Abs

[LeeThompson]

e30 318is m42

Do our cars have ABS? Mystep dad who specializes in these cars says or believes I do. But when practicing theresh hold breaking I get a little tire squeel and never feel the pulse in the brakes. I think I may have felt it once when I did it but I was not sure.

I know Theresh hold breaking sounds scarry ha but I want to be able to double clutch heel and toe from 5th to secound at 50 mph before I go to Roebling road. I have the easy heel toe double clutch down but it the slam of the brakes I need to get down because that is a much harder animal to conquer but anyway

[Ryann]

I'm pretty sure all the '91 e30's did, my '91 318i does. But to be sure pop your hood and look between the driver side headlight and inner fender bump. That's where the ABS shit is bolted down.

[deekay]

my opinion on this is simple- if you can activate ABS (and yes your car does have it), you need more tire.

even with E36 non-M brakes (same size as E30M3) and good pads (Porterfield R4S), i cannot lock them up with 225/45-16 KDWs. i have had to do a couple of panic stomps, and the car just drops anchor.

[Ryann]

my opinion on this is simple- if you can activate ABS (and yes your car does have it), you need more tire.

even with E36 non-M brakes (same size as E30M3) and good pads (Porterfield R4S), i cannot lock them up with 225/45-16 KDWs. i have had to do a couple of panic stomps, and the car just drops anchor.

Never thought about it this way. Cool.

[LeeThompson]

my opinion on this is simple- if you can activate ABS (and yes your car does have it), you need more tire.

even with E36 non-M brakes (same size as E30M3) and good pads (Porterfield R4S), i cannot lock them up with 225/45-16 KDWs. i have had to do a couple of panic stomps, and the car just drops anchor.

So are you saying my tires are worn out? I do not understand what you are trying to say.

[PumpItUp]

i plan on deleting abs because its useless to me, as mine is a street car. http://m42club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11644&highlight=abs+delete

as deekay mentioned it never locks up in normal situations, even with the stock 14s. this isn't a rambler or a city bus its a bmw. a very light one. and in abnormal situations abs might just confuse you. you really feel it kicking in when trying to slow down and hitting a pot hole, it's not a confidence builder when it cuts off your brakes. in the future if i'm driving hard and hit some bad pavement or even get some air and come down hard, i dont want to plow into something because the computer decided i don't need brakes for 1 second. its just not necessary in a small car like this and its easier to become a better, more attentive driver without abs. our car stops really well stock, i just wish the rear brakes played a bigger role. if you look at the e36, when it slams on its brakes the entire body lowers like its on air suspension. the e30 just nose dives.

[deekay]

So are you saying my tires are worn out? I do not understand what you are trying to say.

i'm saying if you have to threshold-brake, then your tires are not sticky enough, not wide enough, or both.

if you're still running 195/65-14s on bottlecaps or 14" basketweaves, then it's probably both.

i have had a lot of good results running all-seasons in a 225 section width. the KDWs have a treadwear rating of 300, and are technically an "all-season" tire. i've also had good luck with falken ze-512 in 225/50-15.

look at the stock wheels and tires and it's easy to see that there is room for more under the stock fenders.

if you drive your car as aggressively as your first post in this thread implies, then you NEED more tire than BMW saw fit to equip at the factory.

i went insane with spending money on my car while i was in iraq, and that's how i wound up with the setup i have. if i were trying to do it on a tighter budget, it'd look like this:

-good pads on new rotors
-16x8 et15 sportmaxx wheels
-225/45-16 falken ze-512

and honestly i'd probably be just as happy with it, 95% of the time.

[LeeThompson]

I have a wreaked 318is that I plan to track as my main track car if I enjoy my first event so I do not wish to invest in new rotors right now. They are starting to spider crack but are not bad yet. Brakes are fairly new with about 3 or 4 months of ware. I do not run my car that hard. I attempt theresh hold breaking when making turns and what not. I do not think I am that agressive. And I just started practicing it about 2 days ago from today because my instructor/ friend wants me to be able to do all this at the track. Heel toe double clutch is now easy for me but theresh hold is a whole nother animal.

[deekay]

*facepalm*

rotors are a wear item, not an investment. if your current ones are cracking, they need to be replaced, and you need new pads at the same time. that's only "optional" if you consider the car, and your life, disposable.

drive your car gently until you get new brake hardware on it.

[LeeThompson]

*facepalm*

rotors are a wear item, not an investment. if your current ones are cracking, they need to be replaced, and you need new pads at the same time. that's only "optional" if you consider the car, and your life, disposable.

drive your car gently until you get new brake hardware on it.

Nope thinking of my stepdads track car. His has the spider cracking. My rotors are fine no rust no cracking. Pads are 2 months old. I think they are fine. I will of course have them checked out next time I go to mystep dads shop.

Correct me if i'm wrong but rotors should not wear out unless your grinding with worn out pads or they are indeed cracking.

[zmannz803]

Slightly wrong, try using track only ceramic pads. You don't wear anything but the disc until you get them pretty hot, then its brakes burning too. With any pad though, you will wear it down over time, they heat and swell and contract all the time. They should be turned with a new set of pads if they are galled and glazed, or they are not evenly flat across.

[deekay]

honestly i'm not even a fan of turned rotors. when you machine them down you decrease the volume, and thus the heat capacity, of the disc.

all of our lives depend on our brakes working when we need them to... it does make a brake job more expensive, but i feel pretty safe as a result of doing new rotors with new pads every time.

as always, just my $.02

[LeeThompson]

honestly i'm not even a fan of turned rotors. when you machine them down you decrease the volume, and thus the heat capacity, of the disc.

all of our lives depend on our brakes working when we need them to... it does make a brake job more expensive, but i feel pretty safe as a result of doing new rotors with new pads every time.

as always, just my $.02

Deekay I respect your opinion because I am still in this learning mode about cars in general much less my e30.

But I just don't see why you need to replace rotors that are not cracked, rusted, or warped. Its like changing the lugs when you put on new tires. The lugs are fine but the tires are not.

I mean its almost worse than that. You double the cost of your brake job

Now I will agree that if you run with grinding brakes yes its time to change. But If you catch them before the end of the brake life then now save 200 bucks and go buy your self a Mark D Chip or short shifter. Sway Bar.

zmannz803
I do not get you. Are you saying that if I run racing brakes I will run down the rotor but not the pads untill the rotors are hot?

[zmannz803]

I was making an example in that regard to illustrate that rotors really are a wear item. Not to say they need replacing on the same schedule as your pads; the rule is to clean the rotor surface and relevel it each time you replace the pads so that you get true fresh braking by having no existing wear pattern that will cut your pads to the profile of the rough rotors.

[zmannz803]

http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/997-gt2-gt3-forum/502379-pccb-pads-brake-pad-science.html

good pad reading lol