Performance Friction dropped a skid at our place today...

[JamesClay]

The good stuff is finally here! I dropped off my car for measurement last summer for a few weeks and after the madness of Daytona is over, we finally get what we have been waiting for! This is the 4-wheel kit, Z31 monobloc calipers (CNC machined from a solid forging, not a casting - only one in the industry), 372mm front/371mm rear (hmmm....). Our requirement wasn't that they fit under 18" wheels, but I am thinking they will - more to come on test fiemtents. For now, the stars of the show:



Z31 Caliper - 5 pounds of forged aluminum goodness, but the velvet bag alone is worth the ticket price! Almost.


The powdercoating hides the cool machined (again, not cast...) features, but necessary to pass a true OEM-spec salt-spray test.


A look through the bridge. Note the piston caps that reduce heat transfer and insulate from noise - versus the normal direct piston/pad contact of other calipers.


A car's worth of pads - 16 of 'em. Each caliper uses 4 pads for more bite and torque. Does it work? Several race sanctioning bodies specifically limit the number of pads per caliper because of them, so results say yes...


Note the FEA-designed moulded chamfer on the pad edge, specifically designed for noise and performance, not cut into the pad after pressing with a saw. Also, on these pads the design is assymetrical, meaning pads are directional and again, the result shows that the extra bit of engineering is worth it.


Rotors - Direct Drive V2 - debuted in Cup last year, we got them on the World Challenge cars middle of 2008 season. The design saves 0.5 pounds per corner over the V1 PFC bobbin mount. Oh - and these are both cast AND machined in the USA, not in Asia.


Note the machined surfaces all around the rotor. Machining rotor faces are standard, and some machine the OD. Also machined for trueness and thermal balance is the ID of the friction surface, as well as both the ID and OD of the vein surface...


And the 372/371 rotor size - specific for creating the balance needed since you can't just swap around piston sizes with the ABS system used in the car and get the balance you want. Would certainly have been easier to make both the same size, but as frustrating as it is at times for us, PFC has razor-sharp vision of what they want and they don't compromise in the least for ease of implementation - part of my 6 month wait for kit design.

Will test on track in a week and a half. If we get REALLY motivated, we may try to do a back to back test, but I am not sure I have the help that weekend to have an accurate test.

[JamesClay]

One more for the night... Here is that caliper in race trim, without the powdercoating - machining is much more evident and technically cool I think, but I have had brakes get hit with even limited winter driving and be a mess.

[CraZee M3]

wow very nice... performance friction makes some quality brakes!
nice to see them making stuff for the bimmers now.

[M3WC]

Performance Friction


James good luck this season in Speed Touring Car.

[Radiation Joe]

Weight savings over stock?

[SlammedR8]

How muchhh?

[Radiation Joe]

Really? You can't go to the Bimmerworld website and look this up yourself?????

Originally Posted by slammedm3

How muchhh?

[consolidated]

$8K is a choker but very nice kit, wish they weren't painted but completely understand why they are.

[JamesClay]

Originally Posted by Radiation Joe

Weight savings over stock?

Will get some good measurements when installing, probably next week. I expect it to be pretty decent with that goofy "simulated caliper" bracket the car uses.

[lucid]

Originally Posted by JamesC

Z31 Caliper - 5 pounds of forged aluminum goodness, but the velvet bag alone is worth the ticket price! Almost.

This source claims the stock calipers are 7.4 lbs, so that is significantly lighter.

http://bmwfans.info/original/E92/Cou...4/ill-34_1618/

I would assume the rotors weight close to stock to maintain thermal mass. It sounds like you are saying the hats save 0.5 lb, but the pads seem larger, so maybe the total weight savings is around 2-3lbs per corner?

Thanks for sharing info on this setup.

[Omar@ActiveAutowerke]

Looking good James!

Your will need those for those amazing power upgrades

[JamesClay]

Originally Posted by lucid

This source claims the stock calipers are 7.4 lbs, so that is significantly lighter.

http://bmwfans.info/original/E92/Cou...4/ill-34_1618/

I would assume the rotors weight close to stock to maintain thermal mass. It sounds like you are saying the hats save 0.5 lb, but the pads seem larger, so maybe the total weight savings is around 2-3lbs per corner?

Thanks for sharing info on this setup.

Probably more significant than that - that is a great way to cheat the numbers though - the stock caliper bracket is huge, cast steel, and I am betting pretty heavy.

Rotor weight - also probably a bit less than stock. The 0.5# I referenced was weight savings between these rotors and a PFC Version 1 - both typically a bit lighter than stock.

Will have the real numbers shortly.

Originally Posted by Active Autowerke

Looking good James!

Your will need those for those amazing power upgrades

LOL - the exhaust note draws huge attention at the track - more so than the "exotics"...

[Omar@ActiveAutowerke]

Originally Posted by JamesC

LOL - the exhaust note draws huge attention at the track - more so than the "exotics"...

Cool, good to hear. Send us some more info on these brakes when you get a chance...

[JC919]

Nice, I've been waiting for these.

[Radiation Joe]

Originally Posted by JamesC

Probably more significant than that - that is a great way to cheat the numbers though - the stock caliper bracket is huge, cast steel, and I am betting pretty heavy.

Stock caliper and bracket are 11.4 lbs, from the same source. Significant decrease in weight.

Available in black or only red?

[JamesClay]

We order PFC in black only - I can custom order other colors if a customer is willing to wait. So the red here...I am guessing that that is what the owner wanted me to have so that is what I got...

[mtechnik3]

Those look great James! Can't wait to check out your M3 at Road. Atlanta with the Moton installed!

[lucid]

Originally Posted by Radiation Joe

Stock caliper and bracket are 11.4 lbs, from the same source. Significant decrease in weight.

I am confused about this one. How do these PC calipers bolt onto suspension? Does the 5lb figure include brackets?

[08M3]

you guy's have any pictures of the car yet?

[JamesClay]

Small aluminum brackets from BBKs are almost an order of magnitude lighter than the stock E92 M3 piece.

For a short-term answer, what is the total weight of all stock parts? Caliper, bracket, pads, rotors - or let me know what is excluded from the published weight. I will weigh a pile of parts on my end.

Car loaded in trailer to get clearbra and a bumper touchup - looks like I will be tracking it more than originally planned...

[lucid]

Originally Posted by JamesC

For a short-term answer, what is the total weight of all stock parts? Caliper, bracket, pads, rotors - or let me know what is excluded from the published weight. I will weigh a pile of parts on my end.

Member Badfish weighed the OEM setup. Front calipers+brackets+pads+line weigh ~14.5 lbs, rears weigh ~11 lbs. Details on that here:

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170932


Other weight savings items here:

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthr...ngs+benchmarks

[JamesClay]

Hmm - enough variation in the two sets of measurements that I will probably do two complete piles of parts, on the same set of scales...