[madlad2000]

Just to confirm, am I correct in thinking the standard front discs on a 435d M Sport are 340mm, (and the M Sport Brakes option discs are 370mm), but they both use exactly the same caliper and pistons and with the same squeeze, (although the standard are Grey and the Sport are blue), however the standard is fitted with standard oem bmw brake pads, and the Sport brakes are fitted with the sport brake pads.

If that's the case can you not just buy the sport pads and swap them out? (even though the discs are 340mm). And if so where do you get them from if not from bmw itself as there doesn't seem to be any different versions of pads, or at least it appears that way when looking online. Or, can you just swap in a non oem pad that is better than the sport pads and that I can, say, pick up today from a shop, and if so what do people recommend?

Also, could you not just buy two second hand blue sport brakes calipers with pads of ebay and fit them straight on to the 340mm discs (or do you have to get the 370mm discs), and finally, once bought, can somewhere like ATS brakes or similar just swap out the pads, or swap in the blue calipers and pads, or even swap in the new disc, pad, and calliper.

Some on ebay come with the sensor wiring whatever that is, but if they don't, can sensor wiring on the existing brakes just be used.

Also, does bmw need to code anything differently when putting in the sport pads, or swapping to blue calipers and sport pads.

The reason I ask is because I'm still not happy with my brakes, even though nothing is wrong with them, they just have no bite, and the bmw technician I went out with in the car said its normal, they've been purposely sodtened down to fit the broader market bmw now caters for.

I found this earlier today:

It's from an American site, which has an even more confusing array of options but highlights the soft brakes,

M Sport upgrade (alternative) F:34116865460, lots of initial bite but also lots of dust; performance drivers will like this pad a lot but daily drivers will probably dislike the amount of dust from them; if you were unhappy with the brake feel in your stock setup you can swap the M Sport pads in for an immediate improvement.

The product code is available at a shop in Harrogate.

Also interesting: M Performance Kit, F: 34116859066, R: 34216855474 low dust and low feel; a lot of M Performance customers have been put off by the pads that came with this kit - they're dull feeling and totally out of character with what they expected. In this case we recommend using the M Sport pads with more bite.

[teaston]

Correct, all F3x & F2x M Sport, MP & standard 335i/d plus F8x use the same size/shape pads.

An even better OEM upgrade would be to get M3/4 pads

Or you could consider the Ferodo DS Performance pads that I have which are £100