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Mark, just a quick one on the calipers, all this bumming about with an old pair of heavy weight volvos calipers wouldnt it be better to get the wilwood lightweights and be done? volvo setup is old mate and very heavy cast iron.

When my car is gone i have my front wilwoods with brackets, pads and brake piping up for sale, also a rear willwood setup for the 323i with brackets, pads and piping up for sale soon the rear ones are in my garden shed not even been fitted on the car....


j

Volvo calipers cost me less than a tenth of the price of a pair of Wilwoods, and that's without brackets, pipes, pads etc.

I'm not going to worry about a couple of Kg's mate. I can take my sub out of the boot and lose more than that! I'd rather save my dough and put it towards my supercharger.

RetroBeemer wrote:Volvo calipers cost me less than a tenth of the price of a pair of Wilwoods, and that's without brackets, pipes, pads etc.

I'm not going to worry about a couple of Kg's mate. I can take my sub out of the boot and lose more than that! I'd rather save my dough and put it towards my supercharger.

LOOL, as long as your happy mate, goodluck!!


J

lighter calipers make a really big difference, esp when your on a twisty road. the steering is much more sharper when you turn in. well worth the cash, and the best thing i have done to my car so far!

reducing the unsprung weight will make the car be miles better at stopping too.

nas80 wrote:lighter calipers make a really big difference, esp when your on a twisty road. the steering is much more sharper when you turn in. well worth the cash, and the best thing i have done to my car so far!

reducing the unsprung weight will make the car be miles better at stopping too.

When you say 'miles' better, how much are we talking here?

They just aren't worth the cash to me personally. This isn't a slur on those of you who have shelled out for them. It's just that I have only got a certain amount of cash to play with and the difference in real gains, between cast 4 pots and alloy, isn't enough when my money could be better spent elsewhere.

i wouldnt say that heavy brakes really make it stop any worse than lighter brakes, only really helps in the unsprung weight side of things but unless you really are throwing it into corners wont make much difference.

having loads of power it lots more fun and think americans have been building powerful cars with useless heavy brakes for years

brakes are for girls

austin25uk wrote:
having loads of power it lots more fun and think americans have been building powerful cars with useless heavy brakes for years

which is one of the many reasons i hate american cars

Personally i wouldnt trust 30 year old calipers even when rebuild!! upgrading is the only efficient way for good braking..... people spend thousands on engine work, whats a couple hundred pounds more out yer pockets gonna do when you know you have brand spanking new calipers on your car.... if you see what i mean... the volvo calipers were the best choice for an upgrade but i know a few who had the volvos calipers and thru them in the bin to make way for wilwoods... and never looked back, but its up to the individual, in my sence i wouldnt f*** around with old calipers when it comes to braking cos thats what is gonna stop you when you have a fast car... if it was a direct replacement like alfa gtv6 thats different but to make up some pistons for the volvos ...oooooooohhh ....

wilwoods are cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeap take the advantage mark and feel goooooooooooooood...

i have gtv6

austin25uk wrote:i have gtv6

car or calipers?

if calipers, there are the next best upgrade for the e21 in my honest opinion!! worth a rebuild with new seals and rubber clips!!! and veeeeeeeeeeeeeery light weight!!!!

J

calipers, and there red too, got new springs n bar thingys but didnt need new seals. EBC green stuff and painted red to make it fast, think there still heavier than the wilwoods though
did need a little bit of shit shield modification to get them to fit, but nothing i couldnt handle with the hammer

austin you of all people should know what heavy unsprung weight does to a car. This is the reason you got rid of those insanely wide banded steel wheels. lol @ brakes are for girls comment - cmon man - having insane stopping power is almost as good as having insane acceleration power!

J is right - the wilwoods are very cheap n very easy - caliper to fit. Your having custom machined pistons for those calipers i bet that wasnt cheap?!

naaaaaaa brakes are boring, good suspension is useful though and although i do know all about unsprung weight and all this technical pants but i not a racing driver and on a road it doesnt make a huge amount of difference.
none of the wheels that i own are big enough to fit huge stoppers on and the car is so light anyway it brakes traction easily.
in my mind better peformance upgrades would be ditching the servo, you get much more feel for your brakes.

oh and the banded steels where just a whole world of shite in the first place but they did the job of filling the arches and looking the nuts.

nas80 wrote:custom machined pistons for those calipers i bet that wasnt cheap?!

They were free and the calipers have been fully, professionally refurb'd throughout with new pistons, seals etc. RPM prepare cars for the PBMW Championship and they wouldn't fit them were they not safe. It is partly, for that reason, that they engineered mounting the calipers as opposed to just slotting the mount holes.

I was going to fit Alfa ones till I realised that they're still just 2 pots, and offer no increase in braking performance, so I can't see how they make more sense than Volvo.

Frankly I couldn't give a toss that there's a Kg or so more unsprung weight. We're talking about a 30 year old saloon car not a state of the art race car. It's like throwing a deckchair off the Titanic.

Not everyone has got hundreds of pounds to throw at their car and as a result I am more than happy with the Volvo upgrade. I'm also grateful to M3gaz for hooking me up with them.

sorry mark i shoulda known u got em free lol.

lads i hear yas, but i aint gonna say i wasted money cos they are awesome!