E46 M3 Calipers on E34

[gtopaul]

Thought you all might like to see a pic of this swap I did in the driveway today. The last set of E34 M5 calipers went for over $300 on ebay last week so I decided to use these 2002 M3 calipers I was told would work. It's a simple swap and bolts straight onto my 92 525iT and the rotors are for a E34 540i. The M3 calipers only cost me a $100 so there was a definite cost savings. Probably not much difference between E34 M5 or 540 calipers but they do work.

Paul

http://members.aol.com/gtopaul/private/brakes002.jpg

[angrypancake]

hows the stopping power? improved?

[gtopaul]

hows the stopping power? improved?

Stops fine but the pedal feels a little mushy like maybe I didn't get all the air out. Will try and use the power bleeder at work tomorrow and do it right.


Paul

[BillionPa]

the mushy pedal could be because of the increased fluid capacity in the rotors. suggest getting stainless brake lines to compensate.

[gtopaul]

the mushy pedal could be because of the increased fluid capacity in the rotors. suggest getting stainless brake lines to compensate.

Bled the brakes at work today and all is well. Really stops well. Worthwhile swap for not much more money than redoing stock stuff.

Paul

[Kalevera]

Are those E46 M3 rotors? edit: oops, I guess they aren't. Does the 20mm difference in the caliper overhang the pad? That could wear very....badly. Surprised that you didn't go with the E31/E32 324mm rotors, which would have been a closer match, although the pads might have had to be shaved to fit the 30mm wide rotor.

I knew E36 M3 calipers worked as they're the same footprint as E34 M5 fronts, always wondered about E46 330 and M3. The E46 330 brakes are a nice upgrade for E36 cars, they'd also be a nice upgrade for any E34/E32, I suppose, given that the E46 M3 parts fit.

[jjdickm]

That awesome! I was looking into doing a bake upgrade. I wanted to do a porsche caliper setup. I will look into this, did you use e46 rotors?

[jjdickm]

sorry about the rotor question i missed where you said you used the e34 540i rotors.

[Montreal525]

Nice... what about the rear? And did you use the stock E34 brake carrier or the E46 carrier?

Jeff

[DanDombrowski]

I also have a set of E46 330 Calipers and rotors, except they're on the 330, not the E34 525(Har de har......)

Anyway, pads are exactly the same between the two calipers (E34 525 and E46 330), so I would think that the calipers and rotors would be close to the same size as well, but I could be wrong.

[kesslerbmw]

Def looks like the pads are over hanging the rotor. Is there a rotor that is larger and will fit better?

[gtopaul]

Nice... what about the rear? And did you use the stock E34 brake carrier or the E46 carrier?

Jeff

I haven't touched the rear yet. Been thinking about using a set of E32 or E34 calipers back there but I haven't done the research yet to see if they are ventilated disks or not. Not much point in changing if they aren't. The 540i rotors on the front are about the biggest and widest that will fit within the calipers and I did use the E46 carriers.

Paul

[Jon K]

Pics not working now?