upgraded OEM Brakes

[jgold47]

I couldnt find anything definitive on this but can you put bigger OEM brakes on the 3.0? Like the rotors and calipers from the 4.4-4.8?

Will they bolt onto the hubs or do you need all new carriers as well?

Will they fit under 17" wheels or no?

thanks

[Roadkill]

they should bolt right up. 18" wheel is the smallest that will clear the 4.8is calipers.

[DTMdan]

Good to know!

[upallnight]

Unless you autocross and who in their right mind will autocross a X5 why would you need to upgrade the brakes in a X5? You will never recover the money spent on the upgrade when you go to sell the car and the upgrade may hinder the sale of the car just like people who put after market stereo in their cars.

[JCL]

I understand playing around with pad composition, but I don't understand putting larger brakes on.

[jgold47]

I figure if I need new pads and rotors, and new calipers are only a few hundred more, why not. This is not something I would go out and do just to do it (not with OEM anyways).

I did this once on a Honda, it went like this, you would upgrade to the calipers from a certain year acura that had dual pistons. the idea that dual pistons = better stopping. I needed a new caliper anyways. Upgrade was $100 more than I was going to spend. Issues installing and bleeding and being upside down aside. it was pretty cool and based on the concept an upgrade.


Now, having looked into this a bit, it seems the 3.0 and the 4.4 have the same size front brake rotors which means the rest of it is probalby the same. The rears seem to be the same size, but I did see a mention of better vented brakes on later models of the 4.4

Switching to 4.6/4.8 would probably require a new carrier as well as a new caliper, rotor, pads, etc... so thats probably not worth it.

on the e46 you could swap 330 brakes to the 325, but the parking brake didnt work unless you swapped hubs which got expensive. You also couldnt use the bigger brakes unless you had bigger wheels.

I assume that the bigger brakes on the 4.6/4.8 will have the same issues since I only have the stock 17" wheels as it is.

I will settle for just new pads and rotors unless the updated 4.4 rotors are really different and they just bolt on.

[jgold47]

ok - I got bored. See the attached file.

Basically the 3.0 and 4.4 have the same front brakes period.

The older 4.4 have the same rear brakes as the 3.0

the newer 4.4's have the same rear brakes as the 4.6/4.8 - those are .3 inch thicker and require new carriers, rotors, and calipers.

the 4.6/4.8 has bigger front brakes, .9 larger and .23 thicker and need all new carriers, calipers and rotors.


So, in conclusion. Spend your money on better pads.

thanks

[Gregory891]

I have also researched this, having previously done this type of upgrade on an E34 525i touring to 540i / 750i brakes.

3.0 (gas & diesel) and 4.4 have the same front & rear brakes. Front is a vented rotor (324 x 30 mm), rear is solid (324 x 12 mm).

4.6 & 4.8 have BIGGER front vented rotor (356 x 36 mm) to better dissipate the heat from the bigger caliper (also specific to 4.6 & 4.8 versions) with a larger diameter piston. 18" wheels are the minimum diameter required.

4.6 & 4.8 have a VENTED rear rotor (324 x 20 mm) to better dissipate the heat.

Master cylinders are the same for all engine sizes.

The only reason to do this for an 3.0 or 4.4 is if you do a LOT of high speed driving, VERY serious autocross or competition or pull some heavy trailers. Changing the rears to vented will not give you more STOP force but rather more mass to handle heat dissipation or better manage fade. Front will give you both more stopping ability and more heat fade absorption.

Consider Ate PowerDisc's, a good product that is TüV approved.