FuzzyWuzzy

Prepare for a lot of reading and possible rambling.

I tend to have some downtime at work and since eBay isn't blocked on my laptop, I get bored and full of ideas. Started w/ looking at M5 brakes for my E61, but wasn't all that impressed for the cost. Then saw the "Big brake kits" that cost over $3k just for the front or rear...JFC the brakes would be worth more than my wagon at that point Six pots are cool and all, but overkill currently for this thing. There's no LS in this thing....yet. Forgot to mention, I'm a cheap bastard.

So knowing the 5th Gen SS (and Vette/firebird/G8/GTO/CTS-V) have a 5x120 bolt pattern, I got bored and started looking at the Camaro calipers simply because "why not? They're practically universal calipers...". They currently tend to hover around $100/caliper used because mass-produced car that everyone upgrades = cheap parts. Around $1k for a full brake upgrade? Sign me the hell up!

Seeing how cheap the SS Brembos were, I did more digging, this time on stock rotor sizes to get a better idea on how things could/won't match up before I decide to just bite the bullet on some used parts for test fittings.

2006-2007 530xi
Front: 324X30
Rear: 320X20

06-07 "BBK" (Had to use 535i because xi gets no love):
Front: 380x32 (no option to do 4 pot fronts)
Rear 345x28

E60 M5:
Front: 374X36
Rear: 370X24

2010 SS:
Front: 355x32
Rear: 365x28


Already I'm seeing a thickness correlation between the BBKs and the SS rotors, which is great. Plus I'd get to keep costs down by keeping my 18" wheels. The only things I see w/ the BBKs (at least in pictures) are adapter brackets are needed (already have an email out to Etek to just buy a set of the adapters. If not, I have Wilwood fabby buddy willing to create some). And as I was writing this, I just got word that no, Brembo will not sell the adapters outside of their kits...Emailing corporate just for shits and giggles to maybe get lucky with at least a part number or something. I did find another website that list the actual Brembo BBK part numbers, so I'm hoping that makes things a whole lot easier on my end.

But wanting/craving more information because of the concerns I saw reading Evan's build was having to get M5 rear hubs just to put on the rotors. I know the E46 M3 hubs are the exact same, but they're still a pain to find and expensive, or I'm just really cheap. Found ANOTHER posting about someone upgrading to M5 brakes and reading through that, the RWD 535/545/550 guys don't need to swap out the rear hubs in order to do the straight swap. So if I get daring/stupid, I'd just buy some cheap hubs from the non-M5 E60s and go from there, but something tells me for the time spent doing everything, M5 would just be a better route. We'll see. Either way, it's another option that might be worth pursuing.

So that's where I'm at currently. Obviously first thing for me to do is get a cheap 355x32 rotor and SS Brembo caliper and test fit the front (around $150 for one caliper and one rotor). Besides the possible needing a bracket, the only other concern are the dust shields which will most likely be removed.

Thoughts? Ideas? "You're stupid af, bruh"?

DaHose

You started at the right point. Rotors are the key piece. You can fab up pretty much any bracket, but rotors must be an exact fit. The next concern is front/rear brake bias.

Jose

JeffVT

What is your end goal? Shorter braking distance, better pedal feel, less fade, cool looks, cheaper consumables?

FuzzyWuzzy

All of that, not paying $3k for just the front or rear BBK, and because why not.

Plus if I do have an end goal of sticking an LS in here at a later date, might as well have brakes to go with.