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In Reply to: Dave, c'mon they are the same ... posted by Brad Otoupalik (evosport) on June 01, 2001 at 14:42:04:
The pad retainer system is different (spring clip vs retainer pin) and the pistons/seals are different. The Brembo caliper may use the same 44/36mm bores, I'm not sure. Early Brembo calipers used smaller fasteners holding the caliper halves together but I see from some recent kits (Viper...I don't know about the E39) that they are now using the same 12mm thru-bolts as Porsche. Do you know?
The big advantage of Porsche vs Brembo, in my opinion, is with the rotors. They tend to be much more stable and longer lasting than the Brembo counterparts.
What is it about the caliper that is "not right" for the BMW? I have it on my 540i and it works pretty darned well. I installed a set on my neighbor's 540i and we ran into a shimmy problem. But that turned out to be a bad balance job by someone (using a Hunter GSP 9700!) on a set of wheels that we installed the same day we put the brakes on. A 2nd balance on a Hunter 9000 at High Marques in Morristown, NJ resulted in total elimination of the shimmy. Once again proving that the best equipment doesn't always result in the best job. The human factor remains critical. It also points out that you should only make one change at a time. :-)
I understand that you put the mov'it kit on your own personal M3. Did you swap it out for the Brembo kit? I really am interested in knowing SPECIFICALLY what the differences are between the Brembo and the mov'it that makes you feel the Brembo is more appropriate. I plan to build a web page with a table of ALL brake options, sources, prices, and advantages/disadvantages. Anything you can provide will be useful.
I hate to ask the question, but does the Brembo kit have the same, higher, or lower profit margin than the mov'it kit? It's important for folks to know if any of us have a financial stake in the outcome of any comparison tests. I don't. I'm just asking you so that you can put it out there on the table and then we can either dismiss it as insignificant or we can say that it's significant and then decide individually if we feel the need to factor it in when weighing your advice.
In the interest of full disclosure, The Ultimate Garage gave me a discount of a few hundred dollars on my rear brake kit as a thank-you gesture for my putting together the web page of instructions for the front brakes. I didn't know this in advance of my purchase and I'll try not to let it affect my reviews of their products in the future. I do not have any continuing financial arrangements with mov'it or The Ultimate Garage.
And I'm an equal opportunity installer of brake kits for free. If you have a Brembo, mov'it, Bear Racing, AP, or any other E39 brake upgrade kit, I'll be happy to install it for you for free on some weekend when I have the time. I've heard that some folks are charging $500 to install a front brake kit! Yikes! My free offer does not extend to the rear brake kit, however. That one's a real bear to put on. I don't even think I would want to do that for a fee.
Dave Z.
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