CSL brakes

[s3am]

On behalf of my bro.

His E46 CSL brakes not quite cutting the proverbial mustard at the mo, as many know they are not quite track ready as standard.

Question is can a pad/fluid upgrade be a solution rather than the expensive upgrade to 6 pot AP's (which I know are great). If so, what pad, which fluid.

Any comments on where to speak to/get the work done, and if the AP's are necessary, who does a good, proven install?

Cheers

Sam

[michael_JCWS]

Have a look on www.bm3w.co.uk, quite a few people have upgrade their CSL brakes. (can't remember the details sorry)

Cheers

Michael

[s3am]

Thanks but I can't register with my email address there. Yahoo and all that.

[miken]

Have a word with M12_Nathan Sam as I think he has looked into this for his CSL, both upgrades and cooling?

Cheers

Mike

[juliann]

s3am said:

On behalf of my bro. His E46 CSL brakes not quite cutting the proverbial mustard at the mo, as many know they are not quite track ready as standard. Question is can a pad/fluid upgrade be a solution rather than the expensive upgrade to 6 pot AP's (which I know are great). If so, what pad, which fluid. Any comments on where to speak to/get the work done, and if the AP's are necessary, who does a good, proven install? Cheers Sam

From my experience, as a bare minimum he'd need to do s/s hoses,5.1 fluid (or Castrol SRF Dot 4 race fluid), and Pagid RS19 / RS29 pads, together with removing the cooling blanking plates at the front of the front wheelarches. If his driving style is still cooking this set up, the AP front callipers & discs with Pagid pads should solve it. Rear AP's shouldn't really be necessary except from an aesthetic point of view.

[DoctorD]

Sam, I'm one of the CSL owners with the full AP 6-pot conversion but one of the members who is equally fast was able to get by on just a pad, fluid, hose upgrade of his standard calipers. The pads to use are Pagid's RS19 (yellow) pad with a good Dot4 fluid and goodridge hoses, so for around £200-300 he could greatly improve the performance of his brakes. They need careful bedding in, particularly when setting a layer of RS19 pad material over the OEM compound currently on his discs, but it's worth the effort.

Best man to speak to for availability (and the lowest prices) is Joe Gautier of HyperTurismo Racing (HTR) BMW M Power Tuning & Modifications, Tel: [phone], Contact: [e-mail]

[s3am]

Red disks!:


Thanks for the info guys. Will pass it on, though anything that helps him go faster is not good for my ego!

Fabulous cars you all have, but I'm sure you know that already.

[phatgixer]

I have APs and the only benefit over OEM is pedal feel. If you get Pagid RS29 yellows on the standard discs and calipers, braided hoses and dot5.1 fluid you will be amazed how good the standard brakes are. BMW std pads are cheddar.

[ferrari355gtb]

Which is better Dot5.1 fluid or Dot4 ?

[thong]

The csl has the same cast iron caliper as the m3,just the disc is a little bigger on csl,i changed a m8's to the ap 6pots with ap disc's,it was the only way as he did many track days.

[doctorD]

It's not the same caliper on the CSL as on the M3 since it's designed for a larger disc. It's a different part number.

p.s. I use AP's PRF660 in my CSL, which is a DOT 4 fluid >> www.apracing.com/car/brakefluid/data.asp?code=CP4660

For the technical jargon see the following link.. www.afcoracing.com/tech_pages/fluid.shtml

[thong]

doctorD said:

It's not the same caliper on the CSL as on the M3 since it's designed for a larger disc. It's a different part number. p.s. I use AP's PRF660 in my CSL, which is a DOT 4 fluid >> www.apracing.com/car/brakefluid/data.asp?code=CP4660 For the technical jargon see the following link.. www.afcoracing.com/tech_pages/fluid.shtml

i know they are diff part numbers but i suggest you put the two together and measure the lot you'll find they are identical,if anybodys interested my m8's removed the ap six pot calipers off his csl and the disc's they were used for about 2000 miles cost £2,200 he wants £1,200 for them in the box'es,we have the uprated bilsteins for the csl and the uprated roll bars as well but not to everbodys taste.

[doctorD]

thong said:

i know they are diff part numbers but i suggest you put the two together and measure the lot you'll find they are identical

I have. All of BMW's calipers are virtually the same, just slight variations on the same theme, often with small changes in seals and other components. That's one of the reasons why I fitted AP 6-pots to mine.

[SlicksNick]

Thong, you mentioned a set of 6 pot ap's of a csl, my standard ones are slaughtered need to replace them with something better.