E39 540i brake upgrade advice

[Retset]

Rightly or wrongly I did a Bedford track evening in my 540i last year and really enjoyed it. With much cooling/resting the OEM brakes just lasted.

Now it's time to do the fluid and I may as well upgrade at the same time and do 1 or 2 similar evenings this year.

I will put on braided hoses.

What fluid should I get? Is DOT 5.1 OK or do I need to get one of those evil expensive DOT4/600 ones?

Discs are Brembo (OEM replacement) and pads are OEM. For the little use they'll get would you recommend sticking with OEM or changing? I was thinking maybe EBC Yellow Stuff pads as they are supposed to work from cold (according to EBC ) or Axxis Ultimate.

All comments gratefully received apart from those pointing out the folly of tracking 1800kg of estate car - I'm fully aware of that

[belleair302]

Hmm how much fast road work do you do beyond commuting and would you like to do more trackwork? The E39 brakes are not very good and many M5 owners have changed to AP, Wilwood, Stop-Tec or Mov'it kits. The question is how much do you wish to spend on pads and disks / hoses etc and how often will you track the car? Once or twice a year just renew the brake fluid, more often I would look at a new brake kit.

[Retset]

I've never faded them on the road - I fail to see how that would be possible whilst remaining remotely safe!

Certainly I don't want to fit a BBK for a couple of track evenings a year so really it's what do I put on for a moderate upgrade ....

[SJobson]

Be interested to see the responses to this - I've been invited to a North Weald activity day in July and it's inevitable I'll be taking my newly acquired 540i Touring.

Most intrigued as to how well they fare on track, particularly with the auto box. Presuming you are the same Retset from bmw5.co.uk (whose many threads I perused before buying my car last week), your car would be an auto as well. Do you mainly use the Steptronic to change gear?

[belleair302]

Replace your existing brake fluid with something like Castrol SRF, around £ 15 a bottle and see if that helps, if not its time to look at fast road pads and that opens a whole can of worms re what is the best option.

[Retset]

SJobson - yes I am It is an auto and for any spirited driving I always use the steptronic. I have 'reversed' the lever action so that forwards is down a gear (like later BMW's or sequential change race cars). I find it totally instinctive and it's great on the road as well as the once it went on the track. Don't track it in D/S or you'll be miserable!!

Belleair302: I've had a look round and the SRF is about £35 a litre!! I've done some more searching and Motul RBF 600 seems well regarded and is a DOT 4 which therefore means it's recommended for for my car. I'll see if my indy needs 1 or 1.5 ltrs and get some ordered. It's still pricey at about £24/ltr.

So ... what about that brake pad can of worms :

[SJobson]

Cheers sir. Most kind. Not sure I'm going to change the +/- Steptronic change though, because it's the same way round as my old Audi S6 so I'm used to it.

[Retset]

Indeed it's the wrong way round - just like Audi, VW, Bentley etc

Back OT I have found Goodridge hoses for £55. I may just try the hoses and Motul fluid and see how it goes. I can always follow up with grooved discs and uprated pads ..

[wee_skids]

Hose's will do nothing for brake longevity on a trackday. They may improve brake feel slightly but I personally feel they are a waste of time on a road car. They also should be inspected regularly as they are not designed for multiple mile use without being checked over. Fluid and pads will net you the best improvment. There are many pad choices, for me I would look at pads from hawk - but this is becuase I use them in race cars and find them to be excellent. There are many alternatives from decent named companies - just do not use the junk from EBC.
Tony