M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS
DISCUSSION => General Topics => Topic started by: lqbanotxano on February 06, 2010, 10:14:02 PM
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I went out 4 hours today with a friend that has a 99 Miata. I followed he lad. His car has suspension work, performance tires, roll bar, exhaust, CAI etc... We raced some really nice back roads.
Back about 10 years ago, I drove a Fiat Spider 2000 (had that car 22 years… altogether I drove Fiats for 33 years). It had sport coil springs, reground cams & an Ansa exhaust. This same friend used to follow me, THEN, while I showed him all my secret back roads. My car could keep up with his. He drove a 1991 Miata with adjustable shocks, roll bar & CAI. This 1980 Fiat has been gone now for about 4 years…..I miss it.
This past December a neighbor/friend gave me his 1993 318is. I have been working on this car for about 2 months. It runs well, the interior was trashed, windows did not work (sun, age & 176,000 miles) I put all new KYB shocks/struts, thermostat, new Yoko 520 front tires, old OK Yoko s100 back, new front wheel bearing & new front lower control arm. Everything else is good/fair working condition. Love this car. What a difference from my old Fiat.
Today, we were out 4 hours mostly doing “spirited” driving till we got to this special road he knows. This road is about 15 minutes of twisties & (2) 90 degree turns. The (2) 90 turns were 2nd gear but the rest of the turns were 3rd & 4th. On a couple of turns, I was in 3rd & ran out of rpm…bounced the limiter once. On one straight we hit 115. I could not believe my car could keep up with his Miata. I could hang with him on the turns no problem & he had a slight advantage on acceleration. Racing this same road back, I was more comfortable since I was getting used to the limits of the car. At my advanced age of 62 years of age, this is the fastest I have ever driven any twisties. My 318 was glued to the turns. Only a couple of times the rear came around slightly & just a touch of counter steering & it would track around the curve. My friend did all the hard work since he was in front but he knows this road well (he autocrosses regularly) All I had to do was watch his car. What a blast.
The bad news. I can tell there was some wear & tear on my old car from today…mostly the clutch & brakes. The clutch I knew was already slipping some. Now it feels a little worse. The brakes…the rotors have a ridge & a bit of glaze. They still stop OK. Today I did not use my brakes very aggressively…mostly down shifted but still that was 1/2 hour of flat out driving. Did I say this was a blast. Today was as much fun as flying in my experimental airplane.
Looking to redo my brakes…both rotors & pads front & back.
Any draw backs to buying inexpensive rotors & OEM pads? This is not my daily driver.
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Looking to redo my brakes…both rotors & pads front & back.
Any draw backs to buying inexpensive rotors & OEM pads? This is not my daily driver.
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OEM pads always seem pretty good. I've had bad luck with super cheap rotors though. They always seemed to arrive warped or something. I'd just find a pair of brembo blank rotors. Theres a guy on ebay that sells a kit for $130 with pads and rotors
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i use ATE rotors and EBC greenstuff or padig red pads.
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BlueBMW
I can't find the $130 kit on EBAY. Can you link the supplier?
Thanks....
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http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350306794410
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I dont know if those pads are any good yet. I ordered that kit, I'll let you know this week how well they do.
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If your looking for something "stock" and relatively inexpensive turner has a nice set, but I don't know what your looking to spend.
http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=E30BRAKEPACK
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Thanks a lot guys.
The Brembo look good so do the Turner (cheaper) The Turner with the more aggressive street pads is probably the way I will go.
I have an E36 not an E30. It is hard to get any help from the E36 blogs since mine has an M42 …so I try to get info from the E30 guys. I get tired of listening to the “leaf blower” & “fart can” comments. I like my car a lot 4 cylinder or not.
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My bad, guess I didn't read your first post close enough. I thought you had an e30.
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Hey...
I hope you E30 guys are not anti-"leaf blower" E36 "fart cans" (just kidding)
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I like all BMW's but I love e30's.
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I'm anti "fart cans" :D
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nothing agaist them but to me anything past 91 looks like shit. e30 screams enthusitst. 36's are too posh for me. give me 3 pedals 4 cylinders and 5 gears and im happy.
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nothing agaist them but to me anything past 91 looks like shit. e30 screams enthusitst. 36's are too posh for me. give me 3 pedals 4 cylinders and 5 gears and im happy.
Anything past 91 looks like shit. Thats a very bold statement.
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thats my opinion. but the body style did change greatly with the 36's.
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I prefer E30s over E36s ('cept a yellow m3....) but I still think E36's are good cars.
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I prefer E30s over E36s ('cept a yellow m3....) but I still think E36's are good cars.
They are good cars, but the quality got worse IMHO. Interior body panels falling off and what not....
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My E30 rattles and sqeeks like a mothafocker so I'm not too sure if the quality of mine is an anomaly or if 20 years have broke down a high quality interior. Dash is cracked, seats are "ok", half the switches get stuck...
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Good point, but i'm going with age on this one.
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Its always an interesting when I PDI a new BMW at work and I wonder what that car will be like in 20 years. Then I think of the guys that I work with that did the PDIs on E30s back in the day.
It seems to me like the E30 does seem to hold up a bit better than the E36 though. Then again it all depends on how a car was cared for. My 95 530i was a one owner car when I bought it and was very well taken care of. It looks like it has 60K on it but it actually has 270K. Amazing what garage kept does for a car. I've seen plenty of E34s falling apart from age.
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my 4door was a one owner car that drove from arundle mills md to WDC 5 days a week. exterior was great. drivers seat was shit dash looks brand new.
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It seems that more people speak ill of the E36 318 than they do of the old Ford Pinto or the Yugo? It's a good thing I have thick skin.
What is the weight difference between the E30 91 318is & the E36 93 318is? Does anybody know?
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on the original subject... i've been using Porterfield R4S pads on everything i own for years and they have never let me down. discs i don't worry about quite as much, just do new ones every time.
using this setup with my e30 with e36 brakes, it has a lot of stopping power... when i had crappy all-season kumhos it would lock them up very easily. now that i have KDWs it just drops anchor and /stops/.