BEST BBK on the market?

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by TTony

What about the CCB kits that are out there for the E92?

ccb's are cool and all, but they aren't the most practical. there are lots of porsche guys that track their cars that specifically spec their cars to have iron rotors. the reason is they are less delicate. it is said that if the unfortunate event of going off track with a set of hot carbon brakes- they are more prone to chipping with trauma from rocks/etc., and then they are basically trash. very expensive trash.
a friend of mine with a gt3rs got the iron disks, then upgraded to an oem spec ap racing j-hook rotor (uses oem calipers). if there was any shadow of "lesser" performance, it is gone with a much more cost efficient solution at a fraction of the cost.

i drove an m3/4 zcp with carbon ceramics on a track and it wasn't anything to write home about.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

Yes, marketing is really not their strong suit.
I was very pleasantly surprised that they took around 1 week to turnaround a full rebuild of my setup.

If i remember correctly, the z54 kit uses the 'zero drag' setup and it isn't hard to turn the wheels by hand. I don't know if i have knockback springs or not, but don't tap the brakes before going into braking zones and never pump twice

what does your kit weigh? what size mm pads? edit- nevermind, saw you had the big daddy 28mm's. nice.

i do like that they have internal fluid cross-overs. you wouldn't have to worry about bumping them while swapping wheels.

[nicksm3]

Lots of great info here guys. Much appreciated!

Been patiently waiting for Monday to get here so I can contact Bimmerworld about the PFC kit. On a bit of a budget here at the moment and trying to get to LRP and WGI this month and would like to make a wise executive decision.

Now to today’s a question...... opt for the PFC BBK front only and keep my rear Stoptech 4piston kit that I’ve been using with my ST60 kit and Will this really throw off the balance under braking? Or.......
Purchase the front PFC kit and swap my rear Stoptech ST40 kit for the oem brakes with PFC rotors and quality pads ?

[VictorH]

Have you considered this set up? It's brand new.

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1477521

[nicksm3]

Originally Posted by VictorH

Have you considered this set up? It's brand new.

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1477521

I did look at that kit, rather impressive to me but the tech behind PFC is what intrigues me and let’s not forget what the GT3 Cup Cars come with... PFC

[slicer]

Originally Posted by nicksm3

I did look at that kit, rather impressive to me but the tech behind PFC is what intrigues me and let’s not forget what the GT3 Cup Cars come with... PFC

But numerous race cars come with AP - such as the M4 GT4. I would bet my life savings that there are 5 x's more race cars on AP Racing brakes than PF.

I'm partial to AP and have loved my Essex kit so far. However, I drove an M235ir with PF kit and the braking felt fantastic. I would gladly run either AP or PF. You are looking at the best two kits for the E92 IMO and can't go wrong with either one. Brembo's true racing kits are awesome but a lot more $$.

[nicksm3]

Originally Posted by slicer

But numerous race cars come with AP - such as the M4 GT4. I would bet my life savings that there are 5 x's more race cars on AP Racing brakes than PF.

I'm partial to AP and have loved my Essex kit so far. However, I drove an M235ir with PF kit and the braking felt fantastic. I would gladly run either AP or PF. You are looking at the best two kits for the E92 IMO and can't go wrong with either one. Brembo's true racing kits are awesome but a lot more $$.

You raise a valid point. Glad you got to drive the 235cup with the PFC brakes. Can you compare them to you’re AP?

[slicer]

Originally Posted by nicksm3

You raise a valid point. Glad you got to drive the 235cup with the PFC brakes. Can you compare them to you’re AP?

They felt great on the M235ir and that car has BMW's regular street brakes and rotors on the rear. Keep in mind that pads likely account for the majority of the 'feel'. I don't know what pad was on the M235ir but it had more initial bite than the Ferdado DS1.11 that I'm using on my M3.

I think that you would have great results with either option you are considering. I would check things like initial cost, consumable cost, weight, wheel clearance, etc to 'tie break'. That being said I recall that the PF brakes were not as good in the wheel clearance dept. as the Essex AP's or Stop Tech. This came up when I sold my BBS E05's to Bashar back in the day. He had PF on his lime rock e92 and had to add spacers to clear his PF brakes. I know you have E88's. You may want to send the PF caliper diagrams to BBS. I know the AP kits clear your E88's. Although you should double check on the front AP that uses the thicker pad if you plan to go that route. I have the regular 18mm pad version.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

what does your kit weigh? what size mm pads? edit- nevermind, saw you had the big daddy 28mm's. nice.

i do like that they have internal fluid cross-overs. you wouldn't have to worry about bumping them while swapping wheels.

I haven't weight mine in comparison to stock, sorry. I recall someone did once. Front rotrs are 372 and rears are like 355, so it isn't a 'bigger is better' kind of kit.
Yes, the pads are 28mm thick

I'd love to have dogbone run the pfc front bbk to compare against his current setup.

The m235iR uses the same z54 front caliper

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by nicksm3

Lots of great info here guys. Much appreciated!

Been patiently waiting for Monday to get here so I can contact Bimmerworld about the PFC kit. On a bit of a budget here at the moment and trying to get to LRP and WGI this month and would like to make a wise executive decision.

Now to today’s a question...... opt for the PFC BBK front only and keep my rear Stoptech 4piston kit that I’ve been using with my ST60 kit and Will this really throw off the balance under braking? Or.......
Purchase the front PFC kit and swap my rear Stoptech ST40 kit for the oem brakes with PFC rotors and quality pads ?

I don't see how that would be bad.

The front can work all by itself with a stock rear and the stoptechs are also designed to maintain stock balance, so i think the setup would work perfectly

Once you use a v3 rotor you will hate regular ones. I had to swap my rear rotor once and couldn't believe how long it takes with the bobbins, bolts, nuts... compare to the v3 that you can swap in under 5 min

[TTony]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

I still wouldn't swap. At the point where a kit provides infinite braking power, why would I switch?

If there had been one time they had felt weird, or had a knockback experience or something then I would think differently

With CCB's do you not need to change pads as frequently, big weight reduction, no brake dust, etc?

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by TTony

With CCB's do you not need to change pads as frequently, big weight reduction, no brake dust, etc?

The few people who run ccbs on the track change pads quite often as they only consume the 1st 50% of the pad to not burn the rotors. And the pad isn't fat to begin with.

My pad lasts more than 30 track days.

On my list of concerns for track brakes dust is not a big deal

[TTony]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

a friend of mine with a gt3rs got the iron disks, then upgraded to an oem spec ap racing j-hook rotor (uses oem calipers). if there was any shadow of "lesser" performance, it is gone with a much more cost efficient solution at a fraction of the cost.

i drove an m3/4 zcp with carbon ceramics on a track and it wasn't anything to write home about.

We are on the same page, is the only reason to switch to iron because of cost? I was replying to a comment where SYT_Shadow said he would choose PFC even if his budget was $50k.

[nicksm3]

Originally Posted by TTony

With CCB's do you not need to change pads as frequently, big weight reduction, no brake dust, etc?

Yes your right, big weight reduction but still you need to rake into account ...mass of the car, fuel and driver.
CCB work well in F1 cars b/ they weigh alittle over 1,600lbs as opposed to ....well 3k + lbs.

[nicksm3]

Originally Posted by slicer

They felt great on the M235ir and that car has BMW's regular street brakes and rotors on the rear. Keep in mind that pads likely account for the majority of the 'feel'. I don't know what pad was on the M235ir but it had more initial bite than the Ferdado DS1.11 that I'm using on my M3.

I think that you would have great results with either option you are considering. I would check things like initial cost, consumable cost, weight, wheel clearance, etc to 'tie break'. That being said I recall that the PF brakes were not as good in the wheel clearance dept. as the Essex AP's or Stop Tech. This came up when I sold my BBS E05's to Bashar back in the day. He had PF on his lime rock e92 and had to add spacers to clear his PF brakes. I know you have E88's. You may want to send the PF caliper diagrams to BBS. I know the AP kits clear your E88's. Although you should double check on the front AP that uses the thicker pad if you plan to go that route. I have the regular 18mm pad version.

Yikes! I completely forgot about Bashars experience with his wheels and brake issue. Well I dont €™think i will have an issue because my build is much different and I have lots of room from the face to the caliper. Also...spacer will be used anyway but not for the bbs. I’ll be running the new APeX SM-10 wheels 10.5 squared with 295 Hoosier. Still need to test that 295 upfront

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by nicksm3

Yikes! I completely forgot about Bashars experience with his wheels and brake issue. Well I dont €™think i will have an issue because my build is much different and I have lots of room from the face to the caliper. Also...spacer will be used anyway but not for the bbs. I’ll be running the new APeX SM-10 wheels 10.5 squared with 295 Hoosier. Still need to test that 295 upfront

The front caliper aaaalmost fits under the 17" arc8 wheel. It fits under the oem 18"

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by TTony

We are on the same page, is the only reason to switch to iron because of cost? I was replying to a comment where SYT_Shadow said he would choose PFC even if his budget was $50k.

Part of me being happy with the kit has to do with zero maintenance. Swapping pads is not an entertaining activity.

I literally leave the pfc11 pads in year round and bleed the srf once a year and change pads every 30+ track days. What could possibly be better than that?

[VictorH]

Carbon Ceramic brakes are not a reasonable option for most people who track. Just last week the shop that does my inspections had a 991 Porsche Turbo S with CCB set up. Was used for one track weekend with the electronics in sport mode. Came back to the shop with chips in the pistons (not sure why it would do that) and rotors that were worn out.


Evidently Porsche will not sell you new pistons for your calipers, so you are looking at new calipers, he didn't say what those cost, but the shop cost for the rotors were $5,000 each. Needless to say that Turbo S now runs steel rotors and different calipers since the old ones were junk.

I've driven a GT3 on the track with the CCB system and I thought it was fantastic. However, over and over on the Porsche forums you will see no one stays with the CCB for track use. A BMW conversion might be a bit less expensive but it's not cost effective and will drain the bank in short order.

Ask for JB Butler at Bimmerworld, he knows the PFC systems and they worked with PFC to get proper offset of the calipers to fit most wheels for our system. There was an early Z-54 system that had nice shiny anodizing that was advertised as a "race" set up but the caliper interfered with many 18" wheels.

Also, if you look at what other applications the Z-54 caliper is used for it's also being used on Mustang and Camaro race set ups. Can't be that bad if it has such flexibility.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by TTony

We are on the same page, is the only reason to switch to iron because of cost? I was replying to a comment where SYT_Shadow said he would choose PFC even if his budget was $50k.

i see.

i guess i would say that it all comes down to cost. i suppose if i had $50k just for brakes i would use the ap radical calipers and have some custom ccb rotors made. ultimate light weight setup... its hard to say what is right and what is wrong with brakes without always circling back to cost and being reasonable since we aren't F1 drivers with deep pockets.
we are actually very fortunate to be able to have adequate brakes that can perform on our street cars in race conditions for about $8k.

i can tell you with 100% confidence that the brakes on my car (the way i drove it there- with hybrid pads) felt better than the ccb's i drove. i'm not biased when i say i didn't feel anything special.

[dogbone]

To be honest, I think the “best BBK” question is a very tough one because different people find different things important when considering what makes a kit the best—weight, cost, number of pistons, rotor size, maintenance costs and frequency, annulus height, speed of pad changes, number of rotor vanes, surface features on the rotor, caliper stiffness, what generation of technology, racing lineage/championships, etc. And ultimately, I think the brake pads affect the feel of braking more than the caliper. The caliper’s job is to provide an even, consistent pressing force across all the pistons so that the pad presses evenly against the whole rotor surface. The result is optimum performance and it also extends the life of the pads and the rotor. But the pads, and specifically what they are made of, are actually providing the friction to slow the car, and pads vary GREATLY in feel——bite, torque, wear rate, thermal capacity, etc.

The PFC Z54 and the Essex AP 9668 kit seem to be getting the most love in this thread at the moment. I think it’s possible to generally compare the two without it being a pissing match.

If SYT_Shadow and VictorH say PFC is great, I believe it. My experience has been positive with AP Racing's older Stillen kit, and now with Essex's AP Racing's Radi-Cal kit. And I think it’s fair to say that I’m fairly demanding of the brakes with slicks, JRZ, aero, supercharger. And I believe the brakes to be a very important part of the lap times I’ve been chasing. Braking is about trust. When you trust the brakes, you’re willing to go deeper into those braking zones. I talked about this on my build thread recently. A couple weeks ago, with the dirty surface at Laguna Seca, I was unwilling to fully commit myself and the car to diving deep into the brake zones, and the result was that I was a full second off my previous best. (1:35.3 vs 1:34.3) If you don’t trust the brakes, or in the case of Laguna Seca, if you don’t trust the surface that you have to brake on, then you will brake earlier and with less force.

Between PFC and AP Racing, I don't think you have the situation of, one is good, the other is bad. You're at a level of quality where both are good. And every company brings their own approach to the table. The question comes down to, which one is right at the time you want to buy? Meaning, is one on sale, so it's a better deal? Or can you find a used one for a great price? Or your buddy has a kit and makes the process of learning and dealing with it easier? Or a shop that you're tight with is very familiar with a particular kit because maybe they race it, and they make it easier to get into one versus another.

As far as stopping power, the Essex AP Racing Radi-Cal is excellent. I have spoken at length about this in the past. It never overheats—even without ducting. It's always consistent. If you can make Pirelli slicks howl at 132 mph, you have a lot of power. But remember, the kit has to work within the bounds of whatever the master cylinder and ABS’s expectations are. If you made a kit with blindly monstrous stopping power that simply locked up the rotor, it's useless. So, it can only be powerful up to a point. And again, this is where the pads come into play because they take that pressing force from the caliper and they shape the stopping characteristic.

On the front kit, if a high piston count is your thing, then the AP Racing kit has 6 and the PFC has 4. The PFC marketing is extremely adamant that their 4-piston design is superior.

The crazy look of the Radi-Cal is not for show. The asymmetrical caliper is specifically designed for a diagonal sheering force. And the caliper is hollowed out as much as possible to save weight. If you design a kit to offset the diagonal forces applied to a caliper because it’s mounted on a bracket that sits on one side of the rotor, you can apply the brake pad more evenly to the rotor surface. The blocky look of PFC is…..blocky….it looks older to me. I can see how either look could turn people on or off. I prefer the AP.

Bimmerworld’s website calls the PFC caliper "feather-light" at 8.5 lbs, The Essex 9668 kit is 6.9 lbs, and the 9660 (thinner pad front kit) is 6.2 lbs. The two kits run the same size front rotors--372mm. The J-hook pattern on the AP kit are made to allow for more even heating of the disc. The PFC V3 rotor has mini slots for the same purpose.

On the 9668, you can put a spring bridge clip that beats ALL OTHERS for pad change speed---no tools needed. Just squeeze the clip and rotate it out of the way.

PFC can take 28mm pads. Essex AP 9668 takes 25mm, 9660 takes 18mm.

If you're looking for information as a potential buyer, I think the Essex site presents quite a lot of useful info clearly and matter-of-factly. The marketing for PFC is….not to my taste. They say stuff like “Finest….peerless…Unparalleled……“…Without question, this brake kit is the best on the market…” hehe c’mon, enough hyperbole. Plus, I’m just plain old confused because bimmerworld is selling the Z54, but it looks like the PFC world has moved on to the ZR31 for the E9x M3……ah who knows. All I can say is there’s way less easily accessible info on the PFC kit than the Essex AP.

Judge for yourself:

http://www.bimmerworld.com/Brakes/Bi...Z54-378MM.html

https://www.essexparts.com/essex-des...668372mm-e92m3

SYT_Shadow says 100 track days between rebuilds on his PFC. That’s excellent. It was 40 days on the Stillen AP for me. I don't know what the Essex AP will be—I got them too recently to know. But it is important to consider what kind of use the kit sees. If a person is a mellow driver on 200TW+ tires, most BBKs will last forever. But if you hammer the hell out of them, well, they’re just gonna need more frequent maintenance due to more heat, more stress, more punishment.

Someone mentioned racing lineage and that PFC had a good one. I would say that AP Racing’s racing lineage would stack up quite favorably to anyone.

In the end, which one is better? Who knows. I can’t tell you what should be most important to you. For some people, the look of the caliper and the paint job is enough…..

I have never driven a PFC car, so I can’t tell you what they feel like. And it would take a serious commitment of hardware to directly compare two identical setups.

As far as brake pads, I’m happy with Cobalt Friction pads. As a data point, in 2011, Grassroots Motorsports mag did a blind pad comparison test. It was as involved a brake pad comparison test as I have seen. The driver was James Clay from bimmerworld who drove on PFC pads all the time. In the test, James put down the fastest lap using the Cobalt Friction pads.

Anyway, I hope something in here helps you in your thought process.


PS. Seriously, the PFC marketing is so over-the-top! So much hyperbole! From the bimmerworld site:

“This kit is vastly superior to de-contented kits for street and race applications made by other manufacturers.*
-Finest big brake kit on the market
-Genuine championship winning parts
-Peerless caliper design choices
-Unparalleled rotor design
-Ideal for street cars to all-out race cars”

Does any regular human being actually even know what “de-contented” even means? I had to look it up. They’re trying to say that the Z54 is superior to other kits that come from other manufacturers that dumb-down and remove high end features from their high tech kits that are sold to regular non-pro-team consumers.

(And I swear, I have no beef with bimmerworld. This over-the-top stuff clearly must come from PFC. I happily buy bimmerworld’s Premium Race Studs, which I believe really ARE the finest studs around. And they don’t hype them in some over-the-top way: http://www.bimmerworld.com/Premium-R...Stud-92MM.html )

[nicksm3]

Originally Posted by dogbone

To be honest, I think the “best BBK” question is a very tough one because different people find different things important when considering what makes a kit the best—weight, cost, number of pistons, rotor size, maintenance costs and frequency, annulus height, speed of pad changes, number of rotor vanes, surface features on the rotor, caliper stiffness, what generation of technology, racing lineage/championships, etc. And ultimately, I think the brake pads affect the feel of braking more than the caliper. The caliper’s job is to provide an even, consistent pressing force across all the pistons so that the pad presses evenly against the whole rotor surface. The result is optimum performance and it also extends the life of the pads and the rotor. But the pads, and specifically what they are made of, are actually providing the friction to slow the car, and pads vary GREATLY in feel——bite, torque, wear rate, thermal capacity, etc.

The PFC Z54 and the Essex AP 9668 kit seem to be getting the most love in this thread at the moment. I think itÂ’s possible to generally compare the two without it being a pissing match.

If SYT_Shadow and VictorH say PFC is great, I believe it. My experience has been positive with AP Racing's older Stillen kit, and now with Essex's AP Racing's Radi-Cal kit. And I think itÂ’s fair to say that IÂ’m fairly demanding of the brakes with slicks, JRZ, aero, supercharger. And I believe the brakes to be a very important part of the lap times IÂ’ve been chasing. Braking is about trust. When you trust the brakes, youÂ’re willing to go deeper into those braking zones. I talked about this on my build thread recently. A couple weeks ago, with the dirty surface at Laguna Seca, I was unwilling to fully commit myself and the car to diving deep into the brake zones, and the result was that I was a full second off my previous best. (1:35.3 vs 1:34.3) If you donÂ’t trust the brakes, or in the case of Laguna Seca, if you donÂ’t trust the surface that you have to brake on, then you will brake earlier and with less force.

Between PFC and AP Racing, I don't think you have the situation of, one is good, the other is bad. You're at a level of quality where both are good. And every company brings their own approach to the table. The question comes down to, which one is right at the time you want to buy? Meaning, is one on sale, so it's a better deal? Or can you find a used one for a great price? Or your buddy has a kit and makes the process of learning and dealing with it easier? Or a shop that you're tight with is very familiar with a particular kit because maybe they race it, and they make it easier to get into one versus another.

As far as stopping power, the Essex AP Racing Radi-Cal is excellent. I have spoken at length about this in the past. It never overheats—even without ducting. It's always consistent. If you can make Pirelli slicks howl at 132 mph, you have a lot of power. But remember, the kit has to work within the bounds of whatever the master cylinder and ABS’s expectations are. If you made a kit with blindly monstrous stopping power that simply locked up the rotor, it's useless. So, it can only be powerful up to a point. And again, this is where the pads come into play because they take that pressing force from the caliper and they shape the stopping characteristic.

On the front kit, if a high piston count is your thing, then the AP Racing kit has 6 and the PFC has 4. The PFC marketing is extremely adamant that their 4-piston design is superior.

The crazy look of the Radi-Cal is not for show. The asymmetrical caliper is specifically designed for a diagonal sheering force. And the caliper is hollowed out as much as possible to save weight. If you design a kit to offset the diagonal forces applied to a caliper because itÂ’s mounted on a bracket that sits on one side of the rotor, you can apply the brake pad more evenly to the rotor surface. The blocky look of PFC isÂ…..blockyÂ….it looks older to me. I can see how either look could turn people on or off. I prefer the AP.

BimmerworldÂ’s website calls the PFC caliper "feather-light" at 8.5 lbs, The Essex 9668 kit is 6.9 lbs, and the 9660 (thinner pad front kit) is 6.2 lbs. The two kits run the same size front rotors--372mm. The J-hook pattern on the AP kit are made to allow for more even heating of the disc. The PFC V3 rotor has mini slots for the same purpose.

On the 9668, you can put a spring bridge clip that beats ALL OTHERS for pad change speed---no tools needed. Just squeeze the clip and rotate it out of the way.

PFC can take 28mm pads. Essex AP 9668 takes 25mm, 9660 takes 18mm.

If you're looking for information as a potential buyer, I think the Essex site presents quite a lot of useful info clearly and matter-of-factly. The marketing for PFC is….not to my taste. They say stuff like “Finest….peerless…Unparalleled……“…Without question, this brake kit is the best on the market…” hehe c’mon, enough hyperbole. Plus, I’m just plain old confused because bimmerworld is selling the Z54, but it looks like the PFC world has moved on to the ZR31 for the E9x M3……ah who knows. All I can say is there’s way less easily accessible info on the PFC kit than the Essex AP.

Judge for yourself:

http://www.bimmerworld.com/Brakes/Bi...Z54-378MM.html

https://www.essexparts.com/essex-des...668372mm-e92m3

SYT_Shadow says 100 track days between rebuilds on his PFC. That’s excellent. It was 40 days on the Stillen AP for me. I don't know what the Essex AP will be—I got them too recently to know. But it is important to consider what kind of use the kit sees. If a person is a mellow driver on 200TW+ tires, most BBKs will last forever. But if you hammer the hell out of them, well, they’re just gonna need more frequent maintenance due to more heat, more stress, more punishment.

Someone mentioned racing lineage and that PFC had a good one. I would say that AP RacingÂ’s racing lineage would stack up quite favorably to anyone.

In the end, which one is better? Who knows. I canÂ’t tell you what should be most important to you. For some people, the look of the caliper and the paint job is enoughÂ…..

I have never driven a PFC car, so I canÂ’t tell you what they feel like. And it would take a serious commitment of hardware to directly compare two identical setups.

As far as brake pads, IÂ’m happy with Cobalt Friction pads. As a data point, in 2011, Grassroots Motorsports mag did a blind pad comparison test. It was as involved a brake pad comparison test as I have seen. The driver was James Clay from bimmerworld who drove on PFC pads all the time. In the test, James put down the fastest lap using the Cobalt Friction pads.

Anyway, I hope something in here helps you in your thought process.


PS. Seriously, the PFC marketing is so over-the-top! So much hyperbole! From the bimmerworld site:

“This kit is vastly superior to de-contented kits for street and race applications made by other manufacturers.*
-Finest big brake kit on the market
-Genuine championship winning parts
-Peerless caliper design choices
-Unparalleled rotor design
-Ideal for street cars to all-out race cars”

Does any regular human being actually even know what “de-contented” even means? I had to look it up. They’re trying to say that the Z54 is superior to other kits that come from other manufacturers that dumb-down and remove high end features from their high tech kits that are sold to regular non-pro-team consumers.

(And I swear, I have no beef with bimmerworld. This over-the-top stuff clearly must come from PFC. I happily buy bimmerworldÂ’s Premium Race Studs, which I believe really ARE the finest studs around. And they donÂ’t hype them in some over-the-top way: http://www.bimmerworld.com/Premium-R...Stud-92MM.html )

Boom!
I was waiting for you to finally chime in lol.
You are correct though and raise a point about the whole “we are he best in the market�.
I did raise an eyebrow as I was reading the PFC info on Bimmerworld’s site last week. Sure looks like they claim to be the best...again what is the best and for whom?
I track and only track my car hard on Slicks, I brake as deep as I can with my Stoptech BBK kit..but fundamentally I’m increasing speed and my brakes need rebuilding and I’m in demand for a quality system that exceeds over the Stoptech’s and are light weight, easy to change pads, new with technology and last but not least ...consistent.
Speaking with Turner last year...their e92 Grand am car ran a 4 piston front kit and oem rear with obviously stainless lines, quality fluid and proper race pads. They swore that’s all you need and I believe them.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by dogbone

If you're looking for information as a potential buyer, I think the Essex site presents quite a lot of useful info clearly and matter-of-factly. The marketing for PFC is….not to my taste. They say stuff like “Finest….peerless…Unparalleled……“…Without question, this brake kit is the best on the market…” hehe c’mon, enough hyperbole. Plus, I’m just plain old confused because bimmerworld is selling the Z54, but it looks like the PFC world has moved on to the ZR31 for the E9x M3……ah who knows. All I can say is there’s way less easily accessible info on the PFC kit than the Essex AP.

Actually, it's well known the PFC Z31/Z31 kit was the original kit released for the e9x M3 in '09 and has since been superceeded by the Z54/Z45 kit.