interior, with me in the car it's about 3800. I have coded out some of the features where the modules guessimate brake temperature and compensate for fade and such. I'm not sure if that has any impact on pad deposits.

I plan on doing more track days next session, if my experience changes with the DS2500 I will post an update.

The plan is do to F30 370mm front and F30 rear brakes once I outgrow the stock brakes. That should make swapping pads at the track a much more reasonable option.

[Peter Morrin]

I suggest you contact Dave Zeckhaussen at Zeckhaussen Racing. He is extremely knowledgeable about brakes and will give you engineering-based recommendations for your specific application. I have no affiliation other than as a customer, but have never been steered wrong. I have had good success with the Stoptech 309, but it may not be enough pad for road racing. It does work fine on the street even in Canadian winter temperatures when cold pad performance can be an issue with the first brake application!

[72GMC]

Currently running Stoptech 309.
I'm impressed so far.
2x full track days, 2x half days.
8mm remaining

Good street manners too, no squeals, brake dust is okay.
OEM rotors. Bed-in process followed.

[72GMC]

Originally Posted by E30M CW

Hi All,

I'm prepping a e90 330i for use on track

[Volasko]

I've had my E90 330i setup for tracking for the last few years and my experience went as follows:

- Stock pads were good to test the waters but once my confidence increased, I would glaze them and burn them up pretty quickly. Experienced brake fade for the first time and I was glad it happened where I had a paved run off section. God knows what it would have been if there wasn't.

- EBC Yellows were my next upgrade and were basically a joke and felt the same as stock. Burned them up pretty quickly. Waste of time and money.

- Swapped to 335i front calipers because good track pad options for the 330i calipers were next to nothing. Same pad as the M3 so my options improved considerably.

- Went with hawk HP+ (enhanced) pads and liked them until I hit the upper temp limit and melted them from 50% to backing plate in one HPDE session on the front pads only. Got 7-8 solid sessions out of them until they let go like I mentioned. Squealed like a pig on the street, made DD the car a pain. Once the rear pads go, I will put in DTC-60 pads in the rear to suit. You will need search suppliers using the M3 E90 as your car if you want a part number to show up.

- Swapped to DTC-60 front pads and running the remaining HP+ pads on the back and so far really like them. Only have one full day session on them but really like how little pressure I need to apply to get good bite. I had the front rotors up to 1000 deg F and the rears up to 750 deg F and experienced no fade or glazing issues with my current setup. So far they have squealed less than the HP+, but I have limited time on these so its hard to say how long that will last.

There are other very highly recommended pad options out there like Pagid RSL-29's or PFC-08 pads that are highly rated but are so insanely expensive compared to Hawk pads (at least here in CAN after exchange and shipping) that I found it hard to justify the costs.