Z3 3Litre Caliper Carriers for E36

[GerryAttrick 1]

I will shortly need to fit new discs and pads to my E36 325i and thought I'd take the opportunity to go a bit bigger in the front disc area.

From what I can see the easiest (cheapest?) is to go the Z3 Carriers & Rotors and use my existing calipers.

A couple of questions:

1. Is the caliper carrier (part No:34.10.6.758.120) handed i.e do I need to buy a left and right or can they be used on either side? Any articles I have found have only mentioned the one part number and I don't yet have a parts manual

2. Given there is "only" an extra 14mm diameter in the front rotors would this upset the brake bias very much?If so whats the best way to fix it?

Has anyone done this conversion and if so is the 14mm worth while.

I have E46 wheels fitted so wonder if there are other options I should consider or am I best just sticking with the standard setup given that it is only for road use at this stage

[Ben 0]

Hey Im looking at doing the same thing atm

Ive found another option is to use E46 328i front rotors and carriers

and E36 328i convertible rear rotors, calipers and carriers.

Have a look through this for some useful info

Visit My Website

[thorburn 120]

What is the problem with your current brakes?

all e46 carriers are the same apart from m3 and 330

I went through this before and pulled out after words of wisdom.

You are just adding more unsprung weight.

What I am doing with mine is slotted brembo rotors, braided lines, motul 5.1 fluid, rebuilt calipers and brass sliders.

I also wonder if you need a cert for changing your brakes. You'd be all sorts of unlucky if you did get caught for it but just saying

[Ben 0]

What is the problem with your current brakes?

all e46 carriers are the same apart from m3 and 330

I went through this before and pulled out after words of wisdom.

You are just adding more unsprung weight.

What I am doing with mine is slotted brembo rotors, braided lines, motul 5.1 fluid, rebuilt calipers and brass sliders.

I also wonder if you need a cert for changing your brakes. You'd be all sorts of unlucky if you did get caught for it but just saying

I dont think the average wof man would notice if you use all factory BMW parts would they?

Or are the E46 bits quite noticeable when on an E36?

[thorburn 120]

the z3 3 litre and e46 carriers have the same part number

http://realoem.com/bmw/partxref.do?part=34106758120

Iirc z3's and e36's have the same spindles. And all e36, z3 and e46 (excluding z3m,e36 m3,e46 330i and e46 m3) have the same front brake calipers.

But this mod is mostly wank factor. If you have good pads, rotors, fluid and ducting you should not have any problems with overheating. If you haven't had brake fade then you are just making your car worse by adding more weight to it

[GerryAttrick 1]

What is the problem with your current brakes?

all e46 carriers are the same apart from m3 and 330

I went through this before and pulled out after words of wisdom.

You are just adding more unsprung weight.

What I am doing with mine is slotted brembo rotors, braided lines, motul 5.1 fluid, rebuilt calipers and brass sliders.

I also wonder if you need a cert for changing your brakes. You'd be all sorts of unlucky if you did get caught for it but just saying

Not so much wank factor just using the chance to go bigger - I am always being told bigger is better!

. Brembo slotted rotors would be nice and I guess at the end of the day when you add cost of bigger rotors and the Z3 calipers there wont be a lot in it. My calipers are fine just the pads and rotors need to be replaced.

Are you doing the work on your brakes yourself? If not who is doing it? Are the parts being sourced locally or are they from overseas? Costs?

I'm not committed to the Z3 route yet - just starting to consider options and I'll consider the valid points you make.

[thorburn 120]

I do the work myself

Motul dot5.1 fluid - $18+gst each

Brembo max rotors - $240+gst fronts (I ordered the wrong part and got some interesting looking brembos, I'll have an experiment with how they go)

Both purchased from BNT

Caliper rebuild and brass sliders were purchased from pelicanparts.com. The brass sliders are probably not necessary

Caliper rebuilds can be purchased from a few places in nz. I can't find where i'd seen them at the moment. I think they were about $40

Genuine BMW pads - Can't remember

I got the braided hoses from Alert motorsport. Also probably not necessary.

No idea if these dollar values have been changed since. Just want to give you an idea on price.

I had at first wanted to use larger rotors (I actually received them from the previous owner of the car). I decided against it because I could get abs to start dancing with decent-ish tyres. I'd also think i've only boilt the fluid once. This was most definately caused by old fluid.

If you can get your abs going and don't boil the fluid is there any need to go bigger.

Hope this helps

[GerryAttrick 1]

I do the work myself

Motul dot5.1 fluid - $18+gst each

Brembo max rotors - $240+gst fronts (I ordered the wrong part and got some interesting looking brembos, I'll have an experiment with how they go)

Both purchased from BNT

Caliper rebuild and brass sliders were purchased from pelicanparts.com. The brass sliders are probably not necessary

Caliper rebuilds can be purchased from a few places in nz. I can't find where i'd seen them at the moment. I think they were about $40

Genuine BMW pads - Can't remember

I got the braided hoses from Alert motorsport. Also probably not necessary.

No idea if these dollar values have been changed since. Just want to give you an idea on price.

I had at first wanted to use larger rotors (I actually received them from the previous owner of the car). I decided against it because I could get abs to start dancing with decent-ish tyres. I'd also think i've only boilt the fluid once. This was most definately caused by old fluid.

If you can get your abs going and don't boil the fluid is there any need to go bigger.

Hope this helps

Yes it sure does help. I will definitely have a look at a similar setup. The only reason for looking at the Z3 was on the basis that I'd have to replace the discs so I might as well go larger but I no longer drive in excess of the braking capacity (and probably never did if I'm honest.

Did you consider EBC rotors? I don't know the price but I did fit some to Falcon I had and they seemed to be much better - although to be fair the falcon ones were badly warped.

When you say caliper rebuild do you mean a rebuilt caliper or an over haul kit? I can probably get the calipers overhauled here anyway

[thorburn 120]

Caliper rebuild kit that I have is just the seals and dust cover.

Never looked at ebc because I've never heard of them. But from the start I was pretty set on Brembo so I didn't look too much into different rotors

[Ben 0]

Caliper rebuild kit that I have is just the seals and dust cover.

Never looked at ebc because I've never heard of them. But from the start I was pretty set on Brembo so I didn't look too much into different rotors

Were your brembo rotors cross drilled/slotted or just oem style replacement?

[thorburn 120]

Were your brembo rotors cross drilled/slotted or just oem style replacement?

These are what I accidentally ordered.

[*Glenn* 854]

^^^ thats what I'm using with genuine pads... work great