Brake upgrade advice needed!

[sohlman]

As some of you may know i did an 850 brake conversion on my six about a year ago and later on aquired a set of the ultimate wheels, Alpina 16's with the black centres. However the 4 pot callipers were to big to go inside the fins of the wheels without running serious spacers, so i changed things back to standard. After a summer of saving i am back on the brake conversion case. I have just aquired a complete set of E34 540 callipers which will give me bigger fatter front discs and vented rear discs, with not to mention more powerfull callipers. I already have an uprated 750 master cylinder and plan to replace the brake bomb/sphere and fit braided hoses all round.

My advice i require is related to discs and pads. Do i go for a standard set up with Genuine BMW discs and pads or do i go for the Vented/crossdrilled option with better pads.

Just for reference i do not do trackdays (yet) but find that the car currently sufferes from brake fade when driven sprightly and has a spongy pedal. What i am looking at achieving is the braking performance of my fathers E39 which is just incredible. Your advice is much apreciated.

James

[m-five]

Spongy brakes could be due to the fluid, or air in the system so an upgrade to DOT5.1 fluid and braided brakelines would help.

Brake fade may be helped by going for hotter pads (Ferodo DS2500 are good for a heavier car).

Grooved discs are good for helping the gasses escape, but I'd stay away from drilled.

[sohlman]

Thanks for the advice. It's definantly not the fluid as i change this at the first sign of colour change as i have had problems with boiling fluid before.

Will have to wait and see at the price differences of original and uprated before making my decision.