Regretting waiting so long to go BBK

[Spun Crankhub]

Ordered Stoptech Trophy kit from BuyBrakes back in December, and finally received a few weeks back. Installed in the lead up to a trip to Thunderhill East 3 mile with NCRC yesterday.

I will give my impression of my first day on track with the bbk, but first my experience doing about 20 or so days on stock brakes with various pads ranging from PFC, Ferrodo, and even a bargain Powerstop(actually very good bang for the buck.)

The F8X brakes are decently capable on track for many, but for me I do not think they work great with my driving style. I accelerate deep into corners, brake late and hard for short durations. On the stock brakes this has often led to instability braking into corners following 120+mph straight line sections. I've also found that the start of my braking is significantly earlier than other drivers of similar skill level as me. And in spite of using the brakes as little as possible I often experience semi soft pedal feel close to the end of 20 minute sessions.

Now my impression of the Stoptechs on the sport pads that came with my kit...
My first session I immediately knew I had a ton more stopping power as I consistently found myself over slowing just about every corner as I had muscle memory from the stock brakes and needing to stop about 10-15% earlier.
As speeds increased I also felt zero lateral instability on hard braking, and by my 4th and final session I started to really catch on to just how late I could brake and still make my turn ins without worry of understeer.

Brought my pr lap time down a full second yesterday to 2:02.07, and actually had a run at a 2:00.xx, but a fuel starvation drivetrain malfunction about 150 feet from finish line devastatingly put an end to that(garmin catalyst video of that to come.)

Disclaimer that this is totally anecdotal with no data to support at this time, but I actually borderline felt like I was driving a different car, or maybe just an F82 that weighs closer to 3500lbs when trying to stop this big old beast. Took my friends .2 GT3 out yesterday and of course that car is way more agile and gets out of corners significantly faster, but where I felt leveled up yesterday was into the brake zones.

Not a cheap mod, but imo worth every penny, and also I was coming due for new pads and rotors, thus now I can put the stocks on the shelf and when I inevitably part my car out can toss those back on for trade in.
BBK's very famously fetch great prices on second hand market, so I am very confident this was a great investment.

[SYT_Shadow]

Bbks and suspension are worth every penny.

If PFC released the F8X version of the 991 Cup car kit I'd buy it at 20k without flinching

Edit: are you on stock suspension? If not, it's the same story there

[Driver407]

Your post is dangerous for me lol. I've had the Trophy Sport kit in my bimmerworld cart for the last day (they are on sale). Planning to go girodisc but part of me is saying just bite the bullet and go BBK.

2:02 is a really hot lap! Was that bypass/cyclone? Its those long thunderhill straights. Especially turn one on east that I feel the BBK is going to be worth it alone.

Any concerns after tracking with the sport pads? Seems they were fine. I wasnt sure what to expect at a track with them.

[SYT_Shadow]

There's no way to avoid moving to track pads, even on a bbk.

[Spun Crankhub]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

Bbks and suspension are worth every penny.

If PFC released the F8X version of the 991 Cup car kit I'd buy it at 20k without flinching

Edit: are you on stock suspension? If not, it's the same story there

I'm on TCkline camber plates, KWCS 3-way, Fall line monoball, F+R sway bar end links, rear camber shims, spherical bearings, and toe link kit. Safe to say my suspension is not stock.

Not sure an F82 will ever be as agile as a P car(especially not the GT4 club sport I was chasing around yesterday,) but I am very happy with my car's progress up to right now.

[Spun Crankhub]

Originally Posted by irokdayellup

Your post is dangerous for me lol. I've had the Trophy Sport kit in my bimmerworld cart for the last day (they are on sale). Planning to go girodisc but part of me is saying just bite the bullet and go BBK.

2:02 is a really hot lap! Was that bypass/cyclone? Its those long thunderhill straights. Especially turn one on east that I feel the BBK is going to be worth it alone.

Any concerns after tracking with the sport pads? Seems they were fine. I wasnt sure what to expect at a track with them.

Pull the trigger! haha
Yesterday was bypass, and with bbk I was confident stabbing the brake pedal a few feet later after the start/finish line than I previously have, and car still very balanced on turn in. Full disclosure one of my main opportunities after data review is needing to carry a whopping 3-5 more mph through the apex on 1.

Havent pulled my wheels off yet, but am going to pull at least one pad off the front in the coming days to have a look, but had zero heat soak issues, and interestingly while checking hot air pressure in the paddock post session I noticed significantly less heat at the wheel faces. That was astoundingly obvious immediately.

[Spun Crankhub]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

There's no way to avoid moving to track pads, even on a bbk.

FACT

[NYG]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

Bbks and suspension are worth every penny.

If PFC released the F8X version of the 991 Cup car kit I'd buy it at 20k without flinching

Edit: are you on stock suspension? If not, it's the same story there

100%

F8X needs a BBK IMO.

[m4forum]

You guys are correct, for some drivers stock brakes wont be sufficient to withstand track duties. I plan to use AP 9668 on front and M2C for the rear what I expect will be sufficient. For the front is a proven solution for the rear I expect will work based on improvement from 24->28mm rotor diameter (heat sink) and 2 -> 4 pistons more robust and resilient.

[F80Speed77]

Thats a really smart setup and should work really well! (Has full M2C/CCB kit and dealing with the massive fronts was a total pain)

[kpaso]

Originally Posted by irokdayellup

2:02 is a really hot lap! Was that bypass/cyclone? Its those long thunderhill straights. Especially turn one on east that I feel the BBK is going to be worth it alone.

Turn 1 at Thunderhill East is not a heavy braking zone by any means...unlike Turn 2 at Laguna which is where BBKs really come in handy on heavy cars like ours.

Like Spun was alluding to, the faster you are at Thill...the more speed you end up carrying through Turn 1. It's a great turn that most people, including myself, overslow. The faster you get, the trickier it gets IMO!

[m4forum]

I expect to test my setup at WG around June/July and will share the results.

[drroc]

Laguna is where the BBK really shines. There are quite a few corners where you will be doing over 100mph where you need to really loose some speed. I had awesome results with the StopTech trophy kit at Laguna. I am going to try it out at Thill on Monday. 7hrs of open track time with no run groups...

[sly1types]

Not sure how the OP was getting away with stoptech sport pads on the track as I couldn't do that with my E46M3 with stoptech BBK...

I was looking at doing a BBK specifically the stoptech ST60 kit, to have better braking as I'm not impressed with the DS1.11 pads bite/stopping power.

Looks like the stock pads have more swept area/surface area.

8023 vs 7752 mm/sq

I think I'm going to order some PFC11 pads. I do have brake cooling ducts

Thoughts?

[m4forum]

PFC 11 is always a good option but with stock calipers pad wear is an issue if car is pushed hard.

[dvq]

Originally Posted by sly1types

Not sure how the OP was getting away with stoptech sport pads on the track as I couldn't do that with my E46M3 with stoptech BBK...

I was looking at doing a BBK specifically the stoptech ST60 kit, to have better braking as I'm not impressed with the DS1.11 pads bite/stopping power.

Looks like the stock pads have more swept area/surface area.

8023 vs 7752 mm/sq

I think I'm going to order some PFC11 pads. I do have brake cooling ducts

Thoughts?

The f8x pads are supposed to be that pad shape but with a 62mm height, it's an ongoing issue with Stoptech getting the right race pads. The street pads are 62mm though, I can't say I'd be okay with them at the track tho.

OP probably just doesn't brake as much I'm heavy on brakes and I probably shouldn't be.

[melanthius]

Originally Posted by drroc

7hrs of open track time with no run groups...

How did you swing that?

[kpaso]

Originally Posted by melanthius

How did you swing that?

Pretty common for private/open track days.

[drroc]

Originally Posted by melanthius

How did you swing that?

If you have more than 10 track days and a PDC member can vouch for you, you can join the PDC group. PDC events are for advanced drivers with higher entry fees, so that makes the event much more flexible.

[drroc]

For reference, this is my best lap with the StopTech trophy kit and StopTech race pads. As you can see, there are several heavy braking zones from over 100mph. I wouldn't trust a street pad to handle more than two laps at those speeds.

[kpaso]

Originally Posted by drroc

For reference, this is my best lap with the StopTech trophy kit and StopTech race pads. As you can see, there are several heavy braking zones from over 100mph. I wouldn't trust a street pad to handle more than two laps at those speeds.

Unrelated, but you are over-braking for Turn 1 by a decent amount. Your Vmin was 79 mph. You can definitely carry a lot more speed for 1 which will give you that much better of a drive into 2.

[drroc]

Originally Posted by kpaso

Unrelated, but you are over-braking for Turn 1 by a decent amount. Your Vmin was 79 mph. You can definitely carry a lot more speed for 1 which will give you that much better of a drive into 2.

Yeah, I know. I need to man up for T1 and T8...