[Gr1vlet]

Picked up a new to me 2016 340i 8at rwd - intend to use for mixed street / track use. Hot weather package with all the aux rads.

BM3 stage 2 93
XHP stage 3
KW V3 Clubsport
KW Camber Plates
18x9.5 Apex EC7 +35 square (12mm front spacer)
265/40/18 Falken RT615k+
-3.6 F / -2.6 R

Tire fitment is aggressive but fits well within the fenders on this baseline setup that's worked for me on older 3-series platforms on this type of tire. Once I learn the car and evolve the setup a bit I'll move to a stickier 200tw.

I'm planning to toss some track pads on the front axle and run the car at Road Atlanta in July, eventually I'd like to upgrade to Msport rear calipers and f80 rotors / caliper spacers. Other than that i was going to wait until I tracked the car and see what it tells me before doing much else. Interested in any 'must have' track upgrades, especially as they relate to heat management or reliability! Excited to play with this platform!

[skier_du]

Originally Posted by Gr1vlet

Picked up a new to me 2016 340i 8at rwd - intend to use for mixed street / track use. Hot weather package with all the aux rads.

BM3 stage 2 93
XHP stage 3
KW V3 Clubsport
KW Camber Plates
18x9.5 Apex EC7 +35 square (12mm front spacer)
265/40/18 Falken RT615k+
-3.6 F / -2.6 R

Tire fitment is aggressive but fits well within the fenders on this baseline setup that's worked for me on older 3-series platforms on this type of tire. Once I learn the car and evolve the setup a bit I'll move to a stickier 200tw.

I'm planning to toss some track pads on the front axle and run the car at Road Atlanta in July, eventually I'd like to upgrade to Msport rear calipers and f80 rotors / caliper spacers. Other than that i was going to wait until I tracked the car and see what it tells me before doing much else. Interested in any 'must have' track upgrades, especially as they relate to heat management or reliability! Excited to play with this platform!

Welcome to the few, the proud, the f30 track crew. 😂

Really though, the f30 is a much better platform to track than people think. It takes a little to get it to keep up with the M cars, but less than one would think. You pretty much have all you need, but a couple more key things.

You have good camber settings. These cars absolutely need that. It’s really essential to track. They love lots of front camber. I’m running close to the same as you.

I ran the KW v3 for a while. I loved the ability to dial the car with the double adjustment. However I ultimately felt they’re too soft for track use. Currently I’m running the Bilstein B16 PSS10. I’m much more happy with them on track as their stiffness and response is better suited for track use.

I also have the same wheel and tire spec as you. Although I wish I went to a 10 inch wide and 275 tire. 265 is much better than 255 for these somewhat heavy cars. But 275 would is another good step better. More tire is always good to handle the heat longer on heavy cars.

However, this brings me to what I found about the brake system. Perhaps for a very casual track goer who’s light on the brakes and doesn’t run on a track that’s hard on the brakes, the stock grey calipers are fine.

However, for me, the stick grey calipers felt positively dangerous. Even with RBF660 and Hawk DTC30 pads, I’d get brake fade after a couple laps at pace. Also I had to bleed the fluid between almost every session. Some ducks attached to the bottom of the control arms helped, but only some. Also the inconsistent brake pedal feel is not good at all. Part of it is the pad knock back isn’t good with the factory Brembo calipers. The blue brakes will give you considerably more heat capacity, especially with 2 piece, directional vein rotors. But the inconsistent pedal feel will still be there.

The answer for me was aftermarket big brake kits. That has given me all the heats capacity I need plus a solid and consistent brake pedal. My fluid is RF650. For little more than upgrading to blue calipers with stainless pistons and 2 piece rotors, I was able to get the front and rear Paragon brake kits. Not trying to cut corners and diving all in on the brakes is the single best mod I’ve done on the car by far.

Regarding brake fluid, I recommend skip the RBF and go straight to SRF or the RF650. In the long run it’s probably less expensive. You’ll bleed the brakes less often, saving you money and inconvenience of the time.

Now for cooling. I’m still in process with this. But tracking my car in South Florida I’ve noticed a couple things. You will definitely need to get the oil temp under control as these cars run too hot from factory. I was able to significantly drop the oil temps from 255 to around 230 steady by adding the Mosleman oil thermostat. Works wonders. I’ll still add an oil cooler, probably the CSF one. But so far, combined with high quality oil, it’s worked wonders. With that alone the car runs pretty well in 80 plus weather.

Next up I’m going to upgrade the auxiliary radiator and the main radiator. Probably doing the Do88 for the main. However, I haven’t found a bolt in auxiliary solution other than some
Guy that makes them and sells them on eBay. It looks decent enough and like it has a little more capacity. But who really knows until I try it.

Circling back to the oil. Since I have the xDrive, I haven’t had oil starvation issues. However, rwd cars tend to have the issue. I can’t recall exactly, but it’s something like sustained left hand turns. You’ll want to look into getting some baffling for your oil pan before long. With pace it’ll become a problem.

After driving in track a bit, you may notice the rear of the car really doesn’t like to go in the same direction as the car. Much of the suspension is like that as well. The factory bushings are far too soft for track. And the rear of the car has something like 30 bushings. It’s crazy. My second favorite mods are replacing all the factory rubber in the suspension and rear subframe mounts. Especially the front tension arm and rear toe arms, followed closely by the subframe bushings. I highly recommend those. Replacing all this makes the f30 feel more like an f80 on track.

I’ve probably missed a couple things. But feel free to reach out with any questions along the way

Have fun and keep it right side up. 😆

[Gr1vlet]

Originally Posted by skier_du

Welcome to the few, the proud, the f30 track crew. 😂

Really though, the f30 is a much better platform to track than people think. It takes a little to get it to keep up with the M cars, but less than one would think. You pretty much have all you need, but a couple more key things.

You have good camber settings. These cars absolutely need that. It’s really essential to track. They love lots of front camber. I’m running close to the same as you.

I ran the KW v3 for a while. I loved the ability to dial the car with the double adjustment. However I ultimately felt they’re too soft for track use. Currently I’m running the Bilstein B16 PSS10. I’m much more happy with them on track as their stiffness and response is better suited for track use.

I also have the same wheel and tire spec as you. Although I wish I went to a 10 inch wide and 275 tire. 265 is much better than 255 for these somewhat heavy cars. But 275 would is another good step better. More tire is always good to handle the heat longer on heavy cars.

However, this brings me to what I found about the brake system. Perhaps for a very casual track goer who’s light on the brakes and doesn’t run on a track that’s hard on the brakes, the stock grey calipers are fine.

However, for me, the stick grey calipers felt positively dangerous. Even with RBF660 and Hawk DTC30 pads, I’d get brake fade after a couple laps at pace. Also I had to bleed the fluid between almost every session. Some ducks attached to the bottom of the control arms helped, but only some. Also the inconsistent brake pedal feel is not good at all. Part of it is the pad knock back isn’t good with the factory Brembo calipers. The blue brakes will give you considerably more heat capacity, especially with 2 piece, directional vein rotors. But the inconsistent pedal feel will still be there.

The answer for me was aftermarket big brake kits. That has given me all the heats capacity I need plus a solid and consistent brake pedal. My fluid is RF650. For little more than upgrading to blue calipers with stainless pistons and 2 piece rotors, I was able to get the front and rear Paragon brake kits. Not trying to cut corners and diving all in on the brakes is the single best mod I’ve done on the car by far.

Regarding brake fluid, I recommend skip the RBF and go straight to SRF or the RF650. In the long run it’s probably less expensive. You’ll bleed the brakes less often, saving you money and inconvenience of the time.

Now for cooling. I’m still in process with this. But tracking my car in South Florida I’ve noticed a couple things. You will definitely need to get the oil temp under control as these cars run too hot from factory. I was able to significantly drop the oil temps from 255 to around 230 steady by adding the Mosleman oil thermostat. Works wonders. I’ll still add an oil cooler, probably the CSF one. But so far, combined with high quality oil, it’s worked wonders. With that alone the car runs pretty well in 80 plus weather.

Next up I’m going to upgrade the auxiliary radiator and the main radiator. Probably doing the Do88 for the main. However, I haven’t found a bolt in auxiliary solution other than some
Guy that makes them and sells them on eBay. It looks decent enough and like it has a little more capacity. But who really knows until I try it.

Circling back to the oil. Since I have the xDrive, I haven’t had oil starvation issues. However, rwd cars tend to have the issue. I can’t recall exactly, but it’s something like sustained left hand turns. You’ll want to look into getting some baffling for your oil pan before long. With pace it’ll become a problem.

After driving in track a bit, you may notice the rear of the car really doesn’t like to go in the same direction as the car. Much of the suspension is like that as well. The factory bushings are far too soft for track. And the rear of the car has something like 30 bushings. It’s crazy. My second favorite mods are replacing all the factory rubber in the suspension and rear subframe mounts. Especially the front tension arm and rear toe arms, followed closely by the subframe bushings. I highly recommend those. Replacing all this makes the f30 feel more like an f80 on track.

I’ve probably missed a couple things. But feel free to reach out with any questions along the way

Have fun and keep it right side up. 😆

Hey thanks for the response! Only because it's relevant: I've been racing and coaching customers for our adjacent shop (ACI Motorsports) at Road Atlanta for about 7 years and I have hundreds and hundreds of competitive laps there so I was able to push the car fairly hard quickly and can confirm everything you mentioned above.

I didn't have a lap timer running but I was mostly on-pace with the many WRL GTO cars in the HPDE session, losing about 2-3 seconds a lap on the cars that were lapping in the 1:30-1:32 range so I conservatively estimate my pace at around 1:35-1:37 which is respectable for a full-weight street car on 615k+ in the July heat. Wound up running stage 1 91 octane tune which felt 40hp down from the stage 2 93 tune I run on the street but was still able to return an indicated 142-144mph on the back straight which is about even with the slightly detuned GT4 cars on 200tw tires that I wound up "benchmarking" myself against. The car easily had another second or so in my hands and maybe another .5-1s in the hands of someone more capable.

The car has stiffer linear springs vs. the stock progressive that came with the used set that I purchased along with the KW camber plates ($850 for all of it). The shocks were rebuilt right before this event (~$450 + shipping) and I felt the suspension performed beautifully for the weight of the car and the tires I'm running. The ride height seems to be about perfect in terms of suspension travel and I managed to get the car to a decent cornerbalance compromise without sacrificing too much ride height differential side-to-side. Steering feel with the servotronic I thought felt pretty good, better than the 718 Porsche GT4 Clubsport I drove on 200tw tires running similar laptimes.

Front springs: 90-170 + helper
Rear springs: 180-200 + helper

The base / sportline swaybars were my biggest concern initially but after a full day of tracking the car I didn't feel these were an issue. I'm sure if I moved to a "super 200" tire I'd want the additional roll stiffness but as-is with the stiffer linear springs the roll was minimal and afforded a welcome amount of compliance that returned a lot of confidence. I'll probably do these at some point when I'm already in the rear subframe for an LSD but on to the real issue...

The brakes were the biggest issue for sure. I wound up running some VP 622 Dot4 fluid we had sitting on the shelf at the shop that was a part of a foregone sponsorship deal. I know others who have used it without issue in dedicated endurance race cars so while not SRF or equivelant it should have been adequate. PFC08 are my favorite endurance pad and I was reminded of why I love them when I was able to go just past the 300 board into T10a at 140+, they stopped the car beautifully without any strange ABS behaviour and brake release was great and allowed the requisite trail braking to happen intuitively in 10a as well. Stock pads in the rear. The outlap and first flyer were great - nice firm pedal with good bite and torque but everything went downhill after that first flying lap. Initially it felt like knockback as a quick left-foot pump of the brakes coming up to the corner would seemingly reset the pads and allow braking as expected, I was jumping T3 a not-unreasonable amount on what I'd call a "qualifying line" and riding up all 4 tires on the exit curbing of T5 so this was expected in T6. The trouble would begin at 10a on my second flyer where the pedal would seemingly still exhibit the knockback issue but would also increase in travel by about 50% even after "resetting the pads". My gut told me that I'd failed to get all of the stock fluid out of the system but your comments above make me wonder if it's something else. I was planning to do the msport conversion and then run the extended brackets to accomodate the M3 floating rotors but don't want to go that direction if I'm in for the same behaviour. 1-2 cooldown laps at 50% pace didn't seem to help much, I'd have to park the car for a session and wait for them to cool. I gave a lot of rides to our pit lane staff (I work for WRL) and found that lifting / maintaining at about 120mph on the back straight would allow me to run at full pace everywhere else without any fade issue (and also without "knockback" issue even in T6, strangely - though I was still jumping T3 and running over the T5 exit curb) for an entire 40m session with a passenger and made me feel like I'm not too far off of adequate thermal capacity for the system and/or there's a tiny amount of air or old/waterlogged fluid still in the system that I was compressing thinking it was knockback.

Overall I was pleased with the package thinking the brakes would be a relatively straightforward fix (thought this might not be the case). I wanted to run some sort of lap timer but my primary objective was to give rides and verify I wasn't too far off with my alignment / cornerbalance and ride height and can confirm that I had virtually no rubbing except for some LF when jumping T3 and a bit of LF in T12 - perceptually I felt that raising the entire car 2-3mm would probably dispatch of that but the left side of the car was lowered a bit when cornerbalancing. I could be a bit off with my estimates but running mid/upper-1:30s at Road Atlanta in this car was more than I expected and it did this without much drama. I do feel like an LSD is a no-brainer as corner exit throttle application was a bit of a crapshoot but it wasn't sketchy in the fast stuff like T12 or T1.

I'm excited to keep messing around with the car and will keep in mind the upgrades you mentioned above. The coilovers and tires added a fair bit of NVH to the car but it's not beyond my tolerance level so I wouldn't mind exploring a bit of that. What did you feel was the best of the afformentioned bushing changes? I read somewhere about some adjustable bushings that allow you to change caster? Since i have uneven caster currently I was thinking that might be a good place to start.

Cornerbalance photo is with my 245lb self in the car on hubstands that are a few lbs lighter each than the wheels and a full tank of fuel. I could have chased better crossweight but I didn't want to have too much R/L rideheight differential so I settled on this with a even match on the front axle. I have a 10" subwoofer in a Musicar factory-look enclosure in the RR corner of the trunk which is "helping" a bit at the cost of weight.

[sir_co2]

good stuffs! very similar to my build. had my f30 for 7 years and am starting to focus on the upgrades.

[dbldangertilt]

Originally Posted by Gr1vlet

The brakes were the biggest issue for sure. I wound up running some VP 622 Dot4 fluid we had sitting on the shelf at the shop that was a part of a foregone sponsorship deal. I know others who have used it without issue in dedicated endurance race cars so while not SRF or equivelant it should have been adequate. PFC08 are my favorite endurance pad and I was reminded of why I love them when I was able to go just past the 300 board into T10a at 140+, they stopped the car beautifully without any strange ABS behaviour and brake release was great and allowed the requisite trail braking to happen intuitively in 10a as well. Stock pads in the rear. The outlap and first flyer were great - nice firm pedal with good bite and torque but everything went downhill after that first flying lap. Initially it felt like knockback as a quick left-foot pump of the brakes coming up to the corner would seemingly reset the pads and allow braking as expected, I was jumping T3 a not-unreasonable amount on what I'd call a "qualifying line" and riding up all 4 tires on the exit curbing of T5 so this was expected in T6. The trouble would begin at 10a on my second flyer where the pedal would seemingly still exhibit the knockback issue but would also increase in travel by about 50% even after "resetting the pads". My gut told me that I'd failed to get all of the stock fluid out of the system but your comments above make me wonder if it's something else. I was planning to do the msport conversion and then run the extended brackets to accomodate the M3 floating rotors but don't want to go that direction if I'm in for the same behaviour. 1-2 cooldown laps at 50% pace didn't seem to help much, I'd have to park the car for a session and wait for them to cool. I gave a lot of rides to our pit lane staff (I work for WRL) and found that lifting / maintaining at about 120mph on the back straight would allow me to run at full pace everywhere else without any fade issue (and also without "knockback" issue even in T6, strangely - though I was still jumping T3 and running over the T5 exit curb) for an entire 40m session with a passenger and made me feel like I'm not too far off of adequate thermal capacity for the system and/or there's a tiny amount of air or old/waterlogged fluid still in the system that I was compressing thinking it was knockback.

Another data point - I run PFC08s all around with Paragon titanium shims, SS lines and endless RF650 on the M Performance BBK and haven't experienced knockback as you describe. You may be on to something with the fluid.

[Gr1vlet]

Originally Posted by dbldangertilt

Another data point - I run PFC08s all around with Paragon titanium shims, SS lines and endless RF650 on the M Performance BBK and haven't experienced knockback as you describe. You may be on to something with the fluid.

That's great to know! I am running stock pads in the rear so I'm leaning heavily on the non-m-sport front calipers/rotors and vmax was in the 140-145mph range. It's possible I was overheating the pads (rotors were bluing around the inner middle) but it doesn't explain the long pedal but maybe the shims would help isolate some of the heat from the caliper / fluid.

I think Msport rear calipers and 280/270mm rotors and associated caliper spacers will help with total thermal capacity and dissipation.

I'm also planning to prototype some low profile rigid brake duct extensions similar to the Corvette ducts people run on the E36/46 platform with flexible ductwork to the backing plates to feed the inner vanes and cool the hub after I swap to the M-sport front bumper (I think duct outlet is the same on both). I'll share once and if I get that going!

[Gr1vlet]

Not really a performance upgrade but Msport bumper and rockers installed. Didn't bother with the rear bumper.

I did notice the aux radiator duct openings are 50% larger on the M-sport bumper meaning the sport line ducts don't fill the space., I haven't seen anyone talking about installing the correct ducts with the bumper but these are the part numbers for Msport. I didn't have any cooling issues on track in July Atlanta heat but I want everything to be correct.

Cover, bottom left 51718055019
Cover, bottom right 51718055020

[Polo08816]

I think you should be able to fit 275/35/18 track tires on that wheel without issues.

[E90lova]

Us F30 guys might wan't to upgrade your Fuel Pump module like I did as well to keep it cooler during hard runs like track use. Bimmerworld recommended Redline 10w40 synthetic for track use. Feels much better and copes with heat better than the liqui-moly I was using.

[E90lova]

The Copper plate with the M.2 pc drive heatsink attached to it goes behind the Module bolting point. I attach the USB connection to a usb port for now. Keeping that module cooler also feels like it adds more torque.

[E90lova]

Originally Posted by Gr1vlet

Not really a performance upgrade but Msport bumper and rockers installed. Didn't bother with the rear bumper.

I did notice the aux radiator duct openings are 50% larger on the M-sport bumper meaning the sport line ducts don't fill the space., I haven't seen anyone talking about installing the correct ducts with the bumper but these are the part numbers for Msport. I didn't have any cooling issues on track in July Atlanta heat but I want everything to be correct.

Cover, bottom left 51718055019
Cover, bottom right 51718055020

You can actually run the F80/82 brakes with the blue calipers but run like a Girodisc or EBC rotor instead of the drilled sport ones. Also bleed your calipers the Brembo recommended way which is inside first then outside after not the BMW way. I did this on my F30 and the brakes are killer, does not feel like it has air in the system where ad when I blead it outside first it did.

[E90lova]

Also was wondering if this Alcon kit would work on our cars with the Seems Legit F80 front brake adapter. https://mashimarho.com/products/alco...33281565294691