[Kailec]

Hey all, trying to piece together upgrades to my stock brakes. I've got about a month more or less until my rears need replacing and I figured I'd do it all at once. I've never upgraded brakes before so sorry if this sounds dumb! I know I'll need calipers, rotors and pads, but is there anything else I'm missing?

From reading online the consensus seems to be that slotted/drilled are not the best bang for my buck, and I should just get plain rotors instead (especially since I will never track my car). I'm trying to piece together the blue M Sport ones using 370mm fronts and 345mm rears. Is there any good set that have the rotors and pads together, or any particular ones I should go for if I buy separate? I see the name Zimmerman pop up frequently, any other brand recommendation?

Thanks for the help, this upgrade had me excited.

[7iM3less]

Not sure if this is a good idea for you. You'll need a number of elements beyond calipers, rotors and pads. There's the new wear sensors, both the front and rear shields and you generally want to use fresh bolts and screws. In addition about 7 bottles of brake fluid and a pressure bleeder. Coding at the end.

I would recommend spec'g out the appropriate conversion kit and playing it safe. Otherwise keep scanning the classifieds section for loose parts. The calipers don't come up very often and honestly after the math + currency conversion it gets expensive.

Lastly when your dealing with used parts you also need to keep an eye on whether the capliers have been banged around or scratched/dented. These things are truly a work of art and roughly a $2k - $3k investment - you don't want something that's been tossed around.

You'll have a better chance at keeping this straightforward and budget friendly if you look for the std unpainted M Sport Brembo front and rear floating Bosh brakes. Guys are selling that kit for about $600 these days.

Good luck!

[hardparker]

I picked up a pair of online salvage 340mm Brembos from a 2016 435i with less than 20,000 miles for $290, shipped. I picked up a front pair of 370mm blue Brembos from a 2014 435i for $385 shipped.

All of that by combing car-part.com, and when a sweet deal popped up, cross-checking that yard's postings to find their lowest price, then calling the yard to order directly from them. It took several months of eyeful watching to score deals like that, but it's possible if you know what you're looking for and how to find it.

For me, upgrading piecemeal like that allowed me to both save some money and get a better upgrade overall, by spending some of the money saved on things like better pads, stainless lines, speed bleeders and the sundries to do the job myself, like brake cleaner, paint, etc.

Still, with the M Performance brake upgrade available for around $1300 online, it's a pretty good deal for all new parts that includes everything needed other than model specific rear rotors. And certainly much easier than hunting down all of the parts individually.

[FaRKle!]

Check eBay. That's where I got my pretty much brand new (20 miles on them) set of calipers, pads, rotors, brake wear sensors.

For your 328ix you'll need to buy the front dust shield/protection plates, but your rears should be fine.

You also shouldn't need seven bottles of BMW brake fluid... two to three should be plenty (1.2-1.5L).

This guy has the best deal on both front protection plates. I almost bought from him, but he wouldn't have gotten them to me in time.