bostonaudi
Go Kart Champion
- Location
- Charleston, SC
- Car(s)
- 1995 BMW M3
So usually at beginning of year I make a few tweaks to the car to try something new, and it was time do something about the brakes. After running front R32 brakes for a while with RB rotors and having the rotors fail early, I sold the brakes. The big R brakes aren't bad and can generate good stopping power, but they are heavy and barely fit 17" wheels, and only some at that. I left the rear R32 brakes installed as they seem to work well on the GTI. I was also using average metal master rear pads at rear to keep rears from being too biased.
I was recent beneficiary of another member upgrading to Stoptechs and bought his Boxster front setup. I installed a set of HPS pads for street at all corners. I was out bedding in the pads, and holy crappers this thing stops fast! This is an excellent setup, the front Boxster with rear R32 combo is well balanced, and using same HPS pads at all four corners works great. The car doesn't get squirrelly under very hard braking which it was previously susceptible to. The front Boxster conversion works great, the smaller 4 pot Brembo calipers seem to be a spot on match for the stock master cylinder, and the nice thing is changing pads is a matter of pressing a pin out rather than unbolting the calipers. Porsche also has a great pad selection available, while front R32 brakes do not. I think the Boxster conversion is the best bang for buck, as you get much better feel and clamping force, it uses stock rotors, which keeps costs down, and these calipers are much lighter than the stock calipers, which can be felt over bumps. It stops so well I might even leave the HPS pads in for a track outing. The only negative on the Boxster conversion is my OEM 18" Huffs need a 4 mm spacer. My 17" Enkei PF01's clear with lots of space.
Other change is suspension, halfway through installing a new set of Koni Yellows with DG springs. Going with a GC coilover conversion on the Koni's later this spring. Been driving around with Koni's just on the rear and it already feels good, rear is less choppy than stock shocks. I installed rears at a turn from full soft but feels like it could use another half turn. This is a good street setting though.
I was recent beneficiary of another member upgrading to Stoptechs and bought his Boxster front setup. I installed a set of HPS pads for street at all corners. I was out bedding in the pads, and holy crappers this thing stops fast! This is an excellent setup, the front Boxster with rear R32 combo is well balanced, and using same HPS pads at all four corners works great. The car doesn't get squirrelly under very hard braking which it was previously susceptible to. The front Boxster conversion works great, the smaller 4 pot Brembo calipers seem to be a spot on match for the stock master cylinder, and the nice thing is changing pads is a matter of pressing a pin out rather than unbolting the calipers. Porsche also has a great pad selection available, while front R32 brakes do not. I think the Boxster conversion is the best bang for buck, as you get much better feel and clamping force, it uses stock rotors, which keeps costs down, and these calipers are much lighter than the stock calipers, which can be felt over bumps. It stops so well I might even leave the HPS pads in for a track outing. The only negative on the Boxster conversion is my OEM 18" Huffs need a 4 mm spacer. My 17" Enkei PF01's clear with lots of space.
Other change is suspension, halfway through installing a new set of Koni Yellows with DG springs. Going with a GC coilover conversion on the Koni's later this spring. Been driving around with Koni's just on the rear and it already feels good, rear is less choppy than stock shocks. I installed rears at a turn from full soft but feels like it could use another half turn. This is a good street setting though.